Dr Mario Fernando Associate Professor Head of Postgraduate Studies E-mail: mariof@uow.edu.au Telephone: +61 2 4221 4053 Fax: +61 2 4227 2785 Location: Building 40 Room 143 Consultation Times: http://commfac.uow.edu.au/consult/

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Qualifications

PhD, MBA, B.Com. (Special)
Attorney-at-Law, Supreme Court of Sri Lanka

Biography

Prior to his entry into academia, for over ten years, Mario held Board level and management consulting positions. He brings with him industry experience from Sri Lanka, USA and New Zealand. Mario has published a book on Spiritual Leadership in 2007. His research work is published in academic journals such as the Journal of Business Ethics, International Journal of Project Management, Technovation, Leadership and Organization Development Journal and the European Management Journal.

Mario’s passion for teaching is inspired by transformative learning. By challenging students to critically reflect on their assumptions, he aims to generate a conscious commitment in the student to engage in ethical action. Mario has developed curriculum and resources, and taught across a range of subjects in Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels to different learner types. He is a quality assurer of UOW’s off-shore programmes and an Accredited Peer Reviewer of Teaching. Prior to his academic role, Mario headed the human resource division of a large business conglomerate.

Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise

Virtue ethics
Corporate social responsibility
Responsible and Spiritual leadership
Effective teaching and learning approaches in ethics

Journal Editorial Review Board Memberships
 

Grants/Projects

Time Use, Family Functioning and Wellbeing among Secondary School Teachers (Research Partnership Grant, UOW)
Virtue in business: An empirical exploration of MacIntyre’s conceptual framework (with Durham University, UK)
The relationship between spiritual well being, consumer ethics and materialism: An empirical study with Australian consumers (with Bond University, Australia)
Australia Learning and Teaching Council funded Coordinators Leading Advancement of Sessional Staff (CLASS project, 2009, Reference Group Member)
Designing Assessments to link Teaching and Research: Social Innovation through Teaching and Learning Commerce, UOW (2009) 

Awards and Recognition

Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (ALTC Citation, 2011)
Vice Chancellor’s Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning Faculty Award (OCTAL, 2006)
Management Educator of the Year, Australian New Zealand Academy of Management and Pearson Publishers (2009)
Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (2007/8)
Teaching and Research All-Rounder Performance Award (2010)
Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Staff Award (2009)
Research Excellence, Staff Award (2008)
Innovations in Teaching, Staff Award (2008)

Memberships

Academy of Management (AoM)
Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA)
European Group of Organisation Studies (EGOS)
Australian New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM)

PhD Supervision

Bita Najafi : Corporate social responsibility attitudes of board directors in Australian firms: The role of gender, ethical ideology and spiritual wellbeing

 Belinda Gibbons: Use of online simulation to teach corporate social responsibility in the higher education context

 - Meiliani : Career anchors and job satisfaction: The mediating effect of psychological empowerment in the Indonesian public universities context

 Md Amlan Haque : Ethical leadership and its impact on ethical climate and employee trust in leaders: An empirical study of human resource managers.

 Mohammed Ghadi : The role of meaningful work and employee engagement in understanding the relationship between transformational leadership and work outcomes: an employee perspective.

 

Research Profile

UOW RIS profile