Professor Paula McDonald

Paula McDonald is Professor and ARC Future Research Fellow (2012-2016) in the QUT Business School. Having graduated from a PhD in the area of organisational psychology and human resource management in 2004, she takes a multi-disciplinary approach in her research, addressing complex problems in organisations and within employment relationships. Her particular research interests include work-life integration, workplace discrimination and harassment, and youth employment. Paula has been awarded 5 major competitive research grants from the Australian Research Council (2 Linkage, 2 Discovery, 1 Future Fellowship). The first of her current Discovery projects (2010-2012, with S. Charlesworth, UniSA) is titled Sexual Harassment in Australia: Contexts, Outcomes and Prevention (see http://www.sexualharassmentinaustralia.org). Her second Discovery project (2012-2014, with K. Townsend, Griffith University) is titled Customising work through manager-employee exchange. This project addresses how the timing, location and tasks of work are negotiated in exchanges between managers and employees and in the context of regulation, policies and workplace cultures. Paula’s Future Fellowship project (2012-2016) is titled Young people and work: Pathways to industrial citizenship. It explores young people’s trajectories and expectations for post-education employment from their own perspectives, and how work intersects with other life domains such as personal relationships and leisure. Paula has edited 3 recent books: Women and Representation in Local Government: International Case Studies (with B. Pini, Routledge, 2011); Young People and Work (with R. Price, J. Bailey and B. Pini, Ashgate, 2011); and Men, wage work and family (with E. Jeanes, Routledge, 2012). She has also published over 40 journal articles including in International Journal of Management Reviews, Journal of Sociology, British Journal of Management, Gender Work & Organization and Work, Employment & Society. She has expertise in both quantitative and qualitative methods and regularly presents her research to industry/organisational partners and via the media. Prior to an academic career, Paula worked in the health sector and she is a registered psychologist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. Research interests

• Employment relations
• Careers
• Part-time work
• Job quality and work design
• Work-life integration / boundaries and flexible work
• Youth employment
• Gendered forms of harassment and discrimination
• Work and popular culture

Current Projects

• Young people and work (Future Fellowship project)
• Workplace sexual harassment in Australia: Contexts, prevention and outcomes (with A/Prof Sara Charlesworth, University of South Australia)
• Customised work arrangements through manager-employee exchange (with A/Prof Keith Townsend, Griffith University and Dr Abby Cathcart, QUT)
• School identity in the educational marketplace (with A/Prof Jennifer Bartlett, QUT and Prof Barbara Pini, Griffith University)

Previous projects

• Youth employment and citizenship: Employment relations for student employees (with Dr Robin Price (QUT), Prof Barbara Pini (Curtin Uni) and Assoc Prof Janis Bailey (Griffith University)
• Exploring the provision and utilisation of flexible work policies (with Profs Kerry Brown and Lisa Bradley, QUT)
• Bystander approaches to workplace sexual harassment (with the Australian Human Rights Commission and Dr Michael Flood, Wollongong University)
• Industrial relations concerns in Queensland workplaces (with Kerriann Dear, Queensland Working Women’s Service and Young Workers Advisory Service)
• Work-family-community boundaries in the unexpected closure of Ravensthorpe nickel mine (with Prof Barbara Pini and Dr Robyn Mayes, Curtin University)
• Outrage management in legal cases of sexual harassment (with Tina Graham, QUT and Prof Brian Martin, Wollongong University)