Professor Stephen Wood

I am Professor of Management. I joined the University of Leicester in April 2010 from the University of Sheffield, where I was Deputy Director and Research Chair at the Institute of Work Psychology, and Professor of Employment Relations in the School of Management from 2000. I was a Co-Director of the University of Sheffield's ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) Centre for Organisation and Innovation, 2001–06 and of the Software Engineering Observatory, University of Sheffield, 2006–10. Prior to this, I was Reader in Industrial Relations at the London School of Economics.

I was elected an Academician of the Academy of Social Science in 2007 and became an Academic Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in 2014 and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2017.

I am a member of the Nominations Committee of the Academy of Social Science.

I was a co-convenor of the ESRC seminar series, Work-Life Balance in the Recession and Beyond (2013-15); a member of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skill's Steering Committee and Research Team for the Workplace Employee Relations Survey Series, (2009-14); member of the Methods and Infrastructure Committee of the Economic and Social Research Council (2008-11); Chair of the Steering Committee of the ESRC's Management Practices Survey; Co-Convener (with Simon Francis, DWP) of the Yorkshire, Humberside and East Midlands Mental Health and Employment Network, and Visiting Professor at the Cass Business School, City University (2006–14).

I have provided policy advice to a range of organisations, public and private, and contributed to public life in a number of ways. Consultancies include an evaluation on the impact of the post-1997 Employment Relations Legislation on corporate performance for the Department of Trade and Industry which led to a published report in 2005. I was a member of the Steering Committee of EEF-ESRC innovation research initiative 2009–11. I was Chair of the Management Board of the Health and Safety Commission's Workers Safety Adviser Challenge Fund, 2004–07 and a member of the Employment Task Group for the 2004 Health White Paper.

I am an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Management, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Industrial Relations Journal, Administrative Sciences, International Journal of Human Resource Management, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Businesses, Journal of Operations and Management Research, and I was Chief Editor of the British Journal of Industrial Relations, 1999–2003, and I am currently a member of its International Advisory Board.

Current research includes a comparison of collective and individual performance-related pay using agent-based modelling (funded by Leverhulme Trust) and home working, uncertainty, and well-being in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Recent research includes the nature of high involvement management, its determinants and impact on well-being and organisational performance; family-friendly management, its nature, predictors of use and performance effects; work-non-work conflict; employee appraisal; teamworking amongst software engineers; health management; staff morale in mental health in-patient care; discrimination and aggression at work; job design; home working.

S. Wood, New Preface to the reissue of 2024, in S. Wood (Ed.), The Transformation of Work? London: Routledge Revival, 2024.

S. Wood, New Preface to the reissue of 2024, in S. Wood (Ed.), The Degradation of Work? Skill, Deskilling and the Labour Process, London: Routledge Revival, 2024.

G. Michaelides. S. Wood, K. Niven and I. Inceoglu, A dual process theory of the effects of boundary segmentation enactment on work–nonwork conflict, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 2024, DOI: 10.1111/joop.12526.

S. Wood, G. Michaelides, A. Kelleher, I. Inceoglu, K. Daniels, K. Niven, and E. Hurren, Satisfaction with one’s job and working at home in the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Two-wave study, Applied Psychology Journal, 2023, 72, 1409–1429.

S. Wood, S. Leoni, and D. Ladley, Comparisons of the effects of individual and collective performance related pay on performance, Human Resource Management Review, Vol. 33, Issue 4, December 2023, Article 100982.

S. Wood, G. Michaelides, K. Daniels and K. Niven, Uncertainty and well-being in the Pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Special Issue, COVID-19 in the Workplace: Observations, Research, and Lessons Learned, 2022, 19, 10435.

W. Zhang and S. Wood, Awareness of age-related change, chronological age, subjective age and proactivity: an empirical study in China, Frontiers of Psychiatry, Special Edition on Awareness of Age-related Change, 2022, 13:915673, doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.915673.

