The HRM subject Group is part of Edinburgh Napier Business School located in Edinburgh, Scotland. With an excellent reputation for high quality research and teaching at undergraduate and post graduate levels, our purpose is to develop people to perform to their full potential in their chosen field through excellence in research, teaching and knowledge transfer.

We do this by:

 

We are a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) approved centre and one of the main providers of academic and professional development in HRM within Scotland. At a recent CIPD quality assessment, our well established flagship programme, the MSC in Human Resource Management received 11 commendations of good practice. The group also contribute to teaching on other postgraduate and undergraduate programmes being delivered in the university and overseas on both a taught and flexible learning basis. The group has recently launched a new MSC in International HRM both delivered at home and off-shore with our partner Singapore HR Institute Academy where we also deliver an undergraduate degree in HRM with Financial Management.

The group have focused their research activity in the field of Maximising Human Potential and our programmes are delivered by a team of academics with a variety of research specialism’s including HR transformation, employee wellbeing, employee value proposition, performance management, labour relations, learning and development, talent management and leadership. Team members sit on the editorial boards of 4 leading international journals and the group are currently involved in the supervision of 15 HRM PhD and DBA students.

 

The HRM specialists include 3 Professors, Sandra Watson (Professor of HRD) Anne Munro (Professor of Work and Industrial Relations) and Helen Francis (Professor of People Management). Many of the team have published in leading national and internationally recognised HRM journals, including The Human Resource Management Journal, Personnel Review, Employee Relations and Human Relations.

As well as providing well established and innovative teaching programmes, some members of the group are involved in research and consultancy activities. The Institute of People and OD, led by Professor Helen Francis  has built up excellent relationships with a wider network of HRM academic staff and external HRM specialists many of whom are involved in our work, providing expertise around teaching, consultancy research and work based learning. The emphasis in all our work is on blending theory and practice, enabling our graduates to acquire the skills and knowledge they will need to meet the complex challenges of the business world, encouraging them to develop a critical perspective, and question existing ways of doing things in order to develop a deeper understanding of HRM practice.

 

We encourage students and practitioners to consider evidence-based arguments to enhance their own HR practice and develop a better understanding of the relevance and usefulness of research to practitioners.

The HR teaching team is proud of its focus on students and on being ‘student centred’ and are available as a source of academic expertise and advice to the students but at the same time recognise each student as an individual. The group regularly receive excellent feedback from students about teaching quality and pastoral care and recently received commendations of good practice from the CIPD in areas such as:

 

Chiara Amati is HRM and Psychology Lecturer and a Chartered Occupational Psychologist who joined Edinburgh Napier University Business School in 2010. Chiara teaches on the MSc HRM and on related undergraduate courses on the psychology of individuals and groups at work and how this applies to motivation, engagement, selection and recruitment or health at work. Chiara joined the University after a number of years working in a successful commercial psychology consultancy firm, primarily in the area of psychological health and wellbeing at work. She has extensive experience of working within the private and public sectors, in the UK and worldwide with clients such as BP, Shell and BG Group. Chiara’s own main area of expertise is the emotional experience of individuals work, specifically the impact of personality and context on the public display of privately felt emotions. She is in the process of completing her doctoral studies (DBA) on this topic and has already started to publish in this area. 

 

Recent publications include: Amati (2012) Convener of the Symposium: ‘Emotion at Work: A Dialogue between Science and Practice’ British Psychological Society, Division of Occupational Psychology Annual Conference; Amati, C & Donegan, C (2012) Emotion at Work. In Francis, F; Holbeche, L & Reddington, M (Eds) People and Organisational Development: A New Agenda for Organisational Effectiveness

 

Mammed Bagher is a Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour and Change Management, Leadership Learning & Development in the School of Management, The Business School. He combines his work as an editor and researcher with lecturing and programme directorship within the Business School. He is the Programme Director for MBA programmes and mainly lectures at postgraduate level on programmes such as the MBA, MSc Business Management, MSc in Managerial Leadership and MSc in Human Resource Management both in the UK and overseas. 

 

Mammed guest edited Volume 34 issue 6 of “Journal of European Industrial Training” ISSN: 0309-0590, published in July 2010. His research interests and publications include: change management, evolution management; management learning and development; business innovation and creation; sustainable development; virtual organisations; e-commerce and e-learning; and knowledge management.

 

He has also acted as a consultant to senior managers and directors in outside industry and business commerce, for companies such as Airbus UK; BAE Systems; Bailey Telecom; Bombardier – ‘ADtranz’; Close Consumer Finance; Doncaster Council; Kingston communication; Marconi plc; MITIE Group plc; MP UK; Private Label; Robinson Healthcare; and UK Coal.

