Dr Arun Elias

MBA Director,
Victoria Management School

Profile

Arun is a Senior lecturer in Management. His main research interests are in the areas of stakeholder management, systems thinking and modelling, and environmental conflict management.

Arun is also the MBA Director.

Arun's PhD was on the analysis of stakeholder dynamics in environmental conflicts, using a systems thinking and modelling approach. He used the Wellington Transmission Gully motorway project as a case study. Arun completed his PhD under the supervision of Dr Bob Cavana of Decision Sciences and Dr Laurie Jackson of Environmental Studies.

Academically, Arun has two Masters degrees - one in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and the other in Agricultural Engineering from Allahabad University, India. Professionally, he has worked in industry - as an Industrial Engineer with the Indian industrial giant, Tata Iron and Steel Company, in academia - as a lecturer with Allahabad University and in R & D - as an Agro specialist in Sustainable Agriculture with UPASI -an Indian NGO. Arun has been awarded with the Victoria University Post Graduate Scholarship for PhD studies.

Arun resides in the Hutt Valley, Wellington, with his wife Preetha and his two children - daughter Ananya and son Alaap.

Qualifications

PhD in Management (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
M. Tech. Industrial Engg. and Management (IIT, Kharagpur, India)
MSc Agri. Engg. (Allahabad, India)
B. Tech. Agri. Engg. (Allahabad, India)
Senior Lecturer
MBA Director

Research Interests

• System Dynamics;
• Stakeholder Management and Dynamics;
• Environmental Conflict Management;
• Systems Thinking and Modelling;
• Operations Management;
• Agri-Systems Management.

Publications and Presentations

Articles

Elias, A.A. (2008). Towards a shared mental model of stakeholders in an environmental conflict.  International Transactions in Operational Research (15) 239-253

Elias, A.A. (2008). Energy Efficiency in New Zealand's Residential Sector: A Systemic Analysis.  Energy Policy (36) 3278-3285

Elias, A.A., Jackson, L.S., and Cavana, R.Y., 'Changing positions and interests of stakeholders in environmental conflict: A New Zealand transport infrastructure case', Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 45, 1 (2004), pp. 87-104.

Dr Bob Cavana (Author)

Elias, Arun A, Cavana, Robert Y, and Jackson, Laurie, 'Stakeholder analysis for R&D project management', R&D Management, 32, 4 (2002), pp. 301-310.

Dr Bob Cavana (Author)

Book Reviews

Elias, A.A., Strategic Management Learning Guide (Wellington, Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, 2004), pp. 220.

Books/Scholarly Editions

Corbett, L. C., & Elias, A.A. (2006). Proceedings of the 4th Australia New Zealand Academy of Management Operations Management Symposium 2006, Victoria Management School, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Elias, A.A, Strategic Management Learning Guide (Wellington, New Zealand: The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, 2004)

Chapters

Elias, A.A., 'Stakeholder participation in environmental conflicts: A systems thinking and modelling approach for decision making', in M.P. Gupta (ed), Towards E-Government: Management Challenges (New Delhi, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2004), pp. 57-65.

Elias, A.A. and Cavana, R.Y., 'Stakeholder Analysis', in H. Daellenbach and R. Flood (eds.), The Informed Student Guide to Management Sciences, (Thomson Learning, London, 2002), pp. 254-255.

Elias, A.A., 'The Enticing World of Systems Thinking and Management, Organisation and Management Learning Guide', The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, Lower Hutt (2001).

Conference Presentations

Elias, A.A., 'Analysing Tourism Development: A System Dynamics Approach', New Zealand and Hospitality Research Conference, (Wellington, December 2004).

Major Reports

Elias, A.A., 'Stakeholder Analysis of Transmission Gully', Research Project Report, (Wellington Regional Council, New Zealand, 2001).

Minor Reports

Elias, A.A. and Cavana, R.Y., 'Stakeholder Analysis for Transport Planning', Transport Planning Workshop, (Wellington Regional Council, Wellington, New Zealand, 2000), pp. 111-121.

Published Conference Papers

Elias, A.A. (2008). A systemic analysis of energy efficiency in New Zealand's residential sector. Proceedings of the 26th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society (Athens, Greece).

Elias, A.A. (2008). Group Model Building: Energy Efficiency in New Zealand's Residential Sector. Proceedings of the 6th Annual Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Operations Management Symposium (Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia).

