2009 Winners

Dr Elizabeth Allworth

• Listen to an interview conducted by Mark England with Elizabeth Allworth (3.65MB)

Dr Allworth has been one of Australia’s leading organisational psychology practitioners for well over a decade. Building on her Masters and PhD research on the validity of psychological tests as predictors of job, training and functional performance, she has continued to advocate, use and teach evidence-based approaches to psychological assessment in employee selection, development and retention. As Director of Allworth Juniper Organisational Psychologists since 1997, Dr Allworth has worked with corporate and government clients to develop and validate psychometric assessment measures for selection and development purposes, and to implement best practice selection and development processes. She has also appeared as an expert witness and advisor on the appropriateness of psychological testing in industry.

Dr Allworth maintains state of the art knowledge through contributing to local and international conferences, including the APS College of Organisational Psychologists (COP), the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology (SIOP), the American Psychological Association (APA), the Society for Vocational Psychology (SVP) and the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP). She has co-authored chapters on psychometric testing and career development for Australian/New Zealand and UK psychology texts, and has published in the International Journal of Selection & Assessment. She has reviewed submissions for the Australian Industrial and Organisational Psychology Conference, and the International Journal of Selection & Assessment and is a member of the editorial panel for the Australian New Zealand Journal of Organisational Psychology.

Having been a member of the APS and COP since 1991, Dr Allworth has actively contributed by holding positions at the State and National levels. She was a member of the APS Ethics Committee (2003-2007), Membership Secretary for the COP National Committee (1997-1999), and member of the COP Testing Sub-Committee (2002-2003). Current positions include membership of the APS Ethical Guidelines Committee, Coordinator of the COP Media Panel and member of the COP National Regulatory Developments Working Group.

Committed to ensuring that the next generation of organisational psychologists are committed to evidence-based approaches, Dr Allworth has supervised numerous psychology interns, early career psychologists and postgraduate students, and has assisted in the supervision of post-graduate research. She has taught psychological assessment in the Coaching Psychology program (University of Sydney) since 2002 and is a member of the advisory group for the Master of Organisational Psychology programs at UNSW and Macquarie University. 

Dr Allworth is a respected practitioner with a strong research emphasis, and a track record in developing the profession of organisational psychology in Australia.

2007 Winners

Professor Barry Fallon

Barry Fallon was the convenor of the postgraduate Organisational Psychology Program at Melbourne University and is currently (as of 2007) the Foundation Professor of Psychology at Australian Catholic University (ACU). He has taught I/O psychology units at all tertiary levels and has supervised 21 higher research degree theses in I/O psychology. In 2006 he received the Excellence in Postgraduate Supervision Award from ACU. In addition to a co-edited book, and a co-authored chapter, 19 of his refereed publications national and international journals are in I/O psychology. Barry is a Fellow of the APS and has over 30 years involvement with the Society and the College of Organisational Psychologists. This has included 18 years as a member of the APS Council/Board, two of which were as APS President, and 12 years involvement in accreditation including as a foundation Director of the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council. He is currently a member of the Victorian Psychologists Registration Board. Barry’s sustained and creative involvement in I/O psychology and its development makes him an ideal candidate for this Elton Mayo Award.

Dr Mike Knowles

Mike Knowles has made two major contributions to the development of organisational psychology. The first is as a pioneer in introducing organisational psychology, human resource management, management skills, managing change, and the method of process analysis into the MBA at Monash University. Through his work he has facilitated changing the culture that typified Australian organisations from one that was not supportive to one that was conducive to the work of organisational psychologists. His work has included research supervision, publication of research in three principal journals in the field, and presentation of keynote addresses and symposia at national conferences and international congresses. He has contributed substantially to the development of management education in Australia characterised by a strong behavioural component, and has fostered the dissemination of this knowledge by organising, for example, the “Managers of Tomorrow” symposium which comprised a distinguished panel of overseas speakers who presented a critical review of the latest thinking and practice in management viewed from an international perspective. It was an endorsed Bicentennial activity which attracted a large group of senior executives from every state and territory in Australia, as well as New Zealand. The second contribution is through the offices held in the APS and the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP). In the APS he held the office of Treasurer (1971-1975) and President (1980-1981). In the IAAP he held the position of Secretary General from 1990-1998 and in 2006 he was elected President (the first Australian to hold the post), a position he shall hold until the next congress of the IAAP which will be hosted in Melbourne in 2010. For services such as these and others, and apart from the Elton Mayo Award, he has received a Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching from Monash University and the inaugural Annual Award of the American Psychological Association for ‘distinguished contributions to global psychology’.

