University of Kent

 

University – Industry linkages and knowledge transfer are topics of current interest at the European Union level, with the UK serving as one of the best cases for variety and spectacular growth. Within this context, the region represents an important “task environment” and both universities and businesses are expected to support the wide objectives of regional development.

Our research interests toward University – Industry linkages are backed by at least two main aims.

First, we try to continuously map those current issues that fall under the business engagement agenda, such as knowledge exchange patterns, technology/ knowledge transfer offices, motivations, incentives and barriers to engagement, measurement and metrics, the geography of University – Industry linkages, impacts on innovation, SMSs and regional development. In doing so, we think we can support both decision-makers and academics in better understanding the environment, while getting to their attention enablers and best practices.

Second, we’re trying to identify some “unanswered questions”, document their causes and identify further directions for improvements. As a starting point, we’ve combined our previous experience and expertise in business engagement and organizational communication and we’ve tried to develop an alignment framework that gathers traditional players in University – Industry linkages, with a special focus on boundary units. We’ve piloted the framework within an instrumental case study at the University of Kent and we’re now taking actions to develop and make the framework purposeful.

To this point, two research papers gather the results of our work.

For the future, comparative cases, diagnostic analyses and policy studies are envisaged.

If you are interested in joining our group, please contact the Centre by clicking here

 

The Promoting Sustainable Performance project is University funded and supports the Centre in its primary concern of developing world class research and knowledge transfer activities. Through the investigation and improved understanding of how the macro-, micro- and internal environments impact upon firm performance, the Centre has developed and utilised a benchmarking model to help tailor solutions to specific problems within Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

 

This project aims to provide a critical analysis of datasets captured on an ongoing, rather than singular 'one-off' basis. The project applies a holistic approach to the measurement of firm performance recognising that the implementation of practices and environmental factors impact organsiational productivity and performance.

 

Futhermore, the ESRC Busienss Engagement Scheme, which has provided funding of £100,000, has enabled the Centre to extend the activity of the Promoting Sustainble Performance project, and to develop a greater interaction betweeen the business and research community.

 

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‘The Sustainable Business and Productivity Growth for SMEs’ (SBPG) project was an Interreg funded IIIA comparative study between UK partners (Centre for Regional Business Productivity, Kent Business School) and French Partners (ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale). The UK study is jointly funded by the European Commission (EC) and the University of Kent.

 

The project was supported by a range of business advisory services and social partners including SEEDA, Business Link Kent, Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, Thames Gateway Chamber of Commerce, and the manufacturing Advisory Service.

 

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Trade unions in the UK and Australia face an ongoing crisis in membership and density. Reasons for this decline include the changing composition of employment in both countries, a decline in the heartland of traditional union membership, the associated decline of manufacturing industries and the growth of service industries. The retail sector has grown rapidly and represents unique challenges for unions. This project aims to understand the strategies utilized by UK and Australian retail unions to represent their members; to analyse and assess the effectiveness of representational strategies. Specifically, surveys and interviews will be administered to union officials and members to enable comparisons.

 

This research project will develop a theoretical model of union strategy in the retail industry, providing unions with a practical resource with which to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of representational strategies. Additionally, the project will establish an international collaborative partnership for undertaking future research.

 

Project Team

• Dr Janis Bailey, Griffith University, Australia
• Dr Iona Byford, University of Portsmouth, UK
• Dr Samantha Lynch, University of Kent, UK
• Dr Robin Price, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
• Dr Amanda Pyman, Monash University, Australia

 

Existing work on the relationship between HRM and organisational performance relationship has led to a concentration of analysis on strategy and performance - the two end points of evaluation.  What is now required is a greater understanding of the intervening steps, which can be achieved by looking at what mediates these two variables of HRM and performance.   Such intermediate linkages include the role of line managers in the application of HRM policy and practice.  They hold a unique position being located at the interface of senior management and employees and actually translate HR strategy and policies into action. 

 

The research design consists of three phases.  The first phase is a pilot survey of employers to establish organisational HRM processes, the role of line managers, and the link with organisational performance with the second phase involving development of the survey tool and a full wider survey of organisations.  The third phase will consist of case studies of organisations to establish whether a strong HRM system coupled with competent line management fosters a stronger positive correlation between HRM and performance.  The project is currently in the first phase.

 

This research project aims to bring together theory and practice to provide organisations with an insight into how their HRM processes can make a sustainable contribution to organisational performance.  It will provide theoretical developments in the area of HRM and performance with a particular focus on the role of line managers in the relationship between HRM practices and an organisation’s performance.

 

Secretarial work is one of the most persistently gendered of all occupations. In 2009, Katie Truss undertook a survey of over 1,000 women secretaries and PAs in the UK to find out whether secretarial work has changed. Alongside evidence of improvements, she found evidence that the occupation retains its persistently gendered nature. Her report, published in 2009, received widespread media coverage.

 

From 2008-2010 Katie Truss was Principal Investigator of a £360,000 ESRC/IRCHSS funded bilateral reseaerhc study of knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs) in the UK and Ireland. This project was run in collaboration with Professor Kathy Monks and her team based at Dublin City University. The study focused on how KIFs in the pharmaceutical and software sectors go about managing their knowledge workers, as well as the impact of government policy on HR approaches and skill levels in these firms. This project rise to award-winning conference papers, with further publications under development.

 

Australian Worker Representation and Participation Surveys (AWRPS) have been conducted, in 2004 and 2007 respectively, exploring employees’ experiences of voice structures and processes. The AWRPS is derived from an international comparative study of employee voice in six countries, including: the USA, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

 

Katie Truss has led several research projects on the topic of strategic HRM. She was a member of the 'Leading Edge' research team at London Business School which tracked the development of SHRM approaches within seven major corporations over an 11-year period up to 2001.

 

This project aims to test a framework that will allow organisation to measure how the soft practices of leadership development can be integrated with hard measures of organisational performance, in order to build greater direction, alignment and commitment, in pursuit of competitive advantage.

 

Many organisations invest heavily in their leadership development activities. However, very few of them evaluate its impact. Fewer still attempt to gauge the relationship between organisational success/performance and their leadership development activities. In consequence, many organisations avoid leadership development entirely, are sceptical about its overall value, or are in truth wasting their money.

 

Professor Dennis Tourish has conducted a major research project with 192 organisations in Scotland, exploring what forms of leadership development they utilise, how it is evaluated and the barriers towards good practice that are most commonly found. Based on this, he has now developed a five step framework designed to build robust links between leadership development and business performance.

 

Briefly, this framework proposes that:

 

 

And then it all begins again. Leadership development can never been a one off programme, event or discussion at the top. It only works well when it becomes part of a company’s DNA, when it absorbs time and attention on a daily basis – and when it is firmly grounded in an organisation’s immediate business needs. Sounds a challenge? Maybe, but it can be done. The alternative is simply to throw time, money and resources at it, in the vague expectation that it will do some good. It is hard to imagine any other area of business activity where this would take place. I see no reason why leadership development should be any different!

European Social Fund/Aberdeen Business School

 

Professor Dennis Tourish has conducted a major research project with 192 organisations in Scotland, exploring what forms of leadership development they utilise, how it is evaluated and the barriers towards good practice that are most commonly found. Based on this, he has now developed a five step framework designed to build robust links between leadership development and business performance. This framework is currently being tested under an Ideas Factory grant provided by the University of Kent.

 

Please click here to access the report

 

Katie Truss is Principal Investigator of an ESRC-funded series of four seminars on employee engagement in collaboration with Cardiff University, the LSE and Kingston University.

 

The series brings together leading academic experts and senior practitioners from around the world to discuss and debate the status of employee engagement today. 

 

The series launched with the first seminar at the University of Kent’s Medway campus in February 2011 focused on defining and measuring employee engagement, and has since been followed by events at the LSE and Cardiff examining the role of leaders in raising engagement levels, and the psychological processes of engagement.  Each seminar has been attended by over 70 delegates.  The series comes to a close in April 2012 with the final event back at the Medway campus, linked closely with the MacLeod Review. 

 

Linked with the series, the organising team are editing a Special Issue on Employee Engagement which will be published by the International Journal of Human Resource Management, and preparing a book proposal.

 

This seminar series broughttogether a range of both experienced and junior management researchers; practitioners and advisors to discuss key family business issues. As such it presented a unique opportunity to take an innovative approach to examining the range of significant issues that currently challenge family firms.

 

A series of six seminars was held between Autumn 2009 and June 2011, exploring these issues.