Dr Simon Moss

Biography

I am a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Monash University. My primary research interest concerns the determinants of honesty, integrity, and ethics. To investigate these issues, I have published a broad range of articles in the fields of attention, learning, marketing, strategy, quality management, work-family balance, and personality. I also present lectures and tutorials in multivariate statistics, research methods, and mathematical modeling.

I am also a cofounder and director of Zenith Professional Development, a company that provides a unique form of management assessment and training. Specifically, this assessment and training is intended to dispel all the myths and fallacies that compromise the behaviour of managers as well as their employees.

I also developed the Ethogram, the first psychometric instrument that is designed to uncover all the traits that participants attempt to conceal. Finally, I have been employed as a consultant in other organisations, such as The Empower Group, especially in the fields of workplace assessment and operational planning.

Professional Activities

I am a cofounder and director of Zenith Professional Development, a company that has collated every scientific discovery that contradicts prevailing management beliefs and practices. Using this database, I have developed a tool that identifies misconceptions in management. In addition, I present training programs to all levels of management – across a broad range of industries - that are designed to redress these misconceptions.

I am also the founder of TOP OF MIND, a forum that is intended to promote the field of organisational psychology, develop innovations, and redress ineffective, flawed practices.

Research Interests

My primary research interest relates to the factors that promote honest, ethical, cooperative, and dedicated behaviour in the workplace. Specifically, I am interested in the misconceptions of individuals that compromise this behaviour. For example, many individuals believe that mental images of inspiring leaders can enhance their motivation – but this belief is misguided in many contexts.

Postgraduate Research Projects

Some of my postgraduate students are currently undertaking the following projects:

• The impact of racial diversity in workgroups on their level of creativity and innovation
• The factors that promote suitable decisions in real life scenarios, such as blackjack
• The problems that emanate from emotional intelligence

• The impact of contextual and individual factors, such as extraversion, on whether employees respond inappropriately if the victim of injustice
• The complications that can arise when employees feel a sense of trust to the workplace
• The interaction between personality, values, and workplace culture on the extent to which employees act altruistically.
• The degree to which personality influences the capacity of employees to deceive their managers

Potential Student Projects

I would be delighted to undertake research into the following issues:

• The effect of employee traits that can be readily enhanced - such as unconscious beliefs - that can improve their openness to change and development
• Mental images that reduce anxiety
• Contextual factors - such as whether employees are encouraged to focus on aspirations rather than duties - that foster confidence but not complacency

• Traits, beliefs, and emotions that influence the capacity of individuals to detect dishonesty in other individuals
• The impact of individual characteristics, including personality, on the incidence of dishonesty
• The factors that diminish the susceptibility of individuals to misleading messages, such as political advertisements.
• Subtle tactics that overcome discrimination during job interviews
• The relationship between facial characteristics and cooperation

Nevertheless, I would be pleased to participate in any research that entails unconscious attitudes, subtle manipulations, and misconceptions in the context of work or social psychology.

Teaching

• Research design and methods
• Statistics and data analysis.

• Wearing costumes to differentiate contradictory perspectives
• Introducing counterintuitive and startling research findings to challenge common practices
• Applying the latest advances in cognition to facilitate understanding

Publications

Bardoel, E. A., Moss, S. A., Smyrnios, K., & Tharenou, P. (1999). Employee characteristics associated with the provision of work-family policies and programs. International Journal of Manpower, 20, 563-576.

Bardoel, E. A., Tharenou, P., & Moss, S. A. (1998). Organizational predictors of work-family practices. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 36, 31-49.

Bennington, L., & Moss, S. (2001). Self, peer and tutor assessments of oral presentations. International Journal of Management Literature, 1, 81-90.

Chambers C., Mattingley, J. B., & Moss, S. A. (2002). The octave illusion revisited: Suppression or fusion between ears. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 28, 1288-1302.

Chambers C., Mattingley, J. B., & Moss, S. A. (2004). Reconsidering evidence forthe suppression model of the octave illusion. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11, 642-666.

Chambers C., Mattingley, J. B., & Moss, S. A. (2004). The suppression model remains unsound: A reply to Deutsch. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11, 677-680.

