Scholars with fresh perspectives garner research awards

Scholars with fresh perspectives garner research awards

Waikato Management School research which examines CEO strategic decision-making and the role of the accountant in institutional change has garnered two early-career academics Outstanding Emerging Scholar awards.

Dr Paresha Sinha of the Department of Human Resource and Strategic Management and Dr Umesh Sharma of the Department of Accounting are the joint recipients of the 2010 Dean’s Award for Outstanding Emerging Scholar.

Dr Sinha’s research focuses on organisational leadership and international management, and she is particularly interested in exploring alternatives to the concept of heroic leadership.

“Heroic leadership is based on the erroneous belief that organisational effectiveness and performance depends on the positional leader’s personal qualities or heroic actions,” she says.

“My research perspective is rather different. It assumes leaders do not have 'solutions' to the problems, rather their role is to create conditions in which creative learning and continuous improvement occur.”

Dr Sharma also approaches his research with a fresh perspective, using interpretive approaches to generate new insights for management accounting in less developed countries.

For his doctoral thesis, Dr Sharma – who’s originally from Fiji -- looked at the transformation of Telecom Fiji from a government entity to a commercial company listed on the stock exchange, and the implications that had for company culture.

“Most theoretical models come from a Western perspective which doesn’t take into account issues of tribal rivalries and loyalties, communal society and chiefly hierarchy which are all represented in the corporate context in a developing country like Fiji,” he says. “So I’ve had to adapt and develop the theory.

“My interest is in exploring organisational change from the people’s perspective, so currently I’m looking at ideas around new classical economics, including Buddhist economics, that can help make people better corporate citizens.”

Both researchers have published extensively in international peer-reviewed journals, and have won best paper awards for their work.

Presenting the awards, Dean Professor Frank Scrimgeour said both Dr Sinha and Dr Sharma exemplified new thinking in their respective fields. “Paresha and Umesh combine dedication to quality research with fresh perspectives on some of the important questions of our time.

“They exemplify Waikato Management School’s commitment to increasing knowledge and shaping management theory, influencing business practice, and informing public policy in New Zealand and around the globe.”