S. Wood, Job Demands in Universities in the Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study, Industrial Relations Journal, 2022, Vol. 53, pp. 336–367.

S. Wood, Exposing the downsides of Homeworking in time to design new normal, Annals of Social Sciences & Management Studies, 2022. Vol. 22, No 7. 

S. Wood, G. Michaelides, I. Inceoglu, E. Hurren, K. Daniels, and K. Niven, Homeworking in the Covid-19 Pandemic: a diary study, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021, 18, Issue 14, 7575.

S. Wood, Developments in the HRM–Performance Research Stream: The Mediation Studies, German Journal of Human Resource Management, 2021, Vol. 35, Issue 1, pp. 83–113.

S. Wood, The HRM–Performance Research Stream: are we all on the same page? International Journal of Management Reviews, 2020, Vol.22, pp. 408–426.

S. Wood, K. Daniels, and C. Ogbonnaya, Work-Nonwork Supports, Job Control, Work-Nonwork Conflict, and Well-Being. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2020, Vol. 31, Issue 14, pp. 1793–1824. 

S. Wood, G. Michaelides and C. Ogbonnaya, Recessionary Action and Absence: A workplace-level study, Human Resource Management. 2020. Vol. 59, pp. 501–520.

W. Green W, M. W. Shahzad, S. Wood, et al. Improving junior doctor medicine prescribing and patient safety: An intervention using personalised, structured, video-enhanced feedback and deliberate practice. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2020, Vol. 86, pp. 2234–2246

S. Pichler, G. Beenan, S. Wood, Feedback Frequency and Appraisal Reactions: A Meta-analytic Test Moderators, International Journal of Human Resource Management. 2020, Vol.31, No.17, pp. 2238–2263. Awarded Ian Beardwell Prize for the best paper at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Applied Research Conference of 2017.

S. Wood, K. Daniels, and C. Ogbonnaya, Use of Work–Nonwork Supports and Employee Well-Being: The Mediating Roles of Job Demands, Job Control, Supportive Management and Work–Nonwork Conflict, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2020, Vol. 31, Issue 14, pp. 1793–1824,  

S. Wood, V. Ghezzi, C. Barbaranelli, C. Di Tecco, R. Fida, M. L. Farnese, M. Ronchetti, S. Iavicoli Assessing the Risk of Stress in Organisations: Getting the Measure of Organisational-Level Stressors, Frontiers in Psychology, section Quantitative Psychology and Measurement, 2019, 10, Article 2776.

S. Wood, High-involvement design: the time has come, London: IPA, 2019.

S. Wood, Human resource management and organizational performance, in D. G. Collings, G. Wood, and L. Szamosi (Eds), Human Resource Management: A Critical Introduction, Second edition, London and New York: Routledge, 2018, chapter 4.

M. Karanika-Murray, G. Michaelides, S. Wood, "Job demands, job control, psychological climate, and job satisfaction: A cognitive dissonance perspective", Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2017 Vol. 4 Issue: 3, pp. 238–255.

S. Wood, R. Saundry and P. Latreille, Disputes procedures in Britain, Industrial Relations Journal, 2017, Vol 48, Issue 1, pp. 2–21.

S. Wood, Industrial Relations, in S. Rogelberg (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Second edition, Thousand Oaks, Sage, 2016.

S. Lewis, D. Anderson, C. Lyonette, N. Payne and S. Wood (Eds), Work–Life Balance in Times of Austerity and Beyond, New York and London: Taylor Francis, 2016.

L. Stokes and S. Wood, Employer support for work–life balance in recession: Findings for Britain from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey, in S. Lewis et al., Work–Life Balance in Times of Austerity and Beyond, New York and London: Taylor Francis, 2016.

C. Lyonette, D. Anderson, S. Lewis, N. Payne and S. Wood, Work–Life Balance and Austerity: Implications of New Ways of Working in UK Public Sector Organisations, in S. Lewis et al., Work–Life Balance in Times of Austerity and Beyond, New York and London: Taylor Francis, 2016.

