People and Organisations

We are a diverse group of academics who research many aspects of work and organisations.

These can be broadly understood as centring on organisation studies and organisational psychology; and management and organisational learning, processes, change and innovation. Members of the department also have an interest in academic practices like research ethics and the politics of knowledge production.

Research into Employment and Equitable Futures

We seek to explore and shape the future direction of equitable futures, work and society with dedicated research into this area. In partnership with The People Space, this academic centre of excellence draws on the Department for People and Organisations' scholarly expertise on themes of identity, leadership, gender, bodies, ethics, power and learning to inform policy makers, organisational leaders, social practitioners and people from across contexts to work together to co-create innovative solutions for meeting these coming opportunities and challenges.

Gendered Organisational Practice

This research cluster takes feminist solidarity as a starting point to create a space where feminists of any gender can share insights and knowledge from academic study and practice. The cluster fosters continuous collaboration and exchange between practitioners and academics and provides a hub for those interested in developing equality through their research, but also for practitioners wanting to make their organisations more egalitarian and fairer places. Current areas of expertise include gendered working bodies, feminist organising and gender and sexuality.

Research interests

Organisation studies and organisational psychology

Alternative organisations and organising
Civil society organisations
Corporate social responsibility
Critical approaches to leadership and leadership dilemma
Critical management studies
Diversity in organisations
Emotions in organisations
Employee branding
Financialisation and political and ethical responses
Gender, sexuality, the body in organisations and how bodies are organised
Human-animal relations in organisations
Individual and group behaviour in organisational contexts
The interplay between work and health
Organisational democratic practice
Organisational and individual identity, subjectivity, selfhood and the meaning of work
Organisations, work and social inclusion
Post-colonial relations in organisations
Power, politics and organisations
Professional occupations
Precarious work
The production, dissemination and contestation of meaning in organisations
The psychology of financial behaviour
Risk, uncertainty, and resilience
Sociological accounts of work
Transformations in technological and institutional conditions

Management and organisational learning, processes, change and innovation

Change management
Cross-cultural differences and self and group regulation in online learning
Collective organising and social learning processes
Decision-making under radical uncertainty
The development of business and management practices
Entrepreneurship
Formal and informal learning in organisations
Green HRM
Higher education management
Knowledge management
Management Information Systems
Managing inter-organisational relations in complex services
Management practices
Operations management
Serious games and the contribution of gamification to organisational learning and innovation
Strategic change
Supply chain management and behaviour
Supply chain analytics and modelling
Supply chain performance measurement systems
Sustainability and resilience in the supply chain

Academic practices

Embodiment and affect in research
The politics of academic knowledge production
Research ethics
Research methods

Academic Publications

Full details of our research publications can be found on Open Research Online and via our staff pages.

Teaching

Members of the Department teach across undergraduate, postgraduate and executive education modules in areas such as organisational behaviour, management of learning and change, professional development, human resource management, creativity, leadership, innovation, organisational culture and organisational development. We also run the CIPD accredited MSc in Human Resource Management.

Contact the Department for People and Organisations

For all department-related enquiries, please email us.

For all other enquiries, including student and alumni, please visit our contact us page.

How to design menopause leave policies that really support women in the workplace

More than 15 million women are in employment in the UK right now, which means menopause is undoubtedly a workplace issue. In this article, Jo Brewis, Professor of People and Organisations writes about how to design menopause leave policies that really support women in the workplace.

20th September 2023