Applied Research Conference

Professors Patricia Findlay, Chris Warhurst and Tony Dundon 

In this workshop we will present and discuss three forthcoming pieces of work commissioned by the CIPD. Each addresses fundamental aspects of work, employment and people management: 

• How do business models relate the activity of work to value creation and how can we develop models that account for a wider range of stakeholders – review undertaken by Patricia Findlay et al at Strathclyde University Business School. 
• How can we best understand and measure job quality and ‘good work’ – review conducted by Chris Warhurst et al at Warwick University. 
• What are the factors affecting the balance of power between workers and employers and what channels do employees have to shape their work and working lives – review undertaken by Tony Dundon et al at Manchester Alliance Business School.

Professor Dora Scholarios

This practical workshop will focus on writing for peer-reviewed academic journals and provide insights into engaging with editors and the review process. It is being run by Dora Scholarios, an Editor-in-Chief at Human Resource Management Journal. HRMJ is ranked as a four-star journal by the Association of Business Schools and is endorsed by the CIPD.

Dr Eric Barends

This practical workshop will explore the challenges in managerial decision making that evidence-based practice attempts to solve, and how research evidence can be better used to inform decisions. It will be of interest to practitioners looking to make better decisions and academics looking to increase the impact of their research. It is being run by Eric Barends, managing director of the Center for Evidence-Based Management (CEBMa).

A key aim of the CIPD’s Applied Research Conference is to promote academic research that has the potential for applied impact. In this session, Professor Kim Hoque will present his recent academic research with colleagues at Cass and Cardiff Business Schools in the area of disability, and outline how this research helped inform the All Party Parliamentary Group for Disability report ‘Ahead of the Arc: A Contribution to Halving the Disability Employment Gap’. Dr Lisa Cameron MP, who leads the APPG on Disability, will discuss her work to drive inclusive policy making, through both the APPG and contact with elected Members more generally.

Socially irresponsible HRM?  Conceptualising HRM practice in relation to in-work poverty 
Dr James Richards

The motivation for the paper is the limited extant literature on how first-world countries, such as the UK, increasingly face problems with poverty arising from employment (in-work poverty). The problem the paper addresses is a lack of conceptual clarity between HRM practice and incidences of in-work poverty. The paper seeks conceptual clarity by developing a lens of 'irresponsible HRM' as a key factor in explaining instances of in-work poverty. The paper explores the usefulness of this lens through an empirical exploration of the experiences of employees in in-work poverty.

Putting the 'humanity' back into HRM - is employee engagement the answer?
Professor Rona Beattie and Dr Adina Dudau

This paper considers whether ‘employee engagement’ provides a means of addressing the increasing inhumanity observed in contemporary employment, for example zero-hours contracts, or has its efficacy been overplayed? The paper explores the contested meaning of ‘employee engagement’. Truss et al (2014) note that psychologists have researched engagement for about 20 years; but only recently have HRM scholars shown interest. Psychologists ‘initially conceptualised’ engagement as a particular ‘state of mind’. Kahn’s (1990) pioneering seminal work challenged this by exploring working conditions leading to workers becoming personally engaged. It is his emphasis on the individual – the ‘human’, that this paper focuses on.

Exploring the impacts of volunteer business mentoring on young entrepreneurs 
Dr Julie Haddock-Millar and Mrs Chandana Sanyal

Middlesex University Business School (MUBS) and the Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research (CEEDR) were commissioned by YBI in November 2015 to conduct a global longitudinal study to understand ‘what works, where and why’ of how voluntary business mentoring (VBM) assists young entrepreneurs. The mixed method study spans three years; this paper reports on the first phase of the research project. Without exception, the data demonstrates that VBM is having a significant impact on mentees’ and mentors' personal and professional development, in addition to assisting mentees in their business performance.