S. Lewis, D. Anderson, C. Lyonette, N. Payne and S. Wood, Public Sector Austerity Cuts in the UK and the Changing Discourse of Work–Life Balance, Work, Employment and Society, Vol 31, No 4, pp. 586–604

S. Wood, K. Niven and J. Braeken, Managerial Abuse and the Process of Absence amongst Mental Health Staff, Work, Employment and Society, 2016, Vol. 30, No. 5, pp. 783 – 801.

S. Wood and G. Michaelides, Hindrance and challenge stressors and well-being based work–nonwork interference: A diary study of portfolio workers, Human Relations, 2016, Vol.69, No.1, pp. 111–138.

S. Wood, High Involvement Management, in A. Wilkinson and S. Johnstone (Eds) Encyclopaedia of Human Resource Management, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, Cheltenham, 2015.

S. Wood, Braverman, Harry (1922-1976), in G. Ritzer (Ed.), Wiley Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Sociology, Second edition, New York: Wiley, 2015.

M.A. Croon, M. van Veldhoven, R. Peccei, and S. J. Wood, Researching individual well-being and performance in context: Multilevel mediational analysis for bathtub models, in van Veldhoven, M. and Peccei, R. (Eds.).  Well-being and performance at work: The role of context. Hove: Taylor & Francis/Psychology Press, 2015, pp. 129–154.

J. Braeken, J. Mulder, and S. Wood, Relative Effects at Work: Bayes Factors from Order Constrained Models, Journal of Management, special edition on Bayesian statistics, February 2015, Vol. 41, No.2, pp. 544–573.

S. Wood, S. Nolte, M. Burridge, D. Rudloff and W. Green, The Dimensions and Location of High Performance Work Systems: Fresh Evidence from The UK Commission’s 2011 Employer Skills Survey, Human Resource Management Journal, 2015, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp.166–183.

S. Wood, R. Saundry and P. Latreille, Analysis of the nature, extent and impact of grievance and disciplinary procedures and workplace mediation using WERS2011, Acas research paper 10/14, London: Acas, 2014.

A. Corbett, M. Holcombe and S. Wood, It’s the People, Stupid! - Formal Models of Social Interaction in Agile Software Development Teams, Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal. 2015, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 70–85.

L. de Menezes and S. Wood, Quality Management, Job-related Contentment and Performance: an empirical analysis of British workplaces, Evidence-based HRM, 2015, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 1–25.

B. van Wanrooy, H. Bewley, A. Bryson, J. Forth, F. Stephanie, L. Stokes and S. Wood, Employment Relations in the Shadow of the Recession, Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

B. Sheehan, E. Burton, S. Wood, C. Stride, E. Henderson and E. Wearn, Evaluating the built environment in inpatient psychiatric wards, Psychiatric Services, 2013. Vol. 64, No.8, pp. 789–795.

S. Wood, G. Michaelides, and P. Totterdell, The impact of fluctuating workloads on well-being and the mediating role of work-non-work interference in this relationship among freelance workers, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, January 2013. Vol, 18, No. 1, pp. 106–119.

B. van Wanrooy, H. Bewley, A. Bryson, J. Forth, S. Freeth, L. Stokes and S. Wood, The 2011 Workplace Employment Relations study: First findings, London: BISS, 2013.

S. Wood, HRM, organizational performance and employee involvement, in C. Frege and J. Kelly (Eds), Comparative Employment Relations in the Global Economy, London: Taylor & Francis, 2013, pp. 89–107.

S. Wood, C. Stride and S. Johnson, Getting the measure of personal and team morale, Journal of Health Management, October–December 2012, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 535–557.

S. Wood, G. Michaelides and C. Thomson, Successful extreme programming: Fidelity to the methodology or good teamworking?, Information and Software Technology, April, 2013, Vol. 55 No. 4, pp. 660–672.

S. Wood, J. Braeken and K. Niven, Discrimination in Organizations and Well-being: Organizational Justice among Mental-health Workers, Journal of Business Ethics, 2012, Vol. 115, Issue 3, pp. 617–634.

