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Debra Da Silva

Office location: THURGOONA, ROOM 209, BUILDING AA3

Full mail address:PO BOX 789, ALBURY NSW 2640

Telephone: +61 2 6051 9843
Email: ddasilva@csu.edu.auEmail Me

Qualifications:

Teaching:


Recent Research

a. International Mobility in MNCs

My PhD thesis (University of Sydney) is currently under examination. My thesis "International Human Resources Architectures: A stocks and flows analysis of employee mobility in Multinational Corporations" challenges the prevailing issues in IHRM by examining the issues of international mobility and aspatial careers from a human resources architectures view. This research uses case study methodology, consisting of an online survey and in person interviews across the Asia Pacific region. The primary outcome is to isolate the existence of two 'expatriate' style functions and identify how the application of different HR architectures has led to substantial problems for the company.

b. The Affect of Work/Life Balance Considerations on Skilled Internal Migration: A dual-perspective analysis of skills shortages in Regional Australia

While organisations in regional Australia face the difficulty of attracting skilled labour, an increasing number of individuals are considering amenity-lifestyle changes, commonly known as ‘sea-change’ or ‘tree-change’ decisions. As such, there is an interesting and complex nexus to be considered: how do regional organisations use their work/life balance (WLB) policies to attract skilled labour, and secondly how does this promotion of WLB appeal to individuals’ mobility and decision making-processes?

This dual-perspective issue will be examined using a longitudinal analysis of both organisations and individuals drawn from the Goulburn-Murray region. The proposed project will incorporate major regional organisations from professional service and manufacturing. Proposed findings will focus on developing human resource strategies that better match the needs of regional organisations with the motivations and intentions of skilled migratory labour. This issue will be examined through the development of a conceptual model and set of hypotheses designed to test the attractiveness of a move to regional Australia against variables such as work factors, demographic factors, social factors and perceptions of regional Australia. Proposed findings will focus on developing human resource strategies that better match the needs of regional organisations with the motivations and intentions of skilled migratory labour.

Refereed Conference papers:

2008

  1. da Silva, D. 2008, “Understanding New Forms of International Mobility: Taking Stocks of an MNCs Human Resources Architecture.” Refereed Paper presented at 4th Workshop on Expatriation, European Institute of Advanced Studies in Management, Las Palmas Gran Canaria, Spain, October 22-23, 2008.
  2. da Silva, D. 2008, “An HR Architectures Approach To Understanding New Forms Of International Staffing”, Best Paper Proceedings Academy of Management Conference, Anaheim, USA, August 8-13, 2007.
  3. da Silva, D. and K. Grigg, 2008, “Using Work/Life Balance Strategies to Address Regional Skills Shortages” Refereed paper presented at Sustainable Economic Growth fir Regional Australia (SEGRA) Conference, Albury, Australia, August 18-20 August.
  4. Grigg, K. and D. da Silva, 2008, “Skill shortages in regional Australia and novel marketing campaigns: a sign of the desperate times!” Refereed paper presented at Sustainable Economic Growth fir Regional Australia (SEGRA) Conference, Albury, Australia, August 18-20 August.
  5. da Silva, D. and K. Grigg, 2008, “The Role of Work/Life Balance Employer Brands and Regional Skill Shortages”, Refereed Paper presented at Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRRANZ) Conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 6-8, 2008.

2007

  1. da Silva, D. 2007, “The role of work/life balance considerations on employment mobility in regional Australia”, Refereed Paper presented at Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Conference, Sydney, Australia, December 3-8, 2007.
  2. da Silva, D. 2007, “Understanding Treechangers and Their Employment Mobility: Applying Expatriation Theory to Construct A Model of the Antecedents of Mobility in a Sub-National Context”, Refereed Paper presented at Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Conference, Sydney, Australia, December 3-8, 2007.
  3. da Silva, D. 2007, “MNC Human Resources Architectures: Individual and Organizational perspectives”, Refereed Paper presented at Academy of Management Conference, Philadelphia, USA, August 3-8, 2007.
  4. da Silva, D. 2007, “Expatriates that stay at home? Understanding Individual and Organizational perspectives on Mobility in MNCs”, Refereed Paper presented at 9th International HRM Conference, Tallinn, Estonia, June 12-15, 2007.

2006

  1. da Silva, D. 2006, “MNC Human resources Architectures: Individual and Organizational perspectives”, Refereed Paper presented at Asian Academy of Management Conference, Tokyo, Japan, December 2006.

2005

  1. da Silva, D. 2005, “Applying a resource-based view of the firm to understanding expatriate assignments in MNCs”, Refereed Paper presented at Australian Centre for Research in Employment and Work Inaugural Conference, Melbourne, Australia, June 2005.

2004

  1. da Silva, D. 2004, “Understanding expatriate assignments in MNCs”, Joint seminar presentation with Ernst & Young at Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) Seminar, Sydney, Australia. July 2003.
  2. da Silva, D. 2004, “MNC Labour Utilisation Strategies: International and Domestic Employees”, 18th AIRAANZ Conference Proceedings, Griffith University.
  3. da Silva, D. 2004, “Expatriate assignments in MNCs: Foreign and local perspectives”, Refereed Paper presented at Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand, Noosa, Australia. February 2004.
  4. da Silva, D. 2004, “Applying human resources architecture theory to MNCs: Developing a typology for global mobility beyond international assignments”, Refereed Paper presented at International Industrial Relations Association 7th European Congress, Estoril, Portugal, July 2004.
  5. da Silva, D. 2004, “Applying a resource-based view of the firm to understanding expatriate assignments in MNCs”, Refereed Paper presented at Academy of International Business Annual Meeting, Stockholm, Sweden, July 2004.
  6. Stephen, D. 1995, “Women’s Relative Earning Under Enterprise Bargaining”, Discussion Papers, No. 327. Centre for Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.

Research Grants:

Professional associations, professional activities and consultancies:

Member, Doctoral Students Committee, International Management Division, Academy of Management (2006-2010); Member of Academy of Management, Academy of International Business, Australian Human Resources Institute.

Areas of research interest:

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