What enables and disables senior leaders' engagement with AI in their decision-making?
That is the question my doctoral research is built on. Before it, I spent thirty-seven years as the kind of leader I am now researching.
Photograph: Monash Business School
I am a first-year PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary PhD Program at Monash University, based in the Faculty of Business and Economics.
For thirty-seven years I was a senior leader in mining, energy and manufacturing, from underground coal mines in the Hunter Valley to oil refineries across the Asia Pacific. They are industries where a bad decision carries a physical consequence. I now research the people who hold those jobs: what makes a senior leader willing to bring artificial intelligence into a decision that matters, and what makes them hold it at arm's length.
I came to the academy late and I hold the voice with humility. A colleague in training is how I describe it, a four-year apprenticeship to earn my place.
Monash Business School wrote about the research in Boss versus bot
| Years | Position |
|---|---|
| 2026– | PhD candidate, Monash University |
| 2014– | Principal, independent HR and organisational development practice |
| 1989–2014 | Senior leadership roles, mining, energy and manufacturing |
| 1977–1989 | Early career, human resources |
I am the only doctoral student on the Faculty of Business and Economics AI in Research Reference Group, which sets the faculty's agenda for AI in research and carries one representative from each department.
I am also a member of three research interest groups: Organisational Behaviour, Human Resources and Industrial Relations, and iCREW, the International Consortium for Research in Employment and Work.
The thesis will be three papers, framed as three questions. None of them is answered yet, and nothing below is a finding.
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Why does this matter?In progress
A scoping review of what the published literature says enables and disables senior leaders' engagement with AI.
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What are leaders actually experiencing?In design
Qualitative field research with senior leaders across sectors.
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How do we build what they need?Planned
A design science artefact, developed and tested with the leaders who would use it.
Panels, seminars and guest sessions for senior leaders and the people who advise them. Upcoming and past engagements are on the speaking page.
Notes from the research as it goes, written for practitioners rather than examiners. The writing page holds the archive.
My industrial relations, employee relations and remuneration practice is a separate concern and lives at peoplemix.com. This site is the research.
- tom@tommcatee.com
- Monash
- Graduate research listing, Monash Business School
- linkedin.com/in/tommcatee
- Based
- Melbourne, Victoria