Chambers C., Mattingley, J. B., & Moss, S. A. (2005). Does selective attention influence the octave illusion. Perception, 34, 217-229.

Edwards, R., & Moss, S. A. (2000). Negative country of origin events: The case of French nuclear tests. International Journal of Business Studies, 8, 23-36.

Edwards, R., Ahmad, A., & Moss, S. (2002). Export roles of MNC subsidiaries: Implications for subsidiaries in Malaysia. Journal of Asian Business, 17, 1-13.

Gullone, E., Moore, S., Moss, S. A., & Boyd, C. (2000). The adolescent risk-taking questionnaire (ARQ): Development and psychometric evaluation. Journal of Adolescent Research,15, 231-250.

Haslett, T., Moss, S. A., Osborne, C., & Ramm, P. (2000). Local rules and fitness landscapes: A catastrophe model. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, 4, 67-86.

Millen, R., Sohal, A., & Moss, S. A. (1999). Quality management in the logistics function: An empirical study. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, 16, 166-180.

Moss, S. A. (2002). The impact of environmental clues in problem solving and incubation: the moderating effect of ability. Creativity Research Journal, 14, 207-211.

Moss, S. A. & Francis, R. (in press). Fads and fallacies in the name of management. Australian Academic Press.

Rankins, D., Bradshaw, J., Moss, S. & Georgiou-Karsitianis, N. (2004). Inhibition of Return in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder . Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 10, 54-59.

Rinehart, N. J., Bradshaw, J. L., Moss, S. A., Brereton, A. V., & Tongue, B. J. (2000). Atypical interference of local detail on global processing in high-functioning Autism and Asperger's disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 769-778.

Rinehart, N. J., Bradshaw, J. L., Moss, S. A., Brereton, A. V., & Tongue, B. J. (2001). A deficit in shifting attention present in high functioning autism but not Asperger's disorder. Autism, 5, 67-80.

Rinehart, N. J., Bradshaw, J.L., Moss, S., Brereton, A. V., Tonge, B.J. (in press) Random number generation in autism and Asperger's disorder: A neuropsychological measure of repetitive and stereotypical behaviour. Autism.

Sohal, A. S., Millen, R., & Moss, S. A. (2002). A comparison of the use of third-party logistics services by Australian firms between 1995 and 1999. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, 32(1), 59-68.

Sohal, A. S., Millen, R., Maggard, M., & Moss, S. A. (1999). Quality in logistics: A comparison of practices between Australian and North American/European firms. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, 29(4), 267-280.

Sohal, A. S., Moss, S. A., & Ng, L. (2000). Using IT productively: Practices and factors that influence success. International Journal of Technology Management, 20, 340-353.

Sohal, A. S., Moss, S. A., & Ng, L. (2001). Comparing IT success in manufacturing and service industries. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 21, 30-45.

Spataro, J., Moss, S. A., & Wells, D. L. (2001). Child sexual abuse: A reality for both sexes. Australian Psychologist, 26, 177-183.

Spataro, J., Mullen, P. E., Burgess, P. M., Wells, D. L., & Moss, S. A. (2004). Impact of child sexual abuse on mental health: Prospective study in males and females. British Journal of Psychiatry, 184, 416-421.

Terziovski, M., Sohal, A. S., Moss, S. A. (1999). Longitudinal analysis of quality management practices in Australian organizations, Total Quality Management, 10(6), 915-926.

Williams, M. A., Moss, S. A., Bradshaw, J. L., & Rinehart, N. J. (2002). Random number generation in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33(1), 43-47.

Williams, M., Moss, S. A., & Bradshaw, J. (2004). A unique look at face processing: The impact of masked faces on the processing of facial features. Cognition., 91, 155-172.

Williams, M., Moss, S. A., Bradshaw, J., Mattingley, J. (accepted). "Look at me, I'm smiling: Visual search for threatening and non-threatening facial expressions Cognition.,

Wilson, K., Gullone, E., & Moss, S. A. (1998). The youth version of the positive and negative affect schedule: A psychometric validation. Behaviour Change, 15, 187-193.