Norma D’Annunzio-Green is Subject Group Leader (HRM) at Edinburgh Napier University Business School. She has significant experience in teaching and learning at both undergraduate and MSc level and is currently programme leader for the part time MSc HRM (CIPD accredited). Her main research interests focus on employee resourcing, performance management and talent management for HRM specialists and line managers. She has over 20 publications in a range of academic journals including Personnel Review, Employee Relations, Human Resource Development International and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. She has co-edited the book Human Resource Management, International Perspectives in Hospitality and Tourism.

 

Norma is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and World Wide Hospitality and Tourism Trends and a co-edited special edition of Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Trends on Talent Management has been awarded a Literati Award for Research Excellence.

 

Current research projects include an examination of private and public sector managers’ experiences of performance management and appraisal systems and a case study exploring managers’ perceptions of the succession planning process in the tourism and financial services sectors.

 

Norma also conducts research around pedagogy, in particular experiences of direct entry students (which has resulted in two recent publications in 2 and 3 star journals) and is currently working on a research project examining the impact of part-time study on the personal and professional development of student learners on MSC programmes at Edinburgh Napier Business School.

 

Recent publications include:  Christie, Barron and D’Annunzio-Green (2013) ‘Direct Entrants in Transition; becoming independent learners’, Studies in Higher Education, in Volume 38, Number 6, September 2013; Barron and D’Annunzio-Green (2009) ‘A Smooth Transition? Education and social expectations of direct entry students’, Active Learning in Higher Education, Volume 10, Number 1; Guest Editor of Special Edition of Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Trends Journal, D’Annunzio-Green, Maxwell and Watson ‘What are the contemporary human resource issues for talent management in hospitality and tourism? Volume 20, Number 7, 2008

Fiona Duncan is a Lecturer in the HRM subject group, specialising in HRD and Employee Resourcing. Graduating from Edinburgh University with an MA in Philosophy, she went on to study law before moving on to specialising in and teaching HRM. She holds Post Graduate Diplomas in Law and Education (TQFE) and an MSc in Management Studies with HRM.  Her research interests include: the implications of employment law for policy and practice within employee resourcing; CPD; and critical theory and reflective practice in teaching and learning pedagogy for practice-based learning. She is currently involved in research in relation to practice-based learning and is writing a paper in relation to situated learning.

Dr Vaughan Ellis is a Lecturer in Work and Industrial Relations and has been employed at Edinburgh Napier University since 2007. Vaughan specialises in the contemporary organisation and experience of work and how changes in an organisations' external environment impact upon the labour process. Prior to joining Edinburgh Napier he was employed at Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Stirling. Before becoming an academic Vaughan worked at British Gas for six years in a number of locations in a variety of managerial and project roles, gaining considerable experience in managing teams, recruitment and selection, handling grievance and disciplinary matters and managing the change process. 

 

Vaughan's PhD examined changes in the labour process of clerical workers at British Gas (1970-2004) and in particular was concerned with the impact of privatisation and the introduction of call centres upon the organisation and experience of work. Present research interests include the changing patterns of work organisation within the UK Higher Education sector and trade union responses to the changing nature of work. Vaughan has published in a number of top rated international journals including Work, Employment and Society and New Technology, Work and Employment, of which he is a member of the Editorial Board. Vaughan is a member of the British Sociological Association (BSA), the Association of Business Historians (ABH) and the British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA).

 

Recent publications include: de Turberville, S. and Ellis, V. (2012) ‘Academic Job Satisfaction: A national comparison of union and non-union members’, submitted to Studies in Higher Education (under review); Ellis, V. (2011) ‘Greed is (not) good’: The causes and consequences of the financial crisis, Work, Employment and Society, 25:1 ; Ellis, V. and Taylor, M. (2010) ‘Banks, bailouts and bonuses: A personal account of working in Halifax Bank of Scotland during the financial crisis’, Work, Employment and Society, 24:4.

 

Professor Helen Francis is Director of the People and Organisational Development (POD) Division with the Edinburgh Institute. A graduate of Edinburgh University, she started her career in personnel management before moving into academic work at Edinburgh Napier Business School. She has played key roles in research, teaching and commercial developments, including the creation of the Edinburgh HR Academy, and POD. This has included spearheading an approach to OD and HR consultancy that effectively blends consultancy and academic skill-sets and knowledge, and which underpins current projects within her Division. This is reflected in her role as editor of a forthcoming CIPD-commissioned textbook People and Organisational Development: A new Agenda for Organisational Effectiveness (2012) with Dr Linda Holbeche and Dr Martin Reddington. Her most recent research/consultancy activities focus upon the changing nature of HR functions and the implications of this on the employment relationship, organisational effectiveness and the design of employment value propositions, practice-based learning, employee engagement and the psychological contract.