Dr Peter Langford

In the nine years since graduating from his PhD Peter has excelled in both science and practice. After working for two years in the Change Management division of Accenture, Peter retuned to Macquarie University where he was Director of the organisational psychology postgraduate program for three years and was in 2006 promoted to Senior Lecturer. He continues to teach business and psychology to undergraduates and postgraduates, chairing courses involving a total of nearly 3,000 students, He has produced 30 peer and non-peer-reviewed publications, has been involved in 33 presentations at conferences and professional forums, and has supervised the research of 46 fourth-year and postgraduate psychology students. Emerging from his research interests in organisational culture, in 2002 Peter established Voice Project – a research and consulting company specialising in organisational surveys, based on campus in Macquarie University’s corporate Research Park. Through word-of-mouth recommendations, Voice Project has grown rapidly and has now conducted over 200 projects with 100 clients, involving 250,000 employees and clients. By the end of the current financial year Voice Project will employ 11 psychologists and achieve $1m in annual revenue. Peter is passionate about advancing organisational psychology and his work is an outstanding example of research-based practice and practice-driven research.

2005 Winners

Professor Boris Kabanoff

Professor Kabanoff has been Director of Research & Development, Faculty of Business and Australian Centre for Business Research since July 2003. Prior to this he was Head of the School of Management, QUT (since 1996), and prior to this he was at the Australian Graduate School of Management, UNSW (from 1982).

He gained First Class Honours with University Medal from the University of Queensland and a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Flinders University.  He is a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management and a Member of the US Academy of Management.

His main research has been in organisational values and managerial and organisational cognition with a particular interest in the application of content analytic methodology to the study of problems in these areas.

He has published in leading international IO journals, such as the:

• Journal of Applied Psychology
• Academy of Management Journal and Academy of Management Review
• Personnel Psychology and won numerous nationally competitive research grants;

He was nominated for best lecturer award in 1997 and received two ‘Best paper’ awards at overseas conferences. He was an invited keynote speaker at the 1998 XXIV International Congress of Applied Psychology in San Francisco. He was a member of the Organising Committee for the Inaugural Australian IO Psychology Conference, Sydney, 1995 and Co-chair of the Organising Committee for the Third Australian IO Psychology Conference, Brisbane, 1999. He has held several editorial positions on boards of leading IO journals.

Dr Paul Power, FAPS

Dr Power has been a member of the APS for almost 40 years and has occupied Director positions in national organisational consulting companies (John P. Young, Cullen Egan Dell & The Hay Group) for more than 20 years.  In his consulting work, he has supervised the research/placement of numerous post-graduate students of organisational psychology.  Paul has been involved with international scholars, of organisational psychology and related fields in establishing the foundations for professional services.  This psychological foundation of services has been widely promoted to managers in industry, the public service and schools.  Since 1979, Paul has presented and published papers on vocational identity and methods of personnel assessment at inter/national conferences.  He has co-authored articles in refereed journals with Holland, Gottfredson, Kelso and Taylor on career development. Although in a very competitive environment, he has continued to advocate/share the values and techniques of sound practice with his peers.  Dr Power was the Executive Officer of the Australian Psychological Society for four years.  He chaired the Society’s Membership Committee (4 years) and Standing Committee on Psychological Tests and Testing (5 years).  His contribution to university teaching, supervision and examiner roles is an exemplar of the scientist-practitioner model.

