Staff Profile

Profile

Steve Vincent has been Professor of Work and Organisation at Newcastle University Business School (NUBS) since 2012. His research covers a broad range of social issues around work and management, HRM, employment relations, globalisation and work, and technology at work. He uses a broadly egalitarian, pragmatic and realist perspective, and he is particulary interested in critical realist and Bourdieusian approaches, and how these apply to contemporary workplace issues. He has published more than 30 journal papers and book chapters.

He is currently researching the relationship between HRM and value creation, exploring the role of labour market intermediaries, and the social structure of supports to labour markets. He is also collaborating with early-career researchers on projects including skilled migration; gender in the ready-made garment industry; gendered activism in the labour market; technology and the work-life boundary; and, the politics of organisational learning.

Roles and Responsibilities

He has previously acted in many internal roles, including: Degree Programme Director for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in HRM; Director of Student Education, Deputy Head of Division; Research Community Leader, and Director of Research; and Subject Group Head. 

Qualifications and Certificates

• B.Soc.Sci. Sociology: first class with prize. University of Manchester (UK) - 1997.
• MA. Personnel Management and Industrial Relations: Merit, Manchester School of Management, UMIST (UK) - 1999.
• PhD. Management Science: Manchester School of Management, UMIST (UK) - 2005

Previous Positions

• Research Assistant, Manchester School of Management, UMIST (1999-2001)
• Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds (2002-2012).

Awards

• Reimagining Career Boundaries: Alternative theoretical perspectives, Best Symposium American Academy of Management, Careers Division (2019) Boston, MA., with Dr Andrew Kozhevnikov (Coventry) and Prof. Wolfgang Mayrhofer (Vienna).

Current Projects:

Steve is a generalist in the broad field of work and organisation and his current research is focused on three interrelated themes: [i] social structures and job quality, [ii] equality and inclusion at work, and [iii] technology and the workplace.

In relation to the first theme, social structures and job quality, he is currently exploring how employment policies are implemented at a local level to support "better work". He is also researching the role of labour market intermediaries - such as job centres, employment agencies, head-hunters, and suchlike – in the labour market. He is interested in how these organisations have different impacts on different categories of worker.

In relation to the second theme, equality and inclusion at work, he is currently exploring equality regulations, and how these can enable more equitable and productive outcomes within employers, and how “third sector” organisations act to positively affect outcomes for women workers. He is also researching how gendered patters in employment relations are affected by an employers’ position in a “global production network”, with a focus on women workers in the Bangladeshi Ready-Made Garment Industry. Finally, in this area, he is also looking at the careers and practices of skilled migrants in the UK labour market.

In relation to the third theme, technology at work, he is exploring [i] the relationship between technology, work organisation and management practice, and [ii] the use of technology at the work-life boundary. Both these projects also concentrate on the issue of job quality, and also include aspects of gendered and/or occupational/class-based aspects of these relations.

Main expertise:

Steve’s is a member of the Human Resource Management, Work and Employment Research Group. His main discipline area relates to the application of critical realist ontology and meta-theory within applied research in the broad field of work and employment. He often uses critical theories, such as political economy, labour process theory, realist social theory, and Bourdieusian sociology, and consider societal challenges, with a focus on HRM, productivity, inclusion and technology.

He has edited a book on Critical Realism and research methods, and he has edited various special issues of peer review journals. He has also published widely, including a range of book chapters in edited collections and peer review journals, including papers in the following journals: Administrative Theory and Praxis; Human Relations; Industrial Relations Journal; Human Resource Management Journal; Journal of Critical Realism; Journal of Management Studies; Work, Employment and Society, Public Administration; and, New technology, Work and Employment. 

Funding Received:

• Gender in Business Schools Network (Society for the Advancement of Management Studies: £7960). Principal Applicant, with Dr Ana Lopes (Newcastle) and Prof. Elina Meliou (Brunel) – 2018-2019.
• Critical Realism in Action (ESRC Seminar Series: £13, 416 - ref: ES/H002197/1). Co-applicant, with Paul Edwards (Birmingham) and Joe O’Mahoney (Cardiff) – 2009-2010.
• Enhancing the effectiveness of Clinical Directorates (ESRC: Knowledge Transfer Partnership, £118,655). Consultant, under Principal Investigator: Prof. Ian Kirkpatrick (York) 2008-2010.

Postgraduate Supervision

Steve has supervised 7 PhD students to completion in a range of topics including:

• The roles of Health Care Assistance in the NHS.
• White-collar unionism and collective organisation.
• Offshore workers in the Nigerian offshore oil industry.
• Gender and patriarchy in the Bangladeshi textiles industry.
• The careers of highly skilled migrants.
• Technology and the work-life boundary.
• Organisations that support women in with employment.

Steve is open to approaches from students interested in studying most aspects of HRM, work and employment, as long as they want to study these areas with a broadly critical perspective, and using either mixed-method or qualitative approaches.

