Professor Victor Callan

Professor

School of Business
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
v.callan@business.uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 68013

Overview

Victor Callan AM is Professor of Management and Leadership at the University of Queensland (UQ) Business School in the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law. His research investigates organisational change, leadership and employee training, and he is one of Australia's most recognised researchers in these fields.

In terms of recognition by external bodies, Victor has been elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, a Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In addition, more recently he was appointed as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division) for significant service to higher education in the field of management as a researcher and adviser to Government and industry. Within UQ, Victor has been awarded the University's Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision for the quality of outcomes associated with his PhD supervision. In addition, he is a recipient of two UQ Excellence in Leadership Awards for his roles in developing strong research, consulting and industry partnerships.

Victor is a regular contributor to executive education for senior managers and executives in the public and private sectors in Australia and internationally. He has completed over 100 projects as an adviser for Federal, State and local government departments including major reviews on employee skills, vocational education and training, major industry closures and workforce development. He has also completed organisational and workforce development projects internationally, including for governments and organisations in South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, Indonesia, Bhutan, Brunei, New Zealand, PNG and for South Pacific countries.

Currently his major teaching activities at UQ are in courses associated with MBA students, and students in the Bachelor of Advanced Business Honours program.

Research Interests

  • Organisational Change, Leadership and Skills Development
    1. Organisational Change and Leadership Special interest in employees' experiences with large scale organisational change, examining their levels of adaptation, coping resources and strategies, as well as the communication and leadership of change. 2. Employee Skills, Capabilities and Training Examinations of effective responses to skills development and shortages, including strategies around recognition of prior learning, e-learning, new models of apprenticeships and strategies to assist displaced older workers, training and retraining including downsized employees, and the skills of leaders and chairpersons required of corporate boards.

Research Impacts

Published reports for the National Centre for Vocational Education Research by Professor Callan are informing public policy in the areas of workforce development, apprenticeships, the application of e-learning in the workplace, and the development of improved pathways between the vocational education and higher education sectors. In addition, he has completed numerous evaluations of the effectiveness of State and Federal Government programs including evaluations of training programs in prisons; new models for the delivery of mental health services; programs to introduce more e-learning and e-assessment into workplaces; investigations into programs to assist employees impacted by large scale industry closures; and evaluations of various forms of apprenticeship models. His published academic work that consists of over 250 publications is presented into various executive education and middle manager programs for UQ, especially around applications for improved leadership, better communication, changes to workplace training and more successful change management.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Australian National University
  • Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, University of New South Wales

Publications

View all Publications

Supervision

View all Supervision

Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Ma, Shaozhuang, Silva, Maria Gabriela, Callan, Victor J. and Trigo, Virginia (2023). Emotional labor and emotional intelligence on job performance: comparison of public and private organizations in China. Global encyclopedia of public administration, public policy and governance. (pp. 3850-3854) edited by Ali Farazmand. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-66252-3_3898

  • Jordan, Ree, Fitzsimmons, Terrance W. and Callan, Victor J. (2021). Fear not your mavericks! Their bounded non-conformity and positive deviance helps organizations drive change and innovation. Strategic responses for a sustainable future: new research in international management. (pp. 123-146) edited by Torben Juul Andersen. Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing. doi: 10.1108/978-1-80071-929-320214006

  • McKenna, Bernard, Callan, Victor J. and Gallois, Cindy (2012). Comparing organizational and business communication. The Handbook of Comparative Communication Research. (pp. 48-63) edited by Frank Esser and Thomas Hanitzsch. New York and London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203149102-11

  • Callan, Victor J. and Lawrence, Sandra A. (2009). Building employee engagement, job satisfaction, health, and retention. The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Well-Being. (pp. 411-438) edited by S. Cartwright and C.L. Cooper. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199211913.003.0017

  • Callan, Victor J. (2008). Intergroup dimensions of organizational life. The International Encyclopedia of Communication. (pp. 2381-2385) edited by W. Donsbach. Malden, MA, U.S.A.: Blackwell Publishing. doi: 10.1111/b.9781405131995.2008.x

  • Paulsen, N., Jones, E. L., Graham, P. W., Callan, V. J. and Gallois, C. (2005). Organizations as intergroup contexts: Communication, discourse, and identification. Intergroup Communication: Multiple Perspectives. (pp. 165-188) edited by J. Harwood and H. Giles. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

  • Callan, V. J. (2004). How vocational education and training providers are working innovatively with industry. Vocational education and training and innovation: Research readings. (pp. 140-152) edited by S. Dawe. Adelaide: Australian National Training Authority.

  • Callan, Victor (2004). VET teacher and student attitudes about generic skills. Generic skills in vocational education and training: Research readings. (pp. 53-68) edited by Jennifer Gibb. Adelaide, South Australia: Australian National Training Authority.

  • Gardner, J. M. J., Paulsen, N., Gallois, C., Callan, V. J. and Monaghan, P. G. (2001). Communication in organisations: An intergroup perspective. The New Handbook of language and Social Psychology. (pp. 561-584) edited by W. P. Robinson and H. Giles. Chichester, England: John Wiley.

  • Callan, V. J. and Jackson, C. R. (2001). Managing and leading organizational change. Leadership in the Antipodes:Findings,implications and a leader profile. (pp. 105-123) edited by K.Parry. Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University of Wellington.

  • Terry, D. J. and Callan, V. J. (2000). Employee adjustment to an organisational change: A stress and coping perspective.. Coping, health, and organizations. (pp. 259-276) edited by Philip Dewe, Michael Leiter and Tom Cox. London: Taylor & Francis.

  • Jones, E., Gallois, C., Barker, M. and Callan, V. J. (1994). Communication between Chinese and Australian students and staff: Influence of sex, ethnicity, and rule violations. Journeys into cross-cultural psychology : Selected papers from the Eleventh International Conference of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology held in Liège, Belgium. (pp. 184-196) edited by Bouvy, A., van de Vijver, F. J. R., Boski, P. and Schmitz, P. G.. Lisse, Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger.

  • Gallois, C., Barker, M., Jones, E. and Callan, V. J. (1992). Intercultural communication: Evaluations of lecturers and Australian and Chinese students. Innovations in cross-cultural psychology. (pp. 86-102) edited by Iwawaki, S., Kashima, Y. and Leung, K.. Lisse, Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers.

  • Gallois, C. and Callan, V. J. (1991). Interethnic accommodation: The role of norms. Contexts of accommodation: Developments in applied sociolinguistics. (pp. 245-269) edited by Giles, H., Coupland, J. and Coupland, N.. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

  • Hannover, B., Upmeyer, A., Kaplan, M. F., Schwarz, N., Strack, F., Callan, V. J., Gallois, C., Six, B. and Eckes, T. (1989). Social perception, judgments and decisions. Recent advances in social psychology: An international perspective. (pp. 249-307) edited by Forgas, J. P. and Innes, J. M.. Oxford, England: International Union of Psychological Science.

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

Completed Supervision