Dr Lea Waters

Awarded her PhD in 1999 Dr Waters has an impressive list of IO publications (17 refereed publications and 40 conference presentations). She is a member of APS College of Organisational Psychologists, American Academy of Management and the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management. She reviews for prominent IO psychology journals including Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology and Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources.

She has an international reputation as an IO psychologist and has presented at 40 conferences, including conferences run by COPS, APS, American Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology (SIOP), European Association for Work and Organisational Psychologists, International Congress of Psychology, Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management, and American Academy of Management. She won the Australian and New Zealand Management Educator of the year award in 2004.

She has held responsible positions including Student representative on the Deakin University Clinical Psychology APS Accreditation Panel, the Deakin University Bachelor of Behavioural Science APS Accreditation Panel. She is a member of Research and Graduate Studies Committee, Department of Management, University of Melbourne.

2003 Winners

Professor Tony Winefield

Professor Winefield has made a significant contribution to I/O psychology over the past 20 years as evidenced by numerous achievements in research and teaching.  He is an internationally recognised expert in the field of unemployment research and has been a continuous holder of Australian Research Council grants in the area of work psychology.  From 1980-1989 he directed a longitudinal study of South Australian school leavers which resulted in a book, several book chapters, and dozens of refereed articles in leading international journals, as well as invitations to present at national and international conferences. He has more than 150 refereed publications, including many invited contributions,. He is frequently cited in the research literature having been cited in more than 1200 times in the Science/Social Science Citation Index/

Prof Winefield’s other main interest in I/O psychology is work stress. He is currently leading a research team looking at stress in Australian university staff (supported by two ARC Linkage grants). In collaboration with Associate Professors Dollard and Helen Winefield, he has been involved in several externally funded research projects which have led to some significant publications, including books published by Kluwer (2001) and Taylor & Francis (2003).  He has published in at least 7 of the leading international I/O journals, and is currently an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Stress Management.

Professor Winefield has also received invitations to carry out research by national bodies. For example, in 1998, he was commissioned by DETYA in Canberra to undertake a psychological evaluation of the Work for the Dole scheme: "Measuring the impact of the Work for the Dole pilot projects on work habits and self-esteem" (Winefield, 1999). In 1999, he was invited by the Australian Psychological Society to prepare a Discussion Paper on "Psychology and work", later published as Winefield, A.H., Montgomery, B., Gault, U., Muller, J., O'Gorman, J., Reser, J. & Roland, D. (2002). The psychology of work and unemployment in Australia today. Australian Psychologist, 37, 1-9.  In 2001 he was invited to contribute to a special issue of the Australian Journal of Management on organisational behaviour (Winefield, 2002).

He is currently Director of the Centre for Applied Psychology Research which has as a focus I/O psychology.  He is a Fellow of the APS, and has been on the Fellowship Advisory Group, APS Director of Membership Affairs; and Director of Training and Standards, APS.
Since receiving the award in 2003, Prof Winefield has been an invited keynote speaker at a major international conference (ICOH, Milan, 2006), won 5 nationally competitive research grants totalling approximately $1.5 million (3 ARC Discovery grants and 2 ARC Linkage grants) published a book (Job stress in university staff: An Australian research study, 2008. AAP), 29 refereed journal articles, and supervised 7 PhD students to completion.

2001 Winner

Professor Phyllis Tharenou

Phyllis Tharenou has a strong pedigree in I/O Psychology and has demonstrated consistent commitment to her academic beginnings.  She has published in a range of leading Journals, including multiple publications in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Vocational Behavior and the Academy of Management Journal. Her first 3 papers were published in key international journals: no mean achievement in itself.

Phyllis’ research has been supported by more than 20 grants, 9 of them from the Australian Research Council, including Discovery Projects.  Her most important and influential work has been in the areas of Employee Self Esteem, Performance Review, Training and Development and Managerial Career Advancement (especially career advancement for women), and work and family practices. Her teaching and supervision of post graduate students, as well as her style of robust and challenging debate, has endeared her to students for many years.  Her teaching has spanned almost every topic in I/O Psychology, Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour.