Esteem Indicators:

• Google Scholar: Papers and Citations
• Editorial Board Member: Work in the Global Economy [2023- ]
• Editorial Board Member: Work Employment and Society [2006-2010]
• Guest Editor: Relations Industrials 73(1) [2018]
• Guest Editor: Organization 25(5) [2018]
• Guest Editor, Human Resource Management Journal, 30(4) [2020]
• Guest Editor, Organization Studies [in production]
• Visiting Fellow: Institute of Advances Studies, University of Lancaster [2005-2006]
• Conference co-lead: 29^th International Labour Process Conference, Leeds, UK, [2010]
• Conferences Lead: 38^th International Labour Process Conference, Newcastle, UK [2020]
• Steering Group Member: International Labour Process Conference
• Associate Member: Critical Realism Network

Background:

Steve is committed to good teaching practice and a wide experience of teaching, including organisation studies, research methods, the sociology of work, organisational behaviour, employment relations, and HRM. He has have also taught at all levels, from year one to research students and executive education.

Undergraduate Modules

• Understanding Work and Organisations [BUS2019] – 20 Credits
• Human Resource Management [BUS2040] – 20 Credits
• Critical Perspectives on Human Resource Management [BUS3066] – 20 Credits*
• Management Dissertation [BUS3051] – 40 Credits

Postgraduate Modules

• People Management in Global Context [NBS8286] – 20 Credits
• Thinking Differently about Global Human Resource Management [NBS8385] – 10 Credits*
• Dissertation (Global HRM) [NBS8500] – 60 Credits.

Research Student Modules:

• Research Designs in Management and Business Studies [NBS8554] – 20 Credits*

*Modules that Steve leads.

Funded Learning and Teaching Projects:

'Developing Management Research Practice amongst HRM students', £4000, University of Leeds [2010-2011]

'Research into Teaching: Strategies for HRM students', £1200, University of Leeds [2007-2008]

'Developing Case Studies to support Learning and Teaching', £1200, University of Leeds [2005-2007]

• Articles

  • Vincent S, Bamber G, Delbridge R, Grady J, Grugulis I. Situating human resource management in the political-economy: Multilevel theorising and opportunities for kaleidoscopic imagination. Human Resource Management Journal 2020, 30(4), 461-477.
  • Mawa A, Hardy K, Vincent S. Management Patriarchy and Paternalism in the Bangladeshi Ready-Made Garment Industry: A Critical Feminist Analysis of Workplace Relations in a Buyer-Driven Global Production System. Management Revue 2020. Submitted.
  • Hurrell S, Kozhevnikov A, Vincent S. [Not] realising their potential? A realist analysis of the “problem” of skilled migration. Work, Employment and Society 2020. Submitted.
  • Vincent S, Pagan V. Entrepreneurial agency and field relations: A Realist Bourdieusian Analysis. Human Relations 2019, 72(2), 188-216.
  • O'Mahoney J, Vincent S, Harley B. Realist studies of oppression, emancipation and resistance. Organization 2018, 25(5), 575-584.
  • Hallée Y, Taskin L, Vincent S. A Renewed Approach to Human Resource Management (HRM). Relations Industrielles 2018, 73(1), 3-10.
  • Brannan M, Fleetwood S, O'Mahoney J, Vincent S. Critical Essay: Meta-Analysis: A Critical Realist Critique and Alternative. Human Relations 2017, 70(1), 11-39.
  • Vincent S. Bourdieu and the gendered social structure of working time: A study of self-employed human resources professionals. Human Relations 2016, 69(5), 1163-1184.
  • Vincent S, Wapshott R, Gardiner J. Putting the Agent into Research in Black and Minority Ethnic Entrepreneurship: A New Methodological Proposal. Journal of Critical Realism 2014, 13(4), 368-384.
  • Vincent S. The emotional labour process: An essay on the economy of feelings. Human Relations 2011, 64(10), 1369-1392.
  • Grugulis I, Vincent S. Whose skill is it anyway? 'Soft' skills and polarization. Work, Employment and Society 2009, 23(4), 597-615.
  • Vincent S, Grugulis I. Employment relations, cost minimisation and inter-organisational contracting. Industrial Relations Journal 2009, 40(1), 40-59.
  • Vincent S. A transmutation theory of inter-organizational exchange relations and networks: Applying critical realism to analysis of collective agency. Human Relations 2008, 61(6), 875-899.
  • Vincent S. Really dealing: A critical perspective on inter-organizational exchange networks. Work, Employment and Society 2005, 19(1), 47-65.
  • Grugulis I, Vincent S, Hebson G. The rise of the ‘network organisation’ and the decline of discretion. Human Resource Management Journal 2003, 13(2), 45-59.
  • Grimshaw D, Cooke FL, Grugulis I, Vincent S. New Technology and Changing Organisational Forms: Implications for Managerial Control and Skills. New Technology, Work and Employment 2002, 17(3), 186-203.
  • Grimshaw D, Vincent S, Willmott H. Going Privately: Partnership and Outsourcing in UK Public Services. Public Administration 2002, 80(3), 475-502.
  • Rubery J, Earnshaw J, Marchington M, Cooke FL, Vincent S. Changing Organisational Forms and the Employment Relationship. Journal of Management Studies 2002, 39(5), 645-672.
  • Grimshaw D, Vincent S, Willmott H. New Control Modes and Emergent Organisational Forms: Private-Public Contracting in Public Administration and Health Service Provision. Administrative Theory and Praxis 2001, 23(2), 407-430.

