Dr Virginia Fisher

I am an experienced teacher, academic and researcher in the HRM, Employment Relations, Diversity and general management subject areas. The central philosophy of my teaching and research has always been a commitment to an ethical and sustainable approach to the management of people at work. This philosophy has featured in my choice of research topics and within the learning objectives and assessment of my HR and management modules. My doctorate was a poststructural feminist ethnography exploring the gendered nature of a large, post-92, UK Business School. I have published in the areas of gender, masculinity, ethnography and employment relations. Most recently, in collaboration with Professor Richard Saundry and Dr Sue Kinsey, I investigated the complexities of HR and the management of workplace conflict, resulting in the 2019 ACAS publication, ‘Managing workplace conflict: The changing role of HR’ and the 2021 publication in HRMJ ‘Disconnected HR? Proximity and the (mis)management of workplace conflict’. Along with my colleagues Professor Richard Saundry and Dr Anthony Bennett, I am co editor of the 7th edition (2020) of the CIPD textbook, 'Managing Employment Relations'.  In 2021 I was the winner (with Dr Sue Kinsey & Professor Richard Saundry) of the CIPD Professor Ian Beardwell Prize for outstanding contribution to research in HR. Read the paper here (doi: 10.1111/1748-8583.12318) published in the Human Resource Management Journal

Recently my research has investigated the silences and third-party complicities surrounding sexual harassment in the workplace. This work was presented at the 2018 CIPD Applied Research Conference and subsequently informed the development of policy for several large organisations. 

I am a committed and enthusiastic teaching and learning professional. Student centred approaches to learning underpin my philosophy and practice in the classroom. I am a senior fellow of the HEA and I was the Associate Head for Teaching and Learning in the (former) Postgraduate School of Management. I have been an active trade union representative and caseworker for the University and College Union. I started my working life as a professional HR and Training manager in the public sector and I am a long-standing member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Qualifications

BA (Hons) Medieval and Modern History (University of Birmingham) 2(i). Dissertation title: The History of the Women's Suffragist Movement in Birmingham.

MA in Industrial Relations (University of Warwick) With Distinction. Dissertation title: ‘Heterosexism is bad for your health: Coming Out at Work’. Supervised by Professor Anne McBride.

Doctorate in Education (School of Public Policy and Professional Practice, University of Keele). Thesis title: ‘Double, double toil and (gender) trouble’: A feminist ethnography of the performance of gender and sexuality within a business school. Director of Studies, Professor Farzana Shain.

Professional membership

SFHEA Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Teaching interests

ENT101 Entrepreneurial Thought and Action

HRL701 Contemporary HRM in Context - Module Leader

HRL314 International HRM - Module Leader

HRL714 International HRM - Module Leader

HRL713 HR Research Report (MAHRM) - research supervisor

STO711/712 Research Project (MBA) - research supervisor

BUSM301 Project - supervisor

Staff serving as external examiners

University of Northampton

University of Coventry

University of East London

University of Wolverhampton

Research interests

My doctorate was an exploration of the gendered work cultures of higher education.

My research interests include gender, management, diversity, managerialism, higher education and ethnographic research.

I am currently leading a university funded project which is investigating the silences which surround sexual harassment in the workplace.

Research degrees awarded to supervised students

2013: Dr Keith Davies (Emotional Dissonance among UK Animal Technologists: evidence, impact and management implications).

2016: Dr Helen Mortimore (The doing of equality and diversity: a discourse-analytic study of the perceptions of HR practitioners).

2017: Dr Christine Parkin Hughes (The conceptualisation of sustainability by tomorrow’s managers).

2019: Dr Andrew Brown (Managerial Reluctance: A Case Study into the Role of the Academic Manager).

2019: Dr Jasmine Kelland (Fathers at Work: Challenges and Stereotypes Facing Fathers with Caregiving Responsibilities in Employment). 

2019: Dr Margaret Prior (The Employment Relationship in the Military).