S. Johnson, D. Osborn, R. Araya, E. Wearn, M. Paul, M. Stafford, N. Wellman, F. Nolan, H. Killaspy, B. Lloyd-Evans, E. Anderson, S. Wood, 'Staff morale in the English mental health workforce: a national investigation', British Journal of Psychiatry, 2012, Vol. 201, No. 3, pp. 239–246.

S. Wood, M. van Veldhoven, M. Croon and L. M. de Menezes, Enriched job design, high involvement management and organizational performance: The mediating roles of job satisfaction and well-being, Human Relations, 2012, Vol. 65, No.4, pp. 419–446.

S. Wood and J. Kelly, 'Towards a Critical Management Science', in M. Alvession and H. Wilmott (Eds), Critical Management Studies, Four-Volume Set, Volume 1, Critical Management Studies: overviews, origins, developments and debates, London: Sage, 2011.

S. Wood, G. Michaelides and C. Thomson, Team Approach, Idea Generation, Conflict and Performance, Team Performance Management, 2011, Vol. 17, Iss. 7/8, pp.382–404.

S. Wood, C. Stride, K. Threapleton, E. Wearn, F. Nolan, D. Osborn, M. Paul and S. Johnson, ‘Demands, Control, Supportive Relationships and Well-Being Amongst British Mental Health Workers’, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2011, Vol 46, No. 10, Oct., pp. 1055–1068.

S. Wood and L. M. de Menezes, 'High Involvement Management, High Performance Work Systems and Well-Being', International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2011, Vol.22, No.7, pp. 1585–1608.

L. de Menezes, S. Wood and G. Gelade, 'A longitudinal study of the latent class clusters of modern management practices and their association with organizational performance in British manufacturing', Journal of Operations Management, 2010, Vol. 28, Issue 6, pp. 405–71.

S. Wood and L. de Menezes, Family-Friendly Management, Organizational Performance, Social Legitimacy, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol.21, No.10, 2010, pp. 1575–1597.

S. Wood, 'Harry Braverman', in G. Ritzer and J. Michael Ryan (Ed.), Concise Encyclopaedia of Sociology, Cambridge (Mass.): Blackwell, 2010.

G. Michaelides, C. Thomson and S. Wood, 'Measuring Fidelity to XP using the Shodan Survey: A Psychometric Approach', Empirical Software Engineering, 2010, Vol. 15, No. 6, pp. 599–617.

M. Patterson, J. Rick, S. Wood, C. Carroll, S. Balain, A. Booth, 'Systematic review of the links between human resource management, practices and performance'. Health Technology Assessment, Vol. 14, 2010.

A. Carter, S. Wood, S. Goodacre, F. Sampson and R. Staples, 'Evaluation of the workforce and organisational issues in establishing primary angioplasty in the National Infarct Angioplasty Project, Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2010, pp. 6–13.

S. Wood, 'High Involvement Management and Performance', in A. Wilkinson, P. Gollan, M. Marchington, and D. Lewin (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Participation in Organizations, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. pp. 407–426.

B. Schyns, M. van Veldhoven and S. Wood, 'Combining individual and aggregate level effects on job satisfaction: the example of leadership climate', Leadership and Organization Development Journal, Vol. 30, No. 7, 2009, pp. 649–663.

D. Holman, S. Frenkel, O. Sørensen and S. Wood, 'Work design variation and outcomes in call centers: strategic-choice and institutional explanations', Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 62, No. 2, 2009, pp.510–532.

S. Wood, 'Human Resource Management and Organizational Performance', in D. G. Collings and G. Wood (Eds), Human Resource Management: A critical introduction, London and New York: Routledge, 2009, pp. 55–74.

S. Wood and A. Bryson, 'High Involvement Management', in W. Brown, A. Bryson, J. Forth, and K. Whitfield, (Eds), The Evolution of the Modern Workplace, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 151–175.

