Early Career Researcher Event

In July 2019 the British Academy of Management and Cranfield School of Management hosted an event focusing on supporting early and middle career researchers in: Alternative Career Options; Resilience and Success in Publishing and Getting Known in Your Field. The event was highly interactive and delegates were encouraged to bring questions to share with the plenary to gain insight from individuals who have excelled in their career.

The different speakers who bestowed their wisdom were:

Session 1: Alternative Career Options – Prof Katie Bailey, Prof Nicholas O’Regan and Prof Sue Vinnicombe

Session 2: Resilience and Publication Success – Prof Pawan Budhwar, Prof Mat Hughes and Prof Helen Shipton

Session 3: How to get known in your field (Prof Emma Parry, Prof Karin Sanders, Prof Mark Saunders)

Research World Café

The research centre recently held a school-wide forum using the World Café format to bring together the different and diverse research ideas and interests of the staff members. The aim of the forum was to determine where researchers whose research didn’t quite match the centre’s main groups could fit in and perhaps establish a new research group, so that that centre would be better able to provide assistance where possible. An additional aim was to raise awareness about the type of research that is going on in the school so that individuals with similar research interests would have opportunities to collaborate.

 

Some of the main research themes which were topics of discussion included employee engagement and employee voice, HRM and innovation, diversity and inclusion and gender in management, information business employment practices, HRD and leadership development, and good work, decent work, and meaningful work. Researchers whose main interests did not fall into these themes grouped together to discuss how their expertise might be used, such as experimental methods and a taking a more interdisciplinary approach to research collaboration. Overall, we felt that the forum was a success and enabled the centre to establish what other researchers in the school would find most useful in terms of support, including research and funding opportunities, career development, writing and publishing, as well as sharing expertise in methodologies.

 

HR Forum

On the 13th of March, 2018, the Centre hosted an HR Forum inviting practitioners from various organisations to attend and discuss the outcomes of the first phase of the CIPD funded research on employee voice. Instead of merely disseminating our findings in front of a PowerPoint, it was decided that we would use a World Café methodology. This method is a simple, effective, and flexible format for hosting large group dialogue and facilitates active participation from everyone involved. To get everyone in a state of mind which was focused on employee voice, we developed a simple diagnostic tool using some of the concepts we tested for in the main regional survey, such as promotive voice, human voice, and silence. Attendees were asked to compare their own scores against the person sitting next to them, and discuss the context which they believe might have been the cause of their scores, such as seniority, tenure, and sector.

Next, the World Café began in earnest and attendees moved around the venue to talk about specific aspects of voice and underlying questions. Some of these included ‘My voice – how can i increase the likelihood that my voice influences change at work?’ and ‘Promotive voice – how can leaders prevent the burn-out associated with promotive voice?’. Overall, we felt – based on both our experience and attendee feedback – that the format worked well. Practitioners expressed strong interest in keeping in contact with further updates, and some organisations initiated talks about being part of further research on voice.

Launch of Engage for Success East Midlands Regional Group

Engage for Success and Nottingham Business School are pleased to announce the launch of the Engage for Success Employee Engagement East Midlands Regional Group.

Date: 27th November 2018

Venue: Nottingham Conference Centre

The aim of the day is to provide a space for academics and organisations to learn and inspire each other to improve employee engagement levels in the East Midlands.

  • Keynote: David MacLeod and Faran Johnson
  • Guest speakers from organisations in the region

Find out more and book here.

   @EastMidsEngaged

  East Midlands Employee Engagement Group

Good Work and Engaging Employees: From Evidence to Practice

What does good work look like? What are the barriers to producing good work? Insight from the East Midlands.

Key Note Speaker: Matthew Taylor (Chief Executive, Royal Society of Arts)

Tuesday, 18th September 2018, 9.30am – 4pm.

Nottingham Conference Centre.

Book here

Drawing on leading researchers from NTU’s Centre of People, Work, and Organisational Practice and beyond, we present concrete examples of how universities and researchers, in synchrony with policy bodies and organisations, address the ‘good work’ challenge. In light of this discussion, we offer you the opportunity to reflect on what ‘good’ work looks like in your own context.

The workshop will be of interest to policy makers, practitioners and researchers interested in promoting good quality work in the areas of work, employment and Human Resource Management.

It promises to be an exciting, informative and unique event.

What you will gain:

  1. Insight into the latest thinking on the nature of good work within Nottingham and beyond, and the steps taken by policy bodies and others to address the job quality gap
  2. Informed understanding of the determinants and outcomes of good work and engaged employees, with reference to cutting-edge practice across sectors within the Nottingham area.
  3. Discussion and benchmarking about the good work challenge across sectors
  4. Networking and future planning on ‘Good Work and Engaging Employees