Elias, A. A. and Zwikael, O. (2007). Stakeholder Participation in Project Management:  A New Zealand Study. Proceedings of the 5th Annual Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Operations Management Symposium, (Melbourne, Australia).

Elias, A.A. (2007). Dynamics of Stakeholders in Project Management: A New Zealand Case. Project Management Institute of New Zealand 11th Annual Conference (Wellington, New Zealand).

 Elias, A.A. (2007). Systems Thinking and Strategic Modelling: A New Zealand Study on Stakeholder Conflict. Proceedings of the XI Annual International Conference of Society of Operations Management (Nashik, Maharashtra, India).

Elias, A. A. (2006) 'A shared systems model of stakeholders in project management', Proceedings of the 4th Annual Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Operations Management Symposium, (Victoria Management School, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand).

Elias, A. A. (2006) 'Environmental Conflicts, Stakeholders and a Shared Mental Model', Proceedings of the 24th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society (The Netherlands, Radbound University Nijmegen, 2006), pp. 61-62.

Elias, A.A., 'The Systemic Nature of Quality: A Framework for Analysis', Proceedings of the International Conference on Reliability, Statistics and Related Fields, (Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, India, 2005).

Elias, A.A., 'Long-term Developmental Projects and Stakeholder Management: A Systems Approach', Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Operations Management Symposium, (Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia, 2005).

Elias, A.A., Cavana, R.Y., & Jackson, L.S., 'Analysing Stakeholder Dynamics in Environmental Conflict: A New Zealand Transport Infrastructure Project', Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, (England, University of Oxford, 2004), pp. 1-21.

Elias, A., Cavana, R. and Jackson, L., 'Analysing the Dynamics of Stakeholders in Environmental Conflict: A Systems Thinking and Modelling Approach', in Graham Elkin (ed), Proceedings of the 18th Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (Dunedin, ANZAM, 2004), CD-ROM, pp. 1-15.

Dr Bob Cavana (Author)

Elias, A.A., Cavana, R.Y. and Jackson, L.S., 'Using group model building for analysing environmental conflict management in the Wellington transmission gully project', in Tim Haslett and Rod Sarah (eds), Proceedings of the 9th Australia New Zealand Systems Society Conference (Melbourne, Australia New Zealand Systems Society, 2004), pp. 1-14.

Dr Bob Cavana (Author)

Elias, A.A., Cavana, R.Y., & Jackson, L.S., 'Using group model building for analysing environmental conflict management in the Wellington transmission gully project', Proceedings of the 9th conference of the Australia New Zealand Systems Society (Melbourne, Australia, 2003), pp. 2-15.

Elias, A.A., Jackson, L.S. and Cavana, R.Y., 'Towards a Shared Mental Model of Stakeholders in Environmental Conflict', Proceedings of the Institute of Australian Geographers' Conference, (Canberra, Australia, 2002), pp. 32-33.

Elias, A.A., Cavana, R.Y. and Jackson, L.S., 'Stakeholder Analysis to Enrich the Systems Thinking and Modelling Methodology', Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of the Systems Dynamics Society, (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 2001), pp. 52-53.

Elias, A.A., Cavana, R.Y. and Jackson, L.S., 'A Methodology for Analysing Stakeholders of R & D Projects', Proceedings of the R & D Management Conference, (Wellington, New Zealand, 2000), pp. 114.

Elias, A.A., Cavana, R.Y. and Jackson, L.S., 'Linking Stakeholder Literature and System Dynamics: Opportunities for Research', Proceedings of the International Conference on Systems Thinking in Management, (Geelong, Australia, 2000), pp. 174-179.

Mohapatra, P.K., Guin, K.K. and Elias, A.A., 'Diffusion of the Internet in India - A User Survey', Proceedings of the 15th National Conference of Development Studies, (National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies, Delhi, India, 1998), pp. 35-38.

Thomas, T. and Elias, A.A., 'Dairy Waste Recycling - Use in Vermicomposting with Earthworms (Eudrilus eugeniae ands Eisenda fetida) and cowdung in different ratios,' Proceedings of the 31st Annual Convention of Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers, (Thrissur, Kerala, India, 1996), pp.50.

Theses

Elias, Arun Abraham, 'Analysing the Dynamics of Stakeholders in the Wellington Transmission Gully Project: A Systems Thinking and Modelling Approach to Environmental Conflict Management'. PhD