• Authored Book

  • Edwards P, O'Mahoney J, Vincent S. Studying Organizations Using Critical Realism: A Practical Guide. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2014.

• Book Chapters

  • Monroe J, Vincent S, Lopes A. Critical Realist Metatheory and the Sociology of Organisations: Using contrastive explanation to explain personal internet use at work. In: Godwyn, M, ed. Research Handbook on the Sociology of Organizations. Cheltenham, UK: Elgar, 2022, pp.475-490.
  • Vincent S, Hurrell S, Kozhevnikov A. Critical Realism and the Development of Management Theory. In: Neesham, C; Reihlen, M; Schoenborn, D, ed. Handbook of Philosophy of Management. Springer, 2022, pp.1-18.
  • Vincent S, Hurrell S. Exploring the HRM performance link: Are we on a road to nowhere?. In: Ian Roper, Rea Prouska and Uracha Chatrakul Ayudhya, ed. Critical Issues in Human Resource Management. CIPD, 2019.
  • Kozhevnikov A, Vincent S. Critical Realism. In: Paul Anthony Atkinson, Sara Delamont, Melissa Hardy, Malcolm Williams, ed. Sage Research Methods Foundations. Sage Publications Ltd, 2019.
  • Mauthner NS. Carol Gilligan. In: Atkinson P; Delamont S; Cernat A; Sakshaug JW; Williams RA, ed. SAGE Research Methods Foundations. London: Sage, 2019.
  • Vincent S, O'Mahoney J. Critical Realism and Qualitative Research: An Introductory Overview. In: Cassell, C; Cunliffe, A; Grady, G, ed. The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Business and Management Research Methods. London: SAGE, 2018, pp.201-216.
  • O'Mahoney J, Vincent S. Critical Realism as an Empirical Project: A Beginner's Guide. In: Edwards, PK; O'Mahoney, J; Vincent, S, ed. Studying Organizations Using Critical Realism: A Practical Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp.1-20.
  • Vincent S, Wapshott R. Critical Realism and the Organizational Case Study: A Guide to Discovering Institutional Mechanisms. In: Edwards, PK; O'Mahoney, J; Vincent, S, ed. Studying Organizations Using Critical Realism: A Practical Guide. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp.148-167.
  • Edwards PK, O'Mahoney J, Vincent S. Concluding Comments. In: Edwards, PK; O'Mahoney, J; and Vincent, S, ed. Studying Organizations Using Critical Realism: A Practical Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp.318-326.
  • Thompson P, Vincent S. Labour Process Theory and Critical Realism. In: Thompson, P., Smith, C, ed. Working Life: Renewing Labour Process Analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, pp.47-69.
  • Grugulis I, Vincent S, Hebson G. Jobs, discretion and skill. In: T. Redman and A. Wilkinson, ed. Contemporary Human Resource Management: Text and Cases. Financial Times: Prentice Hall, 2008, pp.131-134.
  • Carrol M, Cooke F, Hassard J, Vincent S. The Strategic Management of Contracting in the Private Sector. In: Marchington, M., Grimshaw, D., Rubery, J., Wilmott, H, ed. Fragmenting Work in New Organisational Forms: Blurring Boundaries and Disordering Hierarchies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp.89-110.
  • Cooke FL, Marchington M, Vincent S. The Role of Boundary-Spanning Agents in Inter-Organisational Contracting. In: Marchington, M., Grimshaw, D., Rubery, J., Willmott, H, ed. Fragmenting Work in New Organisational Forms: Blurring Boundaries and Disordering Hierarchies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp.135-156.
  • Vincent S, Grugulis I. Strategy, Contracts and Control in Government IT Work. In: Stewart, P, ed. Employment, Trade Union Renewal and the Future of Work: The Experience of Work and Organisational Change. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, pp.231-249.
  • Grugulis I, Vincent S. Changing Boundaries, Shaping Skills: the 'New' Organisational Form and Employee Skills. In: Marchington, M., Grimshaw, D., Rubery, J., Willmott, H, ed. Fragmenting Work in New Organisational Forms: Blurring Boundaries and Disordering Hierarchies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp.199-216.

• Review

  • Marchington M, Vincent S. Analysing the Influence of Institutional, Organizational and Interpersonal Forces in Shaping Inter-Organizational Relations. Journal of Management Studies 2004, 41(6), 1029-1056.