The role the coaching relationship plays in organisational learning and development
Dr Yi-Ling Lai and Ms Helen Smith

This study reports on an investigation into a comprehensive coaching relationship competency framework. Having an effective coaching relationship has been confirmed to have a positive impact on coaching outcome, for instance employees’ self-efficacy and learning. Critical incident interviews (N=25) and two-level Q-sorting sessions (N=6) were conducted to identify essential skills for coaching practitioners to establish constructive coaching relationships. This study distinguished three essential competencies (for example active communication skills) underpinned by 38 behavioural indicators. This research could address the gaps of previous competency frameworks in the coaching field and provide HR professionals and programme evaluators with initial guidelines for future coach selection and development.

Psychic income: working for nothing in the creative industries
Professor Irena Grugulis and Dr Dimitrinka Stoyanova-Russell

This article examines the idea of ‘psychic income’ in the creative industries. Psychic income describes the non-monetary benefits, the fame, power and friendships gained from working and is generally used by economists to explain earnings differentials (Thurow 1980-81; 1982; Trowse 1996; Liu and Grusky 2013). However, these tell us little about what workers gain or, given the asymmetry of power in the employment relationship, how willing this trade is. This study finds clear differences at varying career stages with the exploitation of novices at the start of their careers, intensification of work later and negotiation primarily by established professionals.

Motivations and experiences of UK gig economy workers 
Ms Andrea Broughton

This paper is based on an empirical qualitative study carried out for BEIS in the first quarter of 2017, based on interviews with 150 individuals working in the gig economy through online platforms, in a range of occupations including taxi and delivery work, online administrative work, cleaning, dog walking, care, highly-skilled professional work and skilled manual work. It examines the motivations of individuals working in this way, their working conditions and pay, and overall attitudes to their working life. It uncovers a diverse world, with experiences depending on variables such as the type of work undertaken and the worker's individual situation. A key differentiating factor is whether or not gig economy income is an individual's primary source of income. If this is the case, the individual is more likely to be at risk of vulnerability in terms of income, working hours and working conditions.

Understanding and exploring fair, innovative and transformative workplace practices for innovation in Scottish businesses
Dr Rachelle Pascoe-Deslauriers and Dr Colin Lindsay

Business innovation is inextricably linked to people and to the extent to which a business enables and draws on all of its employees, at all levels, to innovate. As people undertake their daily work roles, they develop task and organisational knowledge that, under the right conditions – notably that of what the policy discourse in Scotland has termed ‘fair work’ – can be used to identify new and better ways of working. This paper presents a tested framework for investigating the interaction and overlap of workplace practices and processes related to fair work and workplace innovation, and presents a selection of findings from research in over 40 Scottish businesses.

Job quality in social care; tensions between fair work and personalisation
Mr Doug Young and Dr Amy Watson

The social care sector is a key employer and is a crucial component of Scotland’s health and social services infrastructure. It is also a sector which currently faces a number of challenges, partly associated with a shifting landscape of work. An aspect of this shifting landscape is the personalisation agenda, which aims to put service users in control of the support they receive. This paper presents initial findings from mixed methods research with six social care providers and a group of directly employed personal assistants (PAs). It explores the ways in which personalisation impacts on job quality and discusses possible solutions offered by the findings of this research.

People and productivity in SMEs: the role of people management support
Professor Carol Atkinson and Professor Ben Lupton

We report findings from a CIPD-supported pilot programme that delivered people management support to small and medium-sized firms (SMEs). There is widespread concern about SME productivity levels and recognition that better people management can improve these. As SMEs often lack in-house HR expertise, access to specialist people management support becomes critical. We draw on interviews, surveys and in-depth case studies to conclude that the pilot programme offered an effective model, leading to tangible improvements in people management practice and increased business confidence. SME support needs were, however, mainly transactional and compliance-based, albeit potentially a foundation for more transformational work. 

The myth of devolution
Dr Sue Kinsey and Dr Virginia Fisher

The devolution of so-called ‘routine HR activities’ to line managers has long been advocated by both the HR profession and HRM literature. However, while a plethora of studies focus on the competencies required of line managers, little research has explored how devolution is enacted, and there is scant evidence that devolution is operating as envisaged and resulting in the positive outcomes it promises. This paper provides such evidence and offers a new perspective on devolution. We argue that although organisations and HR practitioners espouse a devolved model of people management practice, this remains formalised and regulated through HR-driven processes.