 

Helen completed her PhD at De Montfort University based on the role of language in HR-based change and has published extensively in leading Management, Organisation and HR journals since then. She has also presented at a wide range of national and international conferences, and in her role as Professor, champions research-led commercial work, teaching and continuous professional development. Her contribution to the HR profession was recognised (lecturer of the year) at the HR Network (Scotland) National Awards in 2007. Helen leads the CIPD East of Scotland ‘Knowledge into Practice’ group.

 

Recent publications include:  Keegan, A and Francis, H (2010) ‘Practitioner talk: The changing textscape of HRM and emergence of HR Business Partnership’, International Journal of Human Resource Management; Francis, H. and Cowan J. (2008) ‘Fostering an action-reflection dynamic amongst students practitioners’, Journal of European Industrial Training, 32 5, pp 336-346

 

Lesley McLean is Lecturer in HRM and Programme Leader of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) approved MSc in Human Resource Management at Edinburgh Napier University and is also a qualified member of the CIPD. She joined the university in 2004, taking on the role of Programme Leader and teaching locally and internationally at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, with a focus on international HRM and workplace ethics. Lesley’s academic research focuses on professional learning and development, and she has further interests in the areas of sustainable leadership and employer branding. Her most recent publication is a case study on the topic of corporate social responsibility that features in the latest edition of Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice by Bratton and Gold. Lesley has previously worked in the luxury retail sector in a senior operations management role based in London.

 

Dr Janice McMillan is Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Development and Public Management and Programme Leader for the Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) at Edinburgh Napier Business School having held previous posts at Northumbria, Robert Gordon and Nottingham Trent Universities. She specialises in public management and organisational analysis and was Chair of the Public Administration Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom from 1995-2006. She has published books and articles on public service reform in the UK and abroad and is currently working on a co-authored text for Edward Elgar Publishers considering critical organisational behaviour in the public sector. Janice has extensive experience in delivering training and development programmes for public organisations including local councils in the UK and the Egyptian and Vietnamese civil services.

 

Janice has a wide range of experience in knowledge transfer and has worked closely with local government on organisational learning projects. She was also a member of the Quality Assurance Agency subject benchmarking panel for Politics and International Relations and as a previous award holder acts as reviewer for ESRC programme and open awards. She has acted as external examiner at Ulster, Portsmouth, Nottingham, Queen Mary London and De Montfort Universities.

 

Recent publications include ‘Public Management in the Postmodern Era: Challenges and Prospects’ (2010) edited text, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar (with J. Fenwick) and ‘Learning, Compliance and Gender in Public Management’ (with J Fenwick) Public Policy and Administration, vol 23, no 23, Autumn 2008, pp247-262.

 

Professor Anne Munro is the Business School Director of Research and Professor of Work and Industrial Relations. She gained a BA Sociology and MA Industrial Relations at the University of Warwick; and completed her PhD there on work and trade union organisation of hospital ancillary workers (later published as Women, Work and Trade Unions). She has an ongoing interest in lower grade workers in the public sector, workplace learning and equalities. Anne has worked at Warwick, Coventry and Northampton Universities, contributing to ESRC research projects and projects for UNISON and Government Departments. Publications include articles in British Journal of Industrial Relations, New Technology, Work and Employment and a book Workplace Learning in Context. Anne recently completed a research project on skills development in the social care sector and current investigating managers’ attitudes to trade unions with the CMI. Anne is an Associate of the Board for Work, Employment & Society and is on the Editorial Advisory Board for Equal Opportunities International. She is a member of the British Sociological Association (BSA), the British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA), the HE Academy, the British Academy of Management and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

 

Recent publications include:  Rainbird, H. , Leeson, E. and Munro, A. (2011) ‘Is regulation good for skill development? Mediating actors and workplace practice in adult social care in England’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22:18, 3727-3741. Link http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2011.622921; Munro, A. (2012) ‘Thirty Years of Hospital Cleaning in England and Scotland – An opportunity for ‘better’ jobs’ in Eds C. Warhurst, F. Carre, P. Findlay and C. Tilly Are Bad Jobs Inevitable? Palgrave

