Neal Ashkanasy

Neal Ashkanasy (born 5 June 1945) is an Australian civil engineer and organizational psychologist, and Professor of Management at the University of Queensland Business School.

Biography

Ashkanasy was born to Maurice Ashkanasy, an early leader of the Australian Jewish community, and Heather Helen Ashkanasy. Ashkanasy attended Mt. Scopus College in Melbourne. His father Maurice Ashkanasy was one of the founders of the school, which is now one of the largest private schools in Australia. Following school, he attended Monash University and completed a degree in Civil Engineering and a master's degree in Water Engineering at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Ashkanasy began work in 1968 with the Queensland Irrigation and Water Supply Commission and worked for the Commission (renamed the QWRC: the Queensland Water Resources Commission) for 18 years, rising to the rank of “Executive Engineer, Water Supply Investigations.” During that time, he was actively involved in the Institution of Engineers, Australia, eventually serving as Chair of its “National Committee on Hydrology and Water Resources,” and was a former national president of the Hydrology and Water Resources Institution of Engineers and oversaw the planning and building of the Wivenhoe Dam.

After an 18-year career in professional engineering and management Ashkanasy returned to university in 1970. He completed a PG Diploma in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Arts (major in psychology) with First Class Honours and a University Gold Medal, at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. Ashkanasy's was invited to enrol in a PhD in the School of Psychology, which was completed in 1989.

Commencing his acceademic career with the School of Psychology, he was later seconded to the Technology and Innovation Management Centre (1989). In 1988 he was appointed a Lecturer (assistant professor) in the School of Commerce, where he attained tenure and promotion in 1994 before moving to the School of Management in 1995. In 2002, the schools of Commerce and Management merged to form the UQ Business School. From 2004–2008, he served as Associate Dean in the Faculty of Business, Economics, and Law. His present position is professor of management in the UQ Business School.

Work

Ashkanasy has been acknowledged for his contributions to the field of organisational behaviour and in particular the study of emotions in the workplace. He was the first Australian to be elected a Fellow of SIOP, his citation reads:

Dr. Ashkanasy is one of a very small group of scholars who has developed theoretical models and conducted empirical research so effectively on emotions in the workplace that this topic has moved within the past decade from obscurity to mainstream research in I-O psychology. His annual book series on this topic is responsible in part for what is now being called in our field the “affective revolution".

Ashkanasy is the current editor-in-chief of the Journal of Organizational Behavior and associate editor of Emotion Review and Academy of Management Review. In additions, he is series editor of the book series Research on Emotion in Organizations.

Recognition

• Elected an Academician in the London-based Academy of the Social Sciences
• Listed in Who's Who in Australia from 2012
• Elton Mayo, Award Recipient 2011
• Elected a Distinguished Member (Fellow) of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management
• Elected a Fellow of the US-based Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• Elected a Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2005
• "Excellence in Research Award", School of Management, Uni of Queensland, 2001

Expert comment

Interviews with Ashkanasy:

• No separating emotion from the workplace, Globe and Mail, 18 August 2012
• Rush, S. (2004). Emotional Rescue: A conversation with Neal M. Ashkanasy. Leadership in Action, 24, 14–17

As the former hydrologist who oversaw the planning of the Wivenhoe Dam, Ashkanasy's expert opinion has been quoted throughout the national media regarding the water release from the Wivenhow Dam and reactions to the aftermath, since the January 2011 Brisbane floods.

• Brisbane 'saved from ruin by dam',The Australian, 22 January 2011
• 1974 Wivenhoe dam hydrologist, ABC Radio, Interview with Madonna King, 25 January 2011.
• In the Hands of Hydrology, ABC Radio, Interview with Madonna King, 8 February 2011
• Don't blame dam operator, says designer, Sydney Morning Herald, 21 February 2011
• Wivenhoe and the Floods, ABC Radio, Interview with Kelly Higgins-Devine, 23 February 2011
• Time to let the sun shine in after Queensland's summer of disaster, Courier Mail, 5 March 2011
• Wivenhoe 'never protected' Brisbane from flood, ABC News, 8 March 2011
• Engineer bores a hole in dam untruths, The Australian, 19 March 2011
• Wivenhoe Dam operation under scrutiny, ABC 7.30 Report, 8 April 2011
• Flood Inquiry,Channel Ten, 6.30 with George Negus, 11 April 2011
• Stop playing the flood blame-game, Courier Mail, 10 May 2011

Honours

Ashkanasy is an elected fellow of:

• Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, 2010
• US Association for Psychological Science, 2009
• Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management, 2008
• Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2006
• Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2005
• Churchill Fellows Association of Queensland, 1975

Publications

Ashkanasy has published over 100 journal articles and book chapters and is author or co-author of over 200 conference papers.

Journal articles

• Ashkanasy, N. M. (1985). Rotter's internal-external scale: Confirmatory factor analysis and correlation with social desirability for alternative scale formats.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1328–1341. First application of confirmatory factor analysis published in JPSP, the leading journal in social psychology.
• Jordan, P. J., Ashkanasy, N. M., & Härtel, C. E. J. (2002). Emotional intelligence as a moderator of emotional and behavioral reactions to job insecurity.Academy of Management Review, 27, 361–372. Describes a new conceptual model of the effect of emotional intelligence in organisations.
• Ashkanasy, N. M., Härtel, C. E. J, & Daus, C. S. (2002). Diversity and emotion: The new frontiers in organizational behavior research. Journal of Management, 28, 307–338. Published in the JoM Annual Review Issue. First article to connect diversity and emotion.
• Kasper-Fuehrer, E. C., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2001). Communicating trustworthiness and building trust in inter-organizational virtual organizations. Journal of Management, 27, 235–354. Sets out a new and innovative model of how trust can be built in virtual organisations.
• Ashkanasy, N. M. & Gallois, C. (1994). Leader attributions and evaluations: Effects of locus of control, supervisory control, and task control. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 59, 27 – 50. Empirical study, demonstrating application of attribution theory.
• Greenberg, J., Ashton-James, C. E., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2007). Social comparison processes in organizations. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 102, 22–41. Theory/review article detaling new application os social comparison theory in organisations.
• Newcombe, M. J., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2002). The role of affect and affective congruence in perceptions of leaders: An experimental study. Leadership Quarterly, 13, 601–614. Empritical demonstration that perceptions of leaders depends on their non-verbal expression of emotion.
• Dasborough, M. T., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2002). Emotion and attribution of intentionality in leader-member relationships. Leadership Quarterly, 13, 615–634. Describes how emotions and attributions shape followers perceptions of leaders.
• Ashkanasy, N. M., & Daus, S. D. (2002). Emotion in the workplace: The new challenge for managers. Academy of Management Executive, 16 (1), 23–45. [Nominee for AME Best paper award; AME, now renamed Academy of Management Perspectives, is the Academy of Management's outreach journal]. Makes the case for managers to pay more attention to emotions in the workplace.
• Windsor, C., & Ashkanasy, N.M. (1995). The effect of client management bargaining power, moral reasoning development and belief in a just world on auditor independence. Accounting, Organizations, and Society, 20, 701–720. Empirical study showing how practising authors' professional autonomy can be influenced by their personality and beliefs.

External links

• Official website