February News

FORUM NEWS

Research Awards

The following awards have been made for the 2012 UFHRD Research Honorarium:

- Developing and piloting a stakeholder approach to the evaluation of doctoral training; Valerie Anderson and Sarah Gilmore (University of Portsmouth)

- An investigation into the role of work based and experiential focused qualifications in the development of professional identity of HR and HRD practitioners; Lynn Nicol and Sue Williams (University of Gloucestershire)

As a result of additional funding available through BMAF five ‘Teaching & Learning’ research awards have also been made, where it is anticipated outputs will contribute to…including the new Teaching & Learning Resource Bank (see also below):

- How learning can reduce conflict in the workplace; Tony Bennett (University of Central Lancashire)

- Evaluating the impact of a masters educational programme: a HR(D) practitioners perspective; Aileen Lawless (Liverpool John Moores University)

- An evaluation of the Barnet Children and Families Services Partnership Leadership and Management Development Programme; Mary Hartog, Derek Miles and colleagues (Middlesex University)

- Student workplace learning: factors assisting and inhibiting WBL; Chrissy Ogilvie (Manchester Metropolitan University)

- The value of participatory learning in delivering HRD modules: 2012 and beyond; Fiona Robson, Lynne Powell and Gillian Foster (Newcastle Business School)

All research is due for completion by the end of 2012, with outputs earmarked for the 2013 conference and the Forum’s Teaching & Learning Resource Bank.

Teaching & Learning Resource Bank

This is now up and running and needs contributions. Any aspect of teaching and learning practice within, a broadly interpreted, understanding of HRD, is welcome. Recent additions include Creative Presentations (and their Assessment) from Paul Tosey and colleagues at Surrey University and Teaching the Politics of HRD from Vivienne Griggs and Rick Holden at Leeds Met University. The format is simple (see The UFHRD Teaching and Learning Resource Bank) and the only criteria is “do I do something which others in the HRD teaching community might find useful ?”

For further information or if you have any queries please contact Paul Tosey (P.Tosey@surrey.ac.uk) or Rick Holden (R.Holden@leedsmet.ac.uk)

Conference Update

This is the 13^th International Conference on Human Resource Development Research and Practice Across Europe: The future of HRD – 2020 and beyond: challenges and opportunities’ to be held from 23rd to 25^th of May 2012, and hosted by Universidade Lusíada de Famalicão and CLEGI (Centro Lusíada de Engenharia e Gestão Industrial) in Portugal.

The deadline for submission of papers has now passed and the review process is underway. Conference organisers report that approaching 150 abstracts and outlines have been received.

Registration and accommodation details can be found on the web site at

OTHER NEWS

What makes for a successful HR Practitioner ?

The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan have published the results of the 2012 HR Competency Study. For the past 25 years, Michigan professors Dave Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank have explored the question: “What knowledge and abilities are necessary for successful HR professionals?” This research has been uniquely influential in shaping the HR profession; not only the corporate HR agenda, but also the strategic agenda, for years to come”

In this round of research, six competency domains were identified that HR professionals must demonstrate to be personally effective and to impact business performance. To be successful HR professionals must be:
• Strategic positioners who understand evolving business contexts, stakeholder expectations, and business requirements and translate them into talent, culture, and leadership actions
• Credible activists who build relationships of trust and have a clear point of view about how to build business performance
• Capability builders who define, audit, and create organization capabilities required for sustainable organizational success
• Change champions: who initiate and sustain change at the individual, initiative, and institutional levels
• HR innovators and integrators who look for new ways to do HR practices and integrate those separate practices to deliver business solutions
• Technology proponents who use technology for efficiency, to connect employees, and to leverage new communication channels, e.g., social media.

According to Wayne Brockbank, professor at the Ross School of Business and co-director of the study “We can empirically show that when HR professionals demonstrate these six competencies, they are seen as personally effective and they impact business performance” . “This research shapes the HR profession because it defines what it means to be an effective HR professional and how to build an effective HR department” said Dave Ulrich, professor at the Ross School of Business and co-director of the study.

To accomplish the study a partnership was established with partnered with leading HR professional associations in Australia (AHRI), Latin America (IAE), China (Jobs51), India (NHRD), Middle East (ASHRM), Northern Europe (HR Norge), and South Africa (IPM). A total of 20,013 respondents from 635 business units took part.

IFTDO Newsletter

The first 2012 issue of the IFTDO newsletter has been published and is available here: IFTDO-News-No 1 of 2012

It includes articles on HR Trends, Leadership Trends and a report on the 2011 CIPD Conference. Additionally there are details of the 41st IFTDO Conference in Kuwait (16 – 18 April) and the 2012 IFTDO Global HRD Awards.

Reports that women are fairing less well in labour market misleading

The CIPD has said reports that women are faring less well in the UK labour market are the results of “widespread misinterpretation”.