Smiling but not with his eyes: authentic employee voice for inclusive organisations
Dr Kevin Ruck

This paper addresses an under-researched aspect of responsible leadership and inclusivity; communication capabilities. It argues that dialogue is fundamental to embedding employee voice in organisations in ways that support an inclusive culture. This requires a new understanding of leadership communication capabilities that emphasises listening and responding in authentic ways that are respected and trusted by employees. The study incorporates a qualitative research methodology. Twenty-seven interviews and nine focus groups were conducted in five organisations in the UK. Three primary themes were established: active listening, authentic responsiveness and safety to speak out.

Examining skill systems and voice mechanisms as antecedents to work engagement and employee retention in high-end front-line hospitality across Ireland and Sweden
Michael Moran and Dr Eugene Hickland

This study focuses on ‘high-end’ front-line hospitality (FLH). In doing so, it calls on two theoretical frameworks to help inform understanding of this FLH employment relationship. From this, voice mechanisms and skill systems are examined as antecedents to FLH work engagement and employee retention. This research involves the use of mixed methods across two market economies (Ireland and Sweden). SEM analysis of questionnaires from Ireland and Sweden (n=272) suggests a negative relationship between the use of collective voice mechanisms and work engagement. Qualitative analysis (semi-structured interviews) explores the results further while identifying sector-specific voice mechanisms and skill systems within FLH.

Do unions cause job dissatisfaction? Evidence from a quasi-experiment
Dr Andy Charlwood

Unionised workers tend to be less satisfied with their jobs than their non-union counterparts. Despite forty years of research that has sought to explain this phenomenon, we do not fully understand what causes it. Drawing on nationally representative panel data from the UK, this study uses a quasi-experimental research design to show that unions do not cause job dissatisfaction. Instead the job dissatisfaction of union workers appears to be a response to poorer quality working conditions.

The shifting landscape of equality: a longitudinal study of women seeking flexible working arrangements following maternity leave
Dr Jocelyn Finniear and Dr Paul White

Efficacious, economic and efficient organisational practice requires greater flexibility for both organisations and employees to meet changing demands of the external organisational environment. Part of the logic of how to make organisations more responsive rests upon the devolution of responsibilities to managers at the local level, premised upon an assumption that such devolution will be more responsive to the needs and demands of employees and the situated context of the organisation. This research reports on the impact of localised decision-making for women seeking flexible work following a period of maternity leave and managers enforcing access.

Daddy day care – caregiving fathers, ‘fatherhood forfeits’ and the ‘paternal perimeter’ 
Mrs Jasmine Kelland

This research explores the treatment of fathers who wish to be actively involved in the caregiving of their children. It proposes that such fathers face many challenges, termed as ‘fatherhood forfeits’ both in the workplace and socially. Such forfeits can be seen to create an invisible attitudinal barrier for such fathers, which might in part explain the low uptake of flexible working, part-time working and parental leave for fathers in the UK. ‘Fatherhood forfeits’ are proposed to generate a 'paternal perimeter' effect for fathers, precluding them from active involvement in the caregiving of their children.

Silently dancing on the ceiling – women’s workplace experiences, peri-, menopausal and post menopause in the UK
Dr Diane Keeble-Ramsay

The nature of female employment means women are more likely to be affected by a changed national default retirement age, since women in the UK have retired earlier historically than men but also because the term ‘career’ is potentially a masculine model. The ‘career’ has been a historically male model of working life, derived before women generally entered the workplace. This paper reports on a structured literature review undertaken, which has sought to examine the work experiences of older women (50 to 65+) in the UK. It identifies possible issues concerning caring demands and their workplace health during the periods of peri-menopause to post menopause in order to raise awareness of the shifting landscape of female employment. It seeks to identify current research within the UK to seek gaps and to make recommendations for future practices in the workplace.