All this has been complimented by a substantial contribution to the practice of I/O Psychology through consulting and an appointment as Executive Director of the Human Resource Management Division of the Queensland Public Sector Management Commission. She has also been an Associate Editor of three journals: Australian Psychologist, Applied Psychologist: An International Review, and the Journal of Organizational Behavior, as well as an ad hoc reviewer and ARC grant assessor.

Her previous awards include:

• Best Paper Award, Journal of Organisational Behavior, for 1994
• Outstanding Paper Award, US Academy of Management
• Distinguished Scholar Award, ANZ Academy of Management
• Runner up for the Dorothy Harlow Prize of the US Academy of Management (on 3 occasions)
  

After the Award in 2001

Phyllis has continued to publish in top journals in organizational behaviour (Academy of Management Journal, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Vocational Behaviour). Her research has been in the areas of gender differences in career advancement, mentoring, and training and development, as well as into professionals’ international careers.

Since 2001, she has been a member of editorial boards of top journals in her field (e.g., the Academy of Management Review, Human Resource Management, Journal of Management). As well, she has continued to be an ad hoc review for about 30 journals inn IO psych, OB, and HRM. She has gained two further Discovery Grants and supervised 5 PhD graduates until moving into fulltime administration from 2004 onwards.

She was appointed a member of the College of Experts for the Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences (SBE) for the Australian Research Council (ARC) and subsequently appointed to the chair of the college for SBE. She has now moved into the Federal Government as the role of Executive Director of SBE at the ARC. She was recently appointed a Fellow of The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology in recognition of her academic achievements and practitioner roles in organizational psychology.

1999 Winner

James McCallum

James McCallum was a pioneer in the early practice of the relatively new field of Industrial and Organisational Psychology in Australia. He has worked as a consultant, company director and private practitioner. He was awarded the Elton Mayo Award based on his contribution to the practice of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, his support of students, and his service to the Australian Psychological Society over a span of 40 years.

James began work in the field in 1951, when he contributed Industrial and Organisational Psychology expertise to a large change management program in a national insurance company. During the process re-engineering stages (in this case the transition of punch card processes to IBM Computer technology), James developed and implemented staff counselling, staff re-training and redeployment strategies for 120 employees whose roles were affected by the re-engineering.

This was followed by 10-12 years contribution to JRCoghlan & Co, a management consulting organisation, where James provided Industrial and Organisational psychology services to a range of organisations, some of which are now in Australia’s top 10.  With the acquisition and growth of the firm James became a Director of the new Cullen Morten Pty Ltd, and made significant contributions to the delivery of the executive recruitment and organisational development arms of the business.

In 1971 James set up McCallum Consultants Pty Ltd and for 17 years directed the delivery of a full range of Organisational Psychology consulting services to senior executive level clients across Australia.  James retired in 1988 to continue a range of honorary activities.

In 1979, at the request of Professor George Kearney, James established the annual “James McCallum Prize in Applied Psychology” at James Cook University.  This award has been conferred annually since its inception.

James also made significant contributions internationally.  Not only did he, over many years, attend International conferences in Organisational Psychology in Liege, Paris, Edinburgh, Acapulco, Leipzig and Jerusalem, James also was an Australian Psychological Society representative at the International Union of Psychological Sciences (IUPsyS) Council at the Paris Congress in 1976, and assisted with the IUPsyS Sydney Congress in 1988.

Throughout his career James has served on Organising Committees of several APS Conferences and been an active member of the APS while in practice.

Activities since the receipt of the 1999 Elton Mayo Award

(As of May 2009)

James contributes his time post retirement to significant not-for-profit organisations at Board level. He has served on the Board of a large community based hospital, where he held the role of Vice Chairman for many years.  He has also, with colleagues, established a new research centre in the medical sector, the Lincoln Centre for Research into Bone and Joint Diseases in 1998, and currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board.

The James McCallum Prize in Applied Psychology continues to be conferred at James Cook University: the latest award at the time of the preparation of this document was 2009.