Associate Professor
Associate Professor Will Felps
- PhD in Management & Organizational Behavior, 2007; Foster School of Business, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- B.A. Marketing, 2002; McCombs School of Business, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
Business School
School of Management and Governance
Will Felps teaches and conducts research on a wide range of management-related topics. His research areas include: human resource management, leadership & motivation, team effectiveness, career management, measuring expertise, business ethics, and meta-science.
Will currently teaches Leadership to MBA students and teaches Foundations of Business Research to junior scholars.
E-mail
Location
534C, Lvl 5
UNSW Business Bldg, School of Management & Governance
College Rd, Kensington NSW 2052
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
- 2019 Dean’s Research Fellowship (8 in Business School) equivalent to ~$120,000AU
- 2016 Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project DP150104081 $173,596AU
- “(When) should organisations employ over/underqualified individuals?”
- 2010 EUR fellowship from Erasmus University €200,000
- 2007 National Science Foundation Research Grant $10,000US
- 2006 Grant from the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics $20,000US
- 2021 UNSW Exemplary Teaching Practice Award (finalist)
- 2021 Supervisor of the Year (nominee)
- 2021 Business School’s Excellence Award for ‘Values in Action’ for Virtual Class development (team)
- 2020 Excellence in Reviewing Award (from Human Resource Management Review)
- 2018 UNSW Business School Research Achievement Award (1 per school)
- 2013 Best Reviewer Award, Academy of Management Conference
- 2013 Hired by UNSW under auspices of Vice-Chancellor’s Strategic Priorities Fund for recruiting talent
Will's prior research has investigated a diverse range of topics, such as the negative effects of bad apple teammates, the contagion of quitting in organisations, how stakeholder cultures impact performance, the consequences of one’s moral identity, how institutional factors reinforce the IQ-job performance relationship, and why overqualified employees can't get hired. Will has also collaborated on a number of articles which use science mapping to review various fields, including human resources, careers, teams, adaptive performance, organisational behaviour, and management. Will's research has been published in academic outlets such as the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Human Resource Management Review, and Journal of Applied Psychology.
ENGAGEMENT/SERVICE AT UNSW
- Speaker: AGSM Operational Risk Symposium (Oct)
- Member of PULSE reference group for Business School Staff Surveys (2021 - current)
- Workload Committee for School of Management & Governance (Chair) (2020)
- Contributions to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Division.
- Data analyst for the 2019 UNSW Respect Survey: Worked with co-DVC Leisa Sargent to interpret survey results and prepare reports for variety of UNSW units and stakeholders (2019)
- Member of the Inclusive Leadership Program design group (for all UNSW leadership)
- Leader of Research Network: Behavioural Insights for Business & Policy (2019 – 2020)
- Organiser of Behavioural Insights for HR Professionals workshop (Dec 2019)
- Coordinator for Organisational Behaviour Brown-Bag Group (2020 – current)
- Serving on two BCom Review Committees: HR Curriculum Panel & Leadership PLO (2020)
- Summative Peer Review of Teaching Reviewer (2019 – current)
- Expert Reviewer for UNSW Business’ Peer Support of Teaching program (2018 – current)
- Mentor in the Early Career Academic (ECA) program (2019 – current)
- Mentor for the PhD Teaching Fellows program (2020 – current)
- Junior faculty buddy in School of Management (2019 – current)
- Presenter: HDR Orientation Sessions (2017 – 2020)
- Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI) Advisory Board Officer & Chair (2019 – 2020)
- AHRI accreditation for HR majors in the UG BCom and Econ programs
- Set up Articulation pathway from AHRI’s Practising Certification (APC) program
- EQUIS re-accreditation panel (2018)
- Chair of New Opportunities Committee (2015 – 2019)
- On hiring committees for lecturer, senior lecturer, and associate professor positions (7 hires)
- Associate Head of School, School of Management (from 2015–2017, with sabbatical in 2016)
- Chair of Learning & Teaching Committee (from 2015–2017, with sabbatical in 2016)
- Director of Studies at the Australian Graduate School of Management (2013 - 2015)
SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION
- Chair of the Society of Organisational Behaviour Australia (2020 – current)
- Editorial Board 2011-2015 – Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
- Ad Hoc Reviewer – Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, Human Relations, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Industry and Innovation, Journal of Informetrics, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Journal of Business Ethics, Business Ethics Quarterly, Human Resource Management, and Human Resource Management Review.
MEDIA MENTIONS
- The benefits of asking questions and really listening. AOM Insights. 16th Nov 2021.
- How has COVID changed the way we need to collaborate and innovate? (Frederik Anseel & Will Felps). BusinessThink. 29th September 2021.
- 'Turnover contagion': The domino effect of one resignation. (Christine Ro). BBC Worklife. 17th September 2021.
- Three useful things to know about diversity and inclusive leadership (Juliet Bourke & Will Felps). Business Think, July 2020
- The business of purpose-led leadership. AGSM’s The Business Of…Leadership podcast series. September 2020.
- Featured in Hastings, R., & Meyer, E. (2020). No rules rules: Netflix and the culture of reinvention. VIRGIN books.
- Leadership skills and recovering from covid-19; BusINess Australia, 2020
- Leading your business out of coronavirus – for the better; Business Think, May 2020
- 10 best practice tips for leading virtual teams; Business Think, March 2020
- When two plus two equals ten. The Culture Code, Coyle, 2018
- How to neutralize a bad apple in your team; Ladders, November 2019
- Look for the good apples; Michael Hyatt & Co, April 2018
- Why good listeners make good leaders. Best Practice; ABC National Radio, 2017
- Why leaders need to ask more questions, respectfully; Business Think, March, 2017
- Why leaders need to start listening to their staff; South China Morning Post, May 2017
- Leading Virtual Teams: Best Practice Insights; Deloitte, March 2015
- Enhancing stakeholder happiness: A new corporate objective for a new era?; Foster School of Business, University of Washington, January 2014
- Ruining it for the Rest of Us; [Movie version] This American Life, December 2008
- The business of Christmas; Access News, December 2014
- How a Few Bad Apples Ruin Everything, Wall Street Journal, October, 2011
- The bad apple syndrome; Knowledge @ Wharton / Forbes, Nov 10, 2011
- Does IQ Predict Performance at Work? CNN, Feb 28,2011
- How a few bad apples ruin everything ; Wall Street Journal. Oct 2011
- When and How to Go Beyond IQ in Assessing Employees -Chief Learning Officer, Mar 2011
- Hoher IQ ist nicht gleich hohe Leistung -Frankfurter Allgemeine, February 22, 2011
- Intelligence Not the Solution -IEDP, February 4, 2011
- Bad is Stronger than Good: Evidence-Based Advice for Bosses -HBR Blog, August 8, 2010
- Are You Working with Energizers or Rotten Apples? -Fast Company, September 1, 2010
My Research Supervision
- Maurice Violani (Dissertation on strategic decision making)
- Ezgi Aslantekin (Dissertation on adaptive performance)
- Nam Gyu Ryu (Dissertation on management ethics)
My Teaching
- MBAX9131 Leadership (Facilitator in Charge)
- COMM8100 Foundations of Business Research (coordinator and instructor)