Hello all, 

I am a doctoral researcher at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. My study explores the professionalisation of HR; how the legitimacy of the function is understood, and whether gender has any effects on these issues.

I am looking for HR practitioners, across a range of roles and seniority levels, to be interviewed on the role of HR. Interview duration and location can be flexible based on interviewee availability. The questions will centre on: the changing nature of HR, HR’s interactions with other functions, professional identity, and HR qualifications/accreditation.

 All interview data will be anonymised and secured within the University of Warwick’s confidentiality procedures.

It is intended that findings from this research will have practical implications for the HR profession. CIPD, a key witness of changes in the HR profession in the UK, emphasises the importance of a professional identity for HR. As such, this research will provide insight into what extent practitioners view themselves as part of a collective profession and what the barriers to a collective identity may be. This study also aims to allow practitioners to understand  on what terms legitimacy may be most successfully is pursued. Finally, the study provides findings on whether the gender composition of HR and unconscious gendering of organisational practices have an impact of how the profession is viewed. A organisation specific report detailing results of this study will also be able to be shared following completion of the research.

Your participation would make a real contribution to this study and I would be very grateful if you would consider being interviewed.

If you would like more information, please contact me at: phd17cb@mail.wbs.ac.uk