【PhD招生】西澳大学Gillian Yeo教授(JAP候任AE)诚招组织管理方向博士生

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Gillian Yeo (https://sites.google.com/site/uwagillianyeo/), who is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the UWA Business School and incoming Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Psychology, is seeking expressions of interest from potential PhD students for commencement in 2020.


Professor Yeo’s expertise relates to self-regulation. She examines dynamic self-regulatory processes related to motivation, emotion and cognition in relation to learning, performance and well-being. The extent to which and manner in which individuals regulate these processes is increasingly viewed as essential for understanding valued outcomes in a range of  work-relevant settings. Professor Yeo’s research informs theory and practice in training and development, work design, performance management and employee health and well-being, in a variety of work settings that aim to accelerate learning and optimise performance and well-being.


Thus, the types of students most likely to fit well within Professor Yeo’s team include those with a background in organisational psychology, organisational behaviour, human resource management, management in general or related disciplines; and with an interest in topics such as self-regulation, recovery, well-being, goals, motivation, emotions, training or performance. As examples, Professor Yeo’s ongoing research projects that are suitable for new PhD students, include one about a new concept she has developed called “slack time” and one about dynamic leader behavior in critical action teams.


“Slack time” refers to portions of time characterised by undirected attention, or time in which attention is wandering widely and freely. A key premise underlying Professor Yeo’s slack time project is that although controlled self-regulatory processes are an essential and adaptive form of human functioning, we are missing out on a unique pathway to success via experiencing portions of time in which we let go of that control (i.e., slack time). The literature in organisational psychology, organisational behaviour, cognitive psychology and neuroscientific disciplines has been dominated by controlled forms of regulation and information processing for decades, yet emerging work is emphasising the importance of broadening our lens for examining human processing (e.g., examining defocused attention in addition to directed forms of attention; examining mind-wandering in addition to goal-directed thinking). Notions related to Professor Yeo’s concept of slack time are also topical in the popular press (e.g., “white space”, “silence”, #BoredomBrilliance, and the “take back your time” movement). It is clear that people agree that we need to do more to let go of control, but we need theoretical precision and empirical rigour to tackle this problem, including conceptualisation of relevant constructs, their impact on relevant outcomes and associated potential for benefits, and identification of underlying mechanisms that can be used as levers for change.  Professor Yeo and her team are working on a range of theoretical and empirical pieces in this area, including an experimental intervention study in which full-time workers are invited to wear heart-rate monitors and take micro-breaks with or without their smartphone three times per day across two weeks.


Professor Yeo’s project regarding dynamic leader behavior includes observation of archival videos, interviews, and experience sampling studies of Incident Command teams undergoing training in a high-fidelity simulator. These training programs are conducted by ERGT Australia (http://www.ergt.com.au/), which is a leading commercial training organisation providing emergency response and safety skills training to high risk industries. These studies are examining the dynamic behaviours required of action team leaders to effectively manage goal-directed action. For example, Professor Yeo and her team integrate self-regulation, team leadership and team process theories to propose when team leaders should perform various behaviours and how frequently, in order to develop the team states required for effectiveness. Project results are also being used to inform industry-wide training curriculum and design, and to develop prescriptive guidelines for the training and management of action team leaders.


Professor Yeo has supervised nine PhD students to completion, many of whom were or are on prestigious scholarships (e.g., from BHP or Westpac) and have developed successful academic careers. Professor Yeo is committed to developing and supporting her students’ career progression both during and beyond their PhD. For example, the majority of her refereed journal articles are co-authored with students.


Professor Yeo is looking for 1-2 bright and motivated PhD students to join her team in 2020. This opportunity is best suited to students who are interested in applying for, and competitive for a PhD scholarship, such as the UWA International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (http://www.scholarships.uwa.edu. ... tgrad/international; applications open February 2020 for commencement in July 2020) or the UWA China Scholarship (http://www.scholarships.uwa.edu.au/search?id=455; applications open March 2020 for commencement in July 2020). For information regarding all scholarships, see http://www.scholarships.uwa.edu. ... s/postgrad/domestic (domestic students) or http://www.scholarships.uwa.edu. ... tgrad/international (international students).


If you are interested in this opportunity, please email your CV (including academic transcript) to Gillian (gillian.yeo@uwa.edu.au) and she will contact you to discuss the opportunity and potential PhD topics under her ongoing research projects in more detail.



Contact Details:


Professor Gillian Yeo, PhD
Incoming Associate Editor (Journal of Applied Psychology)
Deputy Head of Department
Management and Organisations Department (https://www.uwa.edu.au/able/scho ... t-and-organisations)
UWA Business School (https://www.uwa.edu.au/able/schools/business-school)
University of Western Australia (https://www.uwa.edu.au/)
Personal website: https://sites.google.com/site/uwagillianyeo/
Email: gillian.yeo@uwa.edu.au
Ph: 618 6488 1875