Generation Y workers' perceptions and experiences of employers' use and monitoring of social media: implications for practice
Dr Scott Hurrell and Professor Dora Scholarios

This paper draws on an already published study of young 'Generation Y' workers’ experiences and perceptions of employer use and monitoring of their social media data (Hurrell et al 2017), framed in terms of respondents' perceived (procedural) justice. The findings and analysis of the research will be adapted so that the implications for employer practice can be emphasised at the Applied Research Conference. The paper examines implications for employer practice of the usage of different kinds of social media platforms at different stages of the employment relationship.

Technology and Job Quality 
Mrs Jo McQuarrie and Professor Norman Lannigan

In 2010, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde introduced a project to automate medicines distribution services for pharmacy. This project has the potential to deliver important efficiency benefits. However, maximising efficiencies requires social as well as technical innovation to align automation systems with job roles, effective skills utilisation and human resource management (HRM). This research evaluates the impact of automation within pharmacy on perceptions of job quality among different occupational groups (pharmacists, technicians, pharmacy assistants). The evidence identifies different experiences that are mediated by proximity to the technology across and within occupations. Such unintended consequences present a challenge for the measurement and administering of job quality interventions. 

The Quantified Workplace
Dr Phoebe Moore

The Quantified Workplace project was carried out by one company in the Netherlands, where algorithmic devices were used to quantify labour during a period of corporate merger and a move towards agile working systems. At the beginning of the project, the company distributed Fitbit Charge HR activity tracker devices to 30 employees; installed Rescuetime tracking software onto their work computers; and provided individualised dashboards as well as a shared dashboard where all participants could see each other’s progress. Participants received workday lifelog emails asking them to rate their subjective productivity, well-being and stress. Importantly, QW occurred during a period of change management as one multinational company absorbed a smaller company of real estate and work design consultants. The smaller company suggested and led the project as part of their way of indicating innovation and good practice to the larger company into which they were being merged. The paper reveals findings from interviews and surveys conducted with the workers involved in this project. The funder was British Academy/Leverhulme.

Feedback Frequency: the key to good appraisal
Professor Stephen Wood

Positive reactions to formal appraisals from employees are vital if these are to affect performance and create favourable employee attitudes. However, all too often important elements of the appraisal cycle are not done well: setting performance standards and feedback. We first outline a theory of how frequent feedback may have positive effects on employees' appraisal reactions and how these effects may be contingent on the employees' knowledge of performance standards, as well as whether they get a favourable performance rating. We then report a meta-analysis of appraisal studies which shows that feedback is important and the contingent factors affect its efficacy.

Line managers enactment of performance appraisal: adapting the policy or following the rules
Geoff Boot and Frazer Rendell 

A developmental paper exploring first-line manager and employee conduct of performance appraisal in highly and lowly engaged departments in a large UK retail property management organisation. This research was carried out by practitioners, consultants and academics participating in a Thought Action Group in the Engage for Success Taskforce with an interest in employee engagement and performance management. Initial findings are that line managers in highly engaged teams translate and enact performance appraisal policies and processes differently from those in lowly engaged teams. This has practical implications for the design of performance appraisal policies and processes and the training and support of line managers.

Strengths-based performance conversations: a group randomised field trial
Jonny Gifford and Professor Peter Urwin

In three UK central government bodies, we conduct a group randomised trial to evaluate the impact of workshop training for line managers, centred on having strengths-based conversations with their staff. We collect data at different stages of the impact chain or theory of change, in order to evidence the intervention impact on the frequency, nature and effectiveness of performance conversations.

Developing HR professionals for the future: exploring HR graduates’ university–workplace transitions as identity formation 
Dr Emma Mullen

Notable challenges have arisen in recent years concerning work and working lives in a UK context, as a result of globalisation, economic uncertainty and the effects of Brexit (CIPD, 2016). Such challenges require organisations to continually adapt to the changing needs of the workforce, due to changing workforce demographics and labour markets. To support organisations through these turbulent times, it is essential that HR professionals are equipped with necessary behaviours and competencies, such as those depicted in the CIPD’s HR Profession Map. This study focuses on recent on HR graduates’ transitions from university into their first post-graduation HR positions, utilising situated learning theory (Lave and Wenger, 1991) to explore how they ‘become’ HR professionals. Recommendations for the development of future HR professionals are offered, particularly in light of the recently introduced Apprenticeship Levy.