Dr Allan Ramdhony is a lecturer in HRM, specialising in Change Management and Human Resource Development (HRD). He graduated with a BA in Theology before moving on to engage in more ‘secular’ studies with Edinburgh Napier University (ENU). He is now the holder of a BA in Librarianship with Information Science, an MSc in Administrative and Information management and a PGDip in HRM and a PhD. He was granted a studentship by ENU to do his doctoral research, which he completed in 2010 and which focuses on the newly emerging concept of Critical HRD as evidenced in the healthcare sector in the UK. His research interests include Critical Theory in the tradition of the Frankfurt School, Critical HRD, Change Management and the role of metaphors in organisational analysis. He is currently engaged in writing a set of papers on both the theory and practice of Critical HRD in collaboration with leading authors in the field. 

Dr Michael Sanderson is a lecturer in HRM & OB. He gained his doctorate in 1995 in the academic field of employee relations. He has published in the journal Employee Relations on trade union issues.He is also knowledgeable on matters of media/sport in relation to Scottish football, in particular the medium of newspapers and local radio. He was previously a Research Fellow at Strathclyde University (1998/99) and was part of a study researching Subsidiary Strategy in multinational corporations. His main teaching centres upon Organisational Behaviour and Management, as well as the Employment Relationship at work.

 

Dr Sanderson has a great deal of practical experience acting as a trade union representative at the workplace, and also has gained many years experience supporting students with special needs.

Professor Sandra Watson is Assistant Dean at Edinburgh Napier University’s Business School, Edinburgh, UK. She is Professor in Human Resource Development and has published over 21 articles and has edited three texts on Human Resource Management and Development. Recent publications include an analysis of managerial skill requirements in Scottish Tourism; evaluation of training initiatives in a period of downsizing in the hospital sector in Scotland, HRM and Service Quality in the international hotel sector, and researching HRD in practice. Sandra has received external recognition for her work through research honorariums, and awards for conference papers, collaborative research and publications.  She has guest edited special issues in Human Resource Development and Hospitality journals and sits on the editorial board of three international journals. 

 

Her PhD (by publication) focused on contextual understandings influencing the development of hospitality managers, which encompassed leadership development. She lectures on Leadership Learning and Development in the UK and Hong Kong.

Sandra has a range of experience in consultancy and external scholarly activity. She has participated in a range of consultancy projects identifying training needs for the hospitality industry. She has worked on a research based consultancy project on evaluating the impact of hospital retraction project on training and development for the Forth Valley Healthcare Trust and currently is involved in researching leadership learning and development practices, in conjunction with Investors in People. Sandra also participated in European Commission funded projects. She has worked with the Institute of Directors in Scotland and has participated in the Scottish Directors Development Network through delivering a seminar on commitment and motivation ‘Drilling down for Performance'. Sandra is also involved in a range of leadership programmes with organisations in Scotland and Hong Kong.

 

Recent Publications include:  Gray, D, Iles, P and Watson, S. (2011) ‘Spanning the HRD academic-practitioner divide – bridging the gap through Mode 2 research’ Journal of European Industrial Training Vol 35 No 3 pp247-263;  Watson, S. and Harmel-Law, A. (2010) ‘Exploring the relevance of workplace learning centred HRD strategy to the legal profession in Scotland’ Journal of European Industrial Training Vol.34 No.1 pp7-22

 

Rowan Stewart-Steele is a Lecturer in the HRM subject group. She specialises in Contemporary HRM and Organisational Change. She is currently studying for her PHD, is a Fellow of the CIPD and has an Honours Degree in HRM from the University of Stirling.  A practitioner for a number of years she has held various senior positions including: Director of HR at a large Scottish Charity, Head of HR within the Scottish Prison Service and a Managing consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Her research interests include: social care management, social identity theory, the management of change and the psychological contract. She has recently had a paper accepted at the British Academy of Management and is currently preparing this for submission to appropriate journals. Her PHD is her main research focus at the moment and is due for completion by the end of 2014.

 

Dr David McGuire is senior lecturer in human resource development (HRD) at Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. Having graduated from National University of Ireland, Galway in 1998, with a Bachelor of Corporate Law, he attended University of Limerick, where he attained a Masters of Business Studies (HRM) and PhD. David works as Deputy Director of MBA Programmes at Edinburgh Napier University and teaches on a range of leadership, HRD and diversity modules. He has published 2 textbooks and over 30 journal articles. He serves as Associate Editor of Advances in Developing Human Resources and sits on the Editorial Boards of European Journal of Training and Development, Journal of Change Management and Human Resource Development Quarterly. He is co-chair of the 15th International Conference on Human Resource Development Theory and Practice Across Europe being held at Edinburgh Napier University in June 2014.

