I am a Doctoral Researcher in the Organisation, Work & Technology (OWT) Department of the Lancaster University Management School (2021-2024) - with a BSc in Organisational Behaviour (also from Lancaster, 1st class) and an MSc in Psychology (from the University of Nottingham, Distinction). In between my academic qualifications I spent a number of years working in industry at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Mars, gaining experience in HR, Operations, Sales and Marketing - most recently as a Senior Brand Manager for Fruity Confectionary.
Inspired by both my academic grounding in OWT and industry experience, my research explores how contemporary managerial practices have become tools in which to engage and transform worker's understanding of 'self' and the concrete impact this has on working subjects.
I focus on activities associated with performance management, as the epitome of a focus on the 'self' and its development in the workplace, to explore two research questions (and two 'sites' of analysis):
- What are the conditions that make these activities/methods possible (the instruments that legitimise this in contemporary workplaces), and
- What effect does this have on individuals exposed to such practices (qualitative interview data from a breadth of UK workers in various organisations)?
Fundamentally, my PhD research adopts an interdisciplinary reading of this managerial topic: drawing on cultural history, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, religion, sociology and politics.