S. Wood and L. de Menezes, 'Comparing Perspectives on High Involvement Management and Organizational Performance across the British Economy', International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 19, No. 4, 2008, pp. 639–683.

S. Wood 'Job Characteristics, Employee Voice and Well-being in Britain', Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2, 2008, pp. 153–68.

K. Birdi, C. Clegg, M. Patterson, A. Robinson, C. Stride, S. Wood, T. Wall, 'Contemporary Manufacturing Practices And Company Performance: A Longitudinal Study', Personnel Psychology, Vol. 61, 2008, pp. 467–501. Emerald Management Reviews Citation of Excellence Award, selected as one of the 50 best articles in management published in 2008.

S. Wood, A. Geldart and R. Jones, 'Crystallizing the Nanotechnology Debate', Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, 2008, Vol. 20, No 1, pp. 13–27.

M. Fenton O'Creevy and S. Wood, 'Diffusion of Human Resource Management Practices in UK Headquartered Multinational Enterprises: Integrating Institutional and Resource Based Explanations', European Journal of International Management, 2007, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 329–349.

S. Wood, R. Jones and A. Geldart, Nanotechnology: From the Science to the Social, Swindon, Economic and Social Research Council, 2007.

K. Birdi, S. Wood and M. Patterson, 'Learning To Perform? A Comparison of Learning Practices and Organizational Performance in Profit- And Non-Profit-Making Sectors in the UK, International Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 11, No 4, December 2007, pp. 265–281.

S. Wood and T. Wall, 'Work Enrichment and employee voice in human resource Management-Performance Studies', International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 18, No. 7, 2007, pp. 1335–1372.

C. Carroll, M. Patterson, S. Wood, A. Booth, J. Rick and S. Balain, A conceptual framework for implementation fidelity, Implementation Science, November 2007, Vol. 2, No. 40, pp. 2–40. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1748-5908-2-40

D. Leach, C. Stride and S. Wood, 'The effectiveness of idea capture schemes', International Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2006, pp. 325–50.

P. Totterdell, S. Wood and T. Wall, 'An Intra-Individual Test of the Demands-Control Model: A Weekly Diary Study of Psychological Strain in Portfolio Workers', Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 2006, Vol. 78, pp. 1–23.

A. Gamble, S. Ludlam, A. Taylor and S. Wood, Labour, the state, social movements and the challenge to neo-liberal globalisation, Manchester University Press, 2006.

L. M. de Menezes and S. Wood, 'The reality of flexible work systems in Britain', International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2006, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 1–33.

T. Wall and S. Wood, 'The Romance of Human Resource Management and Business Performance and the case for big science', Human Relations, 2005, Vol., 58, No. 4, pp. 1-34. [Reprinted in N. Anderson, (ed.), (2007), Fundamentals in HRM: Sage's Major Works, Volume 4, 71–95. London: Sage.] Awarded best article of 2005 Prize.

S. Machin and S. Wood, 'HRM as a Substitute for Trade Unions in British Workplaces', Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 2005, Vol. 58, No. 1, pp. 201–18.

H. Gospel and S. Wood, Representing Workers: Trade Union Recognition and Membership in Britain, (Eds), London: Routledge, 2003.

S. Wood, Overview of the impact of employment relations law: post-1997, London: Department of Trade and Industry, 2005.

K. Ewing, S. Moore, S. Wood, Unfair Labour Practices: Trade Union Recognition and Employment Resistance, London, Institute of Employment Rights, 2003.

S. Wood, R. Jones and A. Geldart, The Social and Economic Challenges of Nanotechnology, Swindon, Economic and Social Science Research Council, 2003

M. Cannell and S. Wood, Incentive Pay: Impact and Evolution, London: IPM, 1992.

S. Wood (Ed.), The Transformation of Work? London: Unwin Allen, 1989.

P. Windolf and S. Wood, Recruitment and Selection in the Labour Market: A Comparative Study of Britain and West Germany, Cambridge: Gower, 1988.

S. Allen, A. Waton, K. Purