Organisation Studies and Human Resource Management

The Organisation Studies and Human Resource Management (OSHRM) subject group constitutes a major component of the School of Management and is rightly recognised for its strong research profile. Although research topics within the group are naturally wide-ranging, members hold a number of interests and commitments in common.

A particular strength of the group is its focus on issues relating to change and restructuring in organised settings, such as the public sector (Exworthy) and the creative sector (Smith). This extends to examining questions about innovation and organisational learning (Lam), leadership and organisational communication (Tourish), patterns of employee participation (Gold), technological development and change in organisations (Symon), as well as the links between HRM and organisational performance (Tsai).

A significant aspect of this focus on transformation and change is the ways in which knowledge and organisational practices move within and between organisations. Group members have been researching how, within different institutional contexts, knowledge can be created (Lam), managed within networks (Exworthy), shared via technology (Symon), subjected to secrecy and security within organisations (Grey), and transferred and contested within MNCs (Moore, Rees, Smith, Zheng). The broader implications of these processes for management are addressed in relation to key debates in the areas of human resource development (Tsai), leadership development (Tourish), management socialisation (Grey), as well as managerialism and professionalism (Exworthy, Smith).

The group brings a strong international dimension to its research, examining organisational practices on a comparative basis across differing national contexts, as well as within multinational organisations (Lam, Moore, Rees, Smith, Zheng). A particular focus here is on work and employment issues within Asian countries, e.g. Korean and Taiwanese business cultures (Moore), employment relations in China (Smith), labour market regulation in India (Badigannavar), Japanese MNCs and the transfer of HR practices (Smith, Zheng). Several members of the group also focus on issues concerning employment relations and employee representation, such as social partnership and trade union revitalisation (Badigannavar), trade unions and corporate social responsibility (Gold, Rees), employment relations in SMEs (Tsai), and European information and consultation regulations (Gold).

Theoretically the group draws upon a range of approaches and perspectives, with particular expertise in institutionalist theory (Lam, Smith, Tsai), anthropological approaches (Moore), labour process theory (Smith), identity theory (Symon), critical management studies (Grey), political economy (Badigannavar, Rees), critical realism (Rees, Smith, Tourish), social movement theory (Badigannavar), organisation studies and historical analysis (Grey). Research within the group has been generally carried out using qualitative methods, and some group members have published on the methodological implications of their work (Moore, Symon).

Several members of the group sit on the editorial and associate boards of leading academic journals in the field or have an editorial role in established book series: e.g. Organization Studies (Lam), Human Relations (Tourish), Organization (Grey), Work Employment & Society (Rees), Leadership (Tourish), Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology (Symon), Journal of Organizational Behavior (Symon), Palgrave ‘Critical Perspectives on Work and Employment’ Series (Smith).

The group is committed to research-informed teaching, and the expertise of group members is reflected in particular in the two masters programmes which sit within the group – the MSc in International HRM and the MSc in Leadership & Management in Health. The group has a highly collegiate ethos and group members share and discuss their research and ideas with each other in a wide variety of ways.

Details of the research and publications of individual members of the group can be found on our staff web pages.

For further information on the work of the OSHRM group please contact the Group Convenor Dr Chris Rees (chris.rees@rhul.ac.uk  tel: 44 (0)1784 276211).