John Philpott chief economic adviser at the CIPD says “Reports in much of today’s media that women are at present faring less well than men in the labour market, primarily because of the disproportionate impact of public sector job cuts, are misleading. In the year to the final quarter of 2011, a period of considerable public sector downsizing, the number of men in employment fell by 43,000 (-0.3%) while the number of women in employment increased by 50,000 (+0.4%). Focusing solely on employees (i.e. stripping out the rise in self-employment), although the absolute outcome for women is weaker (with a net fall of 2,000 in the number of women employees, which registers as a zero percent annual change) male employees fare much worse (a net fall of 77,000, or -0.6%)

“The corresponding rise in unemployment was near identical for both men and women (up 89,000 and 90,000 respectively). The unemployment rate deteriorated slightly more for women (up from 7.1% to 7.7%) than for men (up from 8.5% to 9%) but this was due to more women entering the labour market rather than a fall in the number of women in work. By contrast, the number of men participating in the labour market fell, without which male unemployment would have been higher. It is true that the rise in female unemployment in the final quarter of 2011 (up 32,000) was higher than that for men (up 16,000) but again this was because an increase in the number of women entering the labour market exceeded an increase in the number of women in employment. It was not the result of fewer women in work.

“It is evident that conditions in the UK labour market are at present tough for both women and men, and there is a clear and severe overall shortage of jobs that needs to be filled. However, it is misleading to say that women are being hit harder than men. This is perhaps surprising given the relatively high concentration of women working in the public sector. Further large scale public sector downsizing may therefore have an adverse impact on female unemployment in the coming months and years. But the current popular narrative suggesting that female employment is already falling and unemployment rising relative to that of men because of the impact of fiscal austerity is not supported by available data.”

85% of employees would like more training

The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) has found, following a recent survey that 85% of professionals would like to have more training at work to enhance their job role. When looking into reasons why professionals choose to not study a qualification, 18% say it’s down to the lack of support from their employer.

The survey which looked into attitudes towards training and development among professionals in 2012 asked respondents what the main obstacles are for not engaging in training and over half (58%) said it came down to funding. The survey also revealed that 71% of respondents will not be taking a professional qualification due to lack of time both at work and at home. The second biggest reason is funding (55%) followed by lack of employee support (18%). The CIPP has suggested that to combat issues with funding, employees may want to look into salary sacrifice. This is a scheme whereby employees sacrifice a portion of their salary in place of certain benefits and would therefore not pay tax and National Insurance contributions.

Despite just under a fifth of employers (18%) not supporting employees in regards to studying qualifications, it’s promising to see that over two thirds of employers (67%) are supportive towards their employees who would like to study.

The survey polled 103 payroll, pensions, HR, accounting and finance professionals over two weeks

Youth unemployment: a social and economic time bomb ?

The Davos 2012 World Economic Forum debated youth unemployment. The following notes are drawn from the BBC News Website.

According to discussion at Davos 2012 the world is plagued by youth unemployment. The numbers are stark: In some countries of the Arab world, up to 90% of 16-24 year olds are unemployed. In the United States the youth unemployment rate is 23%. In Spain nearly 50%. In the UK 22%.Worldwide, some 200 million people are unemployed. 75 million are between 16 and 24 and every year about 40 million young people are entering the workforce.

Business leaders argued young people who were unemployed for a long time will earn less throughout their whole lives. They will be less employable. They won’t have the skills that business needs. They are more likely to have long-term health problems. And it can cause social unrest. In many countries young people have “lost a line of sight to the future.”

The role of education received mixed response. According to one leading industrialist “Universities are just too slow. If I tell them that I need graduates with different skills, it takes them two years or more to change their courses. By then technology will be changing yet again”. However, n South Korea, for example, it’s the other way round. So many people are university graduates, the country is running out of people to fill blue-collar jobs. Then there are life skills, or rather the lack of it. Some youngsters don’t know the basics, from getting on with co-workers to having basic entrepreneurial skills. Sometimes, better schooling could have provided a fix: In China, most delivery drivers can read only Chinese, which makes them unemployable for global logistics companies who deliver parcels and mail arriving from around the world. Then there are cultural issues. Some countries educate large numbers of women to university level, only for them to be denied work opportunities, wasting their talents.

The full report can be viewed at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16774301

HRM: Provocation Papers

Over the past year Human Resource Management Journal has published a series of provocation papers where leading HRM scholars challenge traditional ideas in the field, and chart areas for future study to celebrate the 21st volume of the journal. Contributors include: Eric Barends, David Guest, Gary McMahon, Denise Rousseau, Paul Thompson and Pat Wright. The papers are currently available for free download on the HRMJ website.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1748-8583/homepage/provocation_papers.htm

With thanks to Dr David Collings, School of Business & Economics National University of Ireland, Galway

PhD studentships

Two post doc positions are available in business/management studies at Lund University. (See Lund Post Docs). In Lund there is an international, large and expanding research group with large research grants, a strong critical management studies profile and supportive network with many visiting researchers. Lund is a very attractive university city in the south of Sweden, one hour with direct train to Copenhagen.