Collaborative talent management in public services: evaluating the drivers, barriers and enablers
Dr Kirsteen Grant and Dr Bobby Mackie

Against a background of significant public service reform and growing acceptance of the need for increased collaborative activity within Scotland’s public services, our research examines senior stakeholders’ perceptions of the drivers for, barriers to, and enablers of talent management within a public service collaborative context. Using a sequential mixed methods (questionnaire and interview) strategy, our findings reveal vast conceptual ambiguity in defining the collective nature of, need for, and value add to be derived from collaborative talent management. Further, the nature of public service collaboration is complex and is a contributing factor to challenges in progressing collaborative talent management interventions.

Understanding skills exchange between military and civilian employment: an in-depth case study of military reservists in the UK
Dr Zoe Morrison

The UK Armed Forces (UKAF) is experiencing a process of organisational change which includes a significant reduction in regular (so called ‘full-time’) personnel and an increase in the number of reserve (‘part-time’) personnel. ‘Reservists’ generally have a civilian employer while simultaneously taking on an additional commitment to the UKAF. As such, reservists can be considered to be in dual employment (recognising they maintain two jobs concurrently). In this paper, we explore the potential for skills exchange between civilian and military employers to the reciprocal benefit of each, and the implications for human resource management (HRM) policy and practice. 

The impact of HRD/M research on practice: an analysis of the REF 2014 Impact Case Studies
Professor Carole Elliott and Professor Jim Stewart

This working paper analyses case studies of academic impact submitted by higher education institutions to the research excellence framework (REF) 2014 assessment of higher education research. The paper explores which areas of HR practice academics claim to have an impact upon, and who the beneficiaries of that impact are. The findings reveal that while relatively few cases of the direct application of HR research were submitted, a much larger number made use of HR, and in particular human resource development, to deliver impact from research in other disciplines. The implications of this for researcher/practitioner collaboration, both within and outside the discipline of HR, are explored.

HR structures and the management of conflict: ghettoising employment relations? 
Professor Richard Saundry

Although the management of conflict remains a core element of HR practice, there is arguably a tension between this reality and the ambition of HR to develop a strategic orientation. This paper explores the relationship between the approaches adopted by HR practitioners to workplace conflict and the organisational structures they inhabit. The paper argues that as HR functions become more specialised, conflict management is increasingly seen as a transactional activity, peripheral to either organisational or HR strategic priorities. This inhibits informal and creative approaches to conflict resolution and also reflects the progressive marginalisation of employment relations within the HR function.

HRM in annual reports: signalling sustainable value creation
Dr Jean Cushen 

This paper evaluates the voluntary HRM disclosures contained within the annual and sustainability reports of the largest publicly listed 150 companies across three developed economies; fifty companies from the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. We document the spectrum of HRM practices signalled, 36 in total, and uncover the most prominent practices by ranking their claimed importance to firm performance. We show how, where sufficient 'signal emission' exists, prominent HRM practices significantly positively correlate with firm performance; with some practices displaying a predictive causal relationship with key financial metrics. We close with recommendations to enhance the quality and importance of HRM reporting.

The development of an instrument for enabling investors to assess the quality of human capital in SMEs
Peter Fargus  

Intellectual capital (IC) in listed enterprises comprises up to 80% of their value (Tilley 2017). In this study IC is described as a combination of human capital (HC), organisation/structural capital (OC) and relationship capital (RC) (Sánchez et al 2001). An assessment instrument has been developed which investors can use to generate information on HC, OC and RC within an SME (Segars et al 2015). Instrument reliability and validity has been demonstrated by consulting 10 subject matter experts, surveying 100+ (mainly) private and (some) institutional investors and surveying 200+ SME executives.