 

Jennifer O’Neil is a lecturer in Labour Relations and Global HRM. Her research interests include LR and HRM in China and the Chinese diaspora. Her PhD has taken her to Hong Kong where she is researching the impact of leadership development on managers in the civil service and she has had the opportunity to work with individuals at the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, examining the Dock workers strike.

 

Prior to joining Napier Jennifer had worked for 8 years as an HR and recruitment practitioner, her areas of professional expertise include; Recruitment and selection; discipline and grievance; line management and international placements. She is CIPD qualified and has both an MSc in HRM and the PGDip in Teaching in Higher Education. Jennifer enjoys working with International students and teaches modules in both Singapore and Hong Kong.

 

Laura Strachan is the newest member of the team as a Lecturer in HRM and is an Academic Associate Member of the CIPD. Her research interests involve Leadership, Sustainable Leadership, Employer Branding, Employee Engagement, Organisational Behaviour and associated implications. She joined the team in 2012 as Graduate Teaching Assistant. She is currently working toward a PhD in Sustainable Leadership in the National Health Service in Scotland; she is already holder of an MSc in Human Resource Management with CIPD accreditation and a postgraduate certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from Edinburgh Napier University along with a BA degree in Marketing and Management from Queen Margaret University. She is working towards fellow membership of the Higher Education Academy. Laura is presenting two papers at the International Human Resource Development Conference taking place in June in Edinburgh. One is a paper surrounding her PhD topic involving conceptualising Sustainable Leadership whilst the other involves other areas of interests, employer branding and its impact on employee engagement.

 

Recent publications: Strachan, L. (2012) Book review, Human Resource Management in a Global Context: A Critical Approach. European Journal of Training and Development, 36 (9), pp. 948-951.

 

Dr. Debora Jeske is a HRM Lecturer and organisational psychologist. She joined the HRM group at Edinburgh Napier University after completing two research projects in Germany and UK. In addition to her appointment at Edinburgh Napier University, she is a Faculty Associate at ‘The Center for Research on Collaboratories and Technology Enhanced Learning Communities’ (COTELCO, at the American University, Washington, DC). In line with her inter-disciplinary background, her research interests focus on the interaction of psychology, technology and work.

 

Leanne Cutcher (Visiting Professor) Leanne's research explores employee and customer responses to management strategy and discourse in both the for-profit and co-operative sectors. Her research findings have been published in leading management and marketing journals. Her current major research project, 'Managing Age in Organisations', is a three-year, Australian Research Council funded project exploring the management of older workers. The project aims to identify the negative consequences of 'mis-managing' age and develop effective employee strategies for managing age. Leanne is currently engaged in research with Siemens Water, Siemens Healthcare and IAG on this project.

 

Leanne has strong links with the Credit Union Foundation of Australia (CUFA) and is presently involved in a number of projects in relation to credit unions, including management education and research with Traditional Credit Union, Australia's only indigenous-owned financial services institution. She is a member of CUFA's International Development Working Group. Leanne is Managing Editor of the Australian Review of Public Affairs and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for Human Relations, Organization, Gender Work and Organization amongst other journals.

 

Leanne is Co-Director of the Organisation Discourse Strategy and Change Group. This group links colleagues at the University of Sydney with leading researchers at eleven other institutions in North America, Europe and Australia. Leanne is the WOS' Honours Co-ordinator and responsible for teaching the fourth year honours courses. She also teaches into the School's Executive MBA program as co-convenor of the Integrated Management module.

John Bratton (Visiting Professor) is Adjunct Professor in the Centre for Work & Community Studies at Athabasca University, Canada, and a Visiting Professor at Edinburgh Napier University Business School, Edinburgh, Scotland.  He has taught HRM and labour relations in UK and Canadian business schools for over 25-years. His research interests and publications have focused on the sociology of work, leadership and workplace learning. John is a member of the editorial board of Leadership, Journal of Workplace Learning and the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education.

 

In addition to co-authoring HRM: Theory and Practice, now in its 5th edition, he is author of Japanization of Work: Managerial Studies in the 1990s (1992) and is co-author of the following books: Workplace Learning: A Critical Introduction (2003), Organizational Leadership (2004), Capitalism and Classical Sociological Theory (2009) and Work and Organizational Behaviour (2nd edition) (2010). He is currently working on a new edition of Capitalism and Classical Sociological Theory, which includes a new chapter on race and cultural identity. He now lives in Edinburgh, Scotland