HE Academy Business Education Update

The February update is available at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/disciplines/business/business-education-update-feb-2012

This has been prepared by the Discipline Leads responsible for Business Education and Economics to keep all of our colleagues and contacts up to date with the latest news, events, resources and funding opportunities from the HEA. Within the HEA Social Sciences cluster, the Discipline Leads for the subjects broadly taught within business and management schools are working together. In this way you can receive information about both the broader aspects of business education and more specific subject related information where relevant.

CONFERENCES, CALLS for PAPERS etc

Call for new Associate Editor, Non-Refereed Section, HRDI

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Human Resource Development International (HRDI), and Routlege/Taylor & Francis as publisher of HRDI, I am inviting nominations for the position of Associate Editor for the Non-Refereed (“Perspectives”) Section. The position will become vacant because of the appointment of the previous office holder to the position of Associate Editor for the Refereed Section. The Associate Editor for Perspectives works with the Editor on all aspects related to the non-refereed section of the journal, including perspectives on research, on theory, on practice, on people, and book reviews. The responsibility of the Associate Editor for Perspectives is to solicit contributions, provide feedback to authors, and make acceptance recommendations to the Editor related to manuscripts submitted to the non-refereed section of the journal.

The successful candidate is expected to start on September 1, 2012; the end date for the appointment is August 31, 2015. Upon successful performance in this role, the Associate Editor for Perspectives is expected to assume the role of Associate Editor for the Refereed Section (three-year term) and subsequently take over the leadership of the journal as Editor for another three-year term. Prerequisites include holding a tenured or tenure-line position at a research university, successful history of scholarship and publication in HRD and related fields of study, experience and interest in international dimensions of the field, support from the home academic department, and service as reviewer and editorial board member of one or more major journals.

Self-nominations are encouraged and should include a statement of vision and goals for the Associate Editor role, relevant prior experience with major research journals, and a full curriculum vitae. Submission deadline is March 31, 2012; the decision will be announced in June, 2012. Please submit all applications to m.lee@lancaster.ac.uk.

Learning and Teaching Conference

Enhancing Internationalisation: Supporting Curricula, Diversity and Inclusion, University of Chichester. The annual Learning and Teaching Conference will take place on Tuesday 12th June 2012. This year the theme will be ‘Enhancing Internationalisation: Supporting Curricula, Diversity and Inclusion’. The aim of the conference is to highlight best practise in terms of enhancing the quality of experience offered to international students, and to consider how the wider themes relating to internationalisation such as managing curricula, diversity and inclusion can be managed effectively.

The keynote speaker will be Dr Catherine Montgomery, Principal Lecturer and National Teaching Fellow, School of Education, University of Northumbria.

Colleagues are invited to submit a paper on any aspect of current provision that relates to the key themes covered by the conference. Full conference details, including a profile of the keynote speaker, can be accessed at: www.chi.ac.uk/swapshop.

Leadership

The Northern Leadership Academy is holding an academic conference on the theme of ‘Leadership’, sponsored by Durham Business School, on 18th and 19th June 2012 to share ideas and research with academics in the field. There will be a focus on PhD students/early career academics to actively encourage collaboration across institutions on the first day and a sharing of leadership ideas across academics at all levels on the second day. Details here: NLA Conference

‘Are HRM processes important?’

The Guest Editorial team for ‘Human Resource Management’ would like to remind colleagues of their call for papers; Special Issue Deadline: 31^st May 2012

For this special issue of HRM, we call for submissions that:

Theoretically discuss the concept of HRM process (Kelley versus Bowen & Ostroff).

Theoretically discuss why and how HRM process is related to individual and/or firm performance.

Introduce instruments for measuring HRM process.

Empirically examine the impact of HRM process on individual attitudes and behaviour, on firm performance, on the implementation of HRM by line managers, etc.

Empirically study the impact of the interaction between HRM content and HRM process on individual attitudes and behaviour, on firm performance, on the implementation of HRM by line managers, etc.

Bridge the gap between theory and practice by offering practical guidelines for managers for developing effective HRM processes.

Further details etc from Dr. Helen Shipton, Aston Centre for Human Resources, Work & Organisational Psychology Group, Aston University, Birmingham, UK, e-mail: h.shipton@aston.ac.uk.

Evidence-based HRM; a global forum for empirical scholarship

We are currently seeking papers for this new journal to be launched in 2013. The journal promotes empirical scholarship in the HR arena and aims to provide an international forum and important reference for the encouragement and dissemination of applied research.
Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Thomas Lange
Associate Editors: Prof. Yannis Georgellis, Prof. Karin Sanders, Assoc. prof. Gail Pacheco

Full details are available here: EBHRM call for papers