Leadership and HRM: critical factors in developing a secure formula for organisational health and employee well-being
Professor Rona Beattie and Dr David BaMaung

In today's instable climate organisations and their workforces face increasing insecurity. Insecurity is typically viewed as emanating from external threats including hacking, theft of intellectual property, sabotage and terrorism. However, it is estimated that about 80% of threats actually come from within; the 'insider threat'. Insiders include anyone working within the organisation: direct employees, sub-contractors, partners and suppliers. This paper, using new empirical research and through engagement with policymakers and practitioners, explores how organisational leaders and HRM can improve organisational health and employee well-being by engaging in proactive policies and practices to enhance people security.

Evaluating the impact of a brief mindfulness intervention to reduce early signs of compulsive internet use for long-hour workers 
Dr Cristina Quinones

Excessive working and compulsive internet use are problems for many workers. Mindfulness interventions, which focus on acceptance and being in the present moment, are generally found to be effective, for instance in terms of reducing workers’ stress levels. However, such interventions are time consuming and may not be ideal for the kinds of busy employees who are at risk from excessive working and internet use. This research aimed to evaluate a much shorter mindfulness intervention (involving daily 10-minute practice for two weeks), to see if it would be effective for reducing the early signs of compulsive internet use.

Organisational restructuring choices and the implications for job quality for public sector workers in Ontario and Scotland
Dr Rachelle Pascoe-Deslauriers 

This paper interrogates public sector restructuring practices and the implications for job transitions and post displacement job quality in Scotland and Ontario, Canada during the economic crisis. The research conceptualises the job transition as a holistic process, from pre-displacement to re-employment, allowing for a more dynamic conceptualisation of the actors, processes and structures that influence employment outcomes and crucially, the nature of post-transition employment. The research argues that downsizing and redeployment policies appear to view any job as a better outcome than job loss. This presentation considers areas of organisational practices that might improve outcomes for individuals and the downsizing organisations.

Who voted for Brexit? Examining the connection between labour market disadvantages and Brexit vote
Dr Loulia Bessa and Professor Andy Charlwood

The study exploits the longitudinal nature of the Understanding Society dataset in order to build statistical portraits of the labour market histories of study participants. Labour market disadvantage will be operationalised through identifying spells of low pay, work in low skill occupation, insecure employment (indicated by short job spells), involuntary job loss and unemployment. Overall household economic resources will also be taken into account. Two methods will summarise overall labour market disadvantage. First, an index measure of labour market disadvantage which provides a summary of the duration and intensity of labour market disadvantage. Second, latent cluster analysis to identify empirically clusters of workers who have experienced different levels and patterns of labour market disadvantage/advantage. Finally, multi-level modelling will identify relationships between these indicators of labour market disadvantage and reported referendum voting behaviour.

Becoming a Living Wage Employer: heart strings or purse strings?
Professor Edmund Heery and Dr David Nash

This paper presents the results of a survey of accredited Living Wage Employers carried out in late 2016. Accredited Living Wage Employers voluntarily agree to pay their employees an hourly rate of pay in excess of the statutory minimum wage and extend this provision to indirect workers who are employed on their premises. The Living Wage is a notable example of the civil regulation of employment and the paper examines why employers adhere voluntarily to standards of this type.

Influences on employee behaviour in employee share ownership plans
Professor Andrew Pendleton and Professor Andrew Robinson

This paper is concerned with the behaviour of employees in employee share ownership plans. Specifically, when share option plans come to maturity, do employees exercise the options or walk away, and what are the influences upon this? If they exercise, do they sell the shares instantaneously or do they retain them? The paper considers the role of attitudinal and demographic factors as well as share price movements. A particular focus is those who make the 'wrong' decision at exercise (based on share price movements) and the reasons for this.

Work engagement, that is the positive antipode of burnout characterised by vigour, dedication and absorption, is found to be triggered by jobs high on resources and to be positively related to task and contextual performance. The critical question is how work engagement can be stimulated. Next to top-down interventions, bottom-up approaches are proposed to be effective in stimulating work engagement. Job crafting, that is the adjustments that individuals make in their job demands and resources to make work more meaningful and fit their preferences, is related to work engagement and job crafting interventions seem to be effective in stimulating this behaviour.