Thesis
I am currently working on my research thesis titled ‘HR devolution: Rhetoric or Reality?’ under the supervision of Dr. Keith Macky and Dr. Erling Rasmussen. The purpose of the research is to explore the relationship between HR and line management and investigate the benefits and challenges associated with reallocating HR responsibilities to line managers. The concept of involving line managers in delivering HR services is deeply rooted within the theory of HR, and more recently in strategic HR literature. However, considerable ambiguity and contradiction remain regarding the rationales of devolution, some of the common challenges and their solutions and above all what are precisely the benefits from such strategy. This study aims to contribute to the ongoing debate and empirically explore the claims that are commonly made in the devolution literature.
I won the HRINZ Post Graduate Scholarship for this thesis.
Research Assistantship
I was recently awarded a university research assistantship for a research project focusing on an empirical method to infer employers’ requirements of project manager job skills. This research examines project manager job competencies based on criteria of knowledge, skills and abilities from human resource management literature. We use content analysis to identify employer requirements for project manager positions. We are currently focusing on nearly a thousand project management job advertisements from Australia and New Zealand.
Based on our research results so far, a conference paper has been presented at the IRNOP2011 Research Conference, Montreal, Canada.
Past experience
Up until recently, I worked as a research assistant at the Academy for Collaborative Futures, where I got to work with some of the leading organizations in New Zealand ranging from technology, banking, not-for-profit to construction industry. Our work was focused on organization culture, leadership, productivity and a wide range of people management issues.
I also completed a study on Workplace Partnership in New Zealand under a research scholarship. After nearly a decade of Labour-led governments where trade unions and workplace partnerships have tried to play a very active role in shaping out the country’s employment relations policies and practices, the National-led government has a different ideological view and economic approach and it is unclear whether unions and workplace partnership will play any role at all in the coming years. Therefore partnership in New Zealand is at a critical junction and this study was an endeavor to overview the current state of partnerships between employers, unions and government in New Zealand workplaces.