Associate Professor Chris Provis

Chris Provis studied and taught philosophy, then worked for some years in industrial relations. In 1990 he was appointed to teach industrial relations and related subjects in the then South Australian Institute of Technology. He is now Associate Professor in the School of Management at the University of South Australia. He was a member of the working party formed by UniSA, Flinders University and the University of Adelaide to establish the collaborative Ethics Centre of South Australia (ECSA), and is now a member of the Centre's Research and Education Committee. He was until recently leader of the Group for Research on Employment and Workplace Change (GREWC). He continues to be involved in that research group (now reconstituted as the Group for research on Integrity and Governance) and in UniSA's Hawke Research Institute.

• Chris has taught courses ranging from academic philosophy to industrial relations practice. His present interests lie especially in areas of business ethics.

Member and Past President, Australian Association of Professional and Applied Ethics

Member, Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand

Member, Industrial Relations Society

Member, Society for Business Ethics

B.A. (Hons) (Flinders, 1972)

Ph.D. (Sydney, 1976)

CELTA (Cambridge/SACE, 2004)

• Organisational ethics, business ethics, corporate social responsibility, ethics in the public sector

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books and Commissioned Reports

Provis, C. Ethics and Organisational Politics, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham and Northampton, 2004.

Anderson, B, Provis, C, and Chappel, S., The Recognition and Management of Emotional Labour in the Tourism Industry, Report to CRC on Sustainable Tourism, October 2002.

Harris, R, Provis, C, Park, R, Mason, D, Delbridge, R, and Gough, R, High Performance Manufacturing and the Learning Factory, Report to Industry, August 2002.

Hunt, I, and Provis, C (eds), The New Industrial Relations in Australia, Federation Press, Sydney, 1995.

Book Chapters

Provis, C.: 2009, 'Ethics and HRM', in A. Wilkinson, N. Bacon, T. Redman & S. Snell (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Human Resource Management (Sage, London), pp. 475–489.

Provis, C.: 2009, 'Education, Religion, Sustainability, and Dialogue', in P. Willis, S. McKenzie & R. Harris (eds.), Rethinking Work and Learning (Springer, Dordrecht), pp. 107-117.

Provis, C.: 2007, 'Geoff’s Christmas and Employment Relations Decision-Making', in K. Abbott, B. Hearn Mackinnon, L. Morris, K. Saville & D. Waddell (eds.), Work Choices: Evolution or Revolution (Heidelberg Press, Melbourne), pp. 127–140.

Provis, C.: 2006, 'Organizational Politics, Definitions and Ethics,' in E. Vigoda-Gadot and A. Drory (eds), Handbook of Organizational Politics, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham and Northampton, pp. 89–106.

Journal Articles

Provis, C.: 2008, 'Guanxi and Conflicts of Interest,' Journal of Business Ethics 79(1–2), 57–68.

Provis, C.: 2007, 'Ethics and Issues in Public Policy,' Policy and Society, 26(3), 21–33.

Provis, C.: 2007, 'Ethics, Groups and Belief', Australian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics, 9(2), 4–13. Originally given as Presidential Address to Australian Association of Professional and Applied Ethics, 2006.

Palmer, N., A. Braunack-Mayer, W. Rogers, C. Provis and G. Cullity.: 2006, 'Conflicts of Interest in Divisions of General Practice,' Journal of Medical Ethics 32, 715–717.

Provis, C.: 2006, 'Industrial Relations, Ethics and Conscience,' Business Ethics: A European Review 15(1), 64–75.

Provis, C.: 2005, 'Dirty Hands and Loyalty in Organisational Politics,' Business Ethics Quarterly, 15(2), 283–298.

Hagglund, G. and C. Provis: 2005, 'The Conciliation Step of the Unfair Dismissal Process in South Australia', Labor Studies Journal 29(4), 65–86.

Provis, C.: 2004, 'Guanxi, Relationships and Ethics,' Australian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics 6 (1), 47-57. (Click here for pdf of 'Guanxi, Relationships and Ethics' (1.2mb) )

Provis, C.: 2004, 'Negotiation, Persuasion and Argument,' Argumentation 18(1), 95–112.

Provis, C. and S. Stack: 2004, 'Caring Work, Personal Obligation and Collective Responsibility', Nursing Ethics 11(1), 5–14.

Anderson, B.A., C. Provis and S.J. Chappel: 2003, 'The Selection and Training of Workers in the Tourism and Hospitality Industries for the Performance of Emotional Labour,' Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 10(1): 1–12. Reprinted in V.V. Ramani & G.V.S. Sreedhar (eds), Emotional Labour: An Introduction, ICFAI University Press, Hyderabad, 2006, pp. 176–196.

Provis, C.: 2001, 'The Ethics of Emotional Labour,' Australian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics 3 (2), 1–15. Reprinted in V.V. Ramani & G.V.S. Sreedhar (eds), Emotional Labour: An Introduction, ICFAI University Press, Hyderabad, 2006, pp. 67–86.

Provis, C.: 2001, 'Why Is Trust Important?,' Reason in Practice 1(2), 31–41.

Provis, C.: 2000, 'Ethics, Deception and Labor Negotiation,' Journal of Business Ethics 28 (2), 145-158.

Provis, C. and A. Strickland: 2000, 'South Australia: Consistency and Caution,' Australian Journal of Public Administration 59 (4), 84-92.

Provis, C., J. McKay and J. Tomaino: 1998, 'Whistleblowing and Organisational Strategy,' Journal of Contemporary Issues in Business and Government 4 (1), 43-51.

Sheridan, K. and C. Provis: 1998, 'Enterprise Agreements in South Australia: Progress or Pretence?,' International Journal of Employment Studies 6 (1), 127-148.

Provis, C.: 1997, 'Mediation and Conciliation in Industrial Relations: Reflections from Australia,' Labor Studies Journal 21 (4), 81-101.

Provis, C.: 1996, 'Interests vs Positions: A Critique of the Distinction,' Negotiation Journal 12 (4), 305-323.

Provis, C.: 1996, 'Unitarism, Pluralism, Interests and Values,' British Journal of Industrial Relations 34 (4), 473-495.

Provis, C.: 1993, 'Rights Disputes v Interests Disputes: A Distinction for Australia?,' Australian Journal of Labour Law 6 (3), 205-229.

Provis, C.: 1992, 'Principles and Values in Australian Wage Fixing,' Journal of Industrial Relations 34 (1), 65-86.

Provis, C.: 1986, 'Comparative Wage Justice,' Journal of Industrial Relations 28 (1), 24-39.

Provis, C.: 1981, 'Reason and Emotion,' Canadian Journal of Philosophy 11 (3), 439-456.

Other Publications

Provis, C.: 2009, 'Justifications for Wage Differentials.' Paper given at 16th Annual AAPAE Conference, (Goulburn, NSW), 9–11 June.

Provis, C.: 2009, 'On the Definition of Work.' Paper given at 23rd AIRAANZ Conference, (Newcastle, NSW), 4–6 February.

Provis, C.: 2008, 'Virtuous Decision Making for Business Ethics'. Paper given at 2nd World Business Ethics Forum, (Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong), 11–12 December.

Provis, C.: 2007, 'Corporate Social Responsibility and Virtue Ethics in Workforce Education and Development', Keynote Address given at International Conference on Workforce Education and Development (ICOWED 2007), National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, 30-31 October.
(Click here for the accompanying PowerPoint presentation) (Click here for a Chinese translation of the paper)

Provis, C.: 2005, 'Ethics and Dialogue in Religion and Public Policy', Presidential Address given at 12th Annual Conference of the Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics, Adelaide, September.

Stack, S., C. Provis and H. Harris: 2000, 'Teams, Flexibility and Caring Labour'. Paper given at 4th International Workshop On Teamworking, Nijmegen Business School, University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 4-5 September.

Provis, C.: 1999, 'Ethics and Industrial Relations' in C. Leggett and G. Treuren eds., Proceedings of 13th AIRAANZ Conference (Adelaide), vol. 1: pp. 193-206.

Provis, C.: 1999, 'Is the Idea of Culture a Useful Analytical Tool?' in Proceedings of International Conference on Comparative Management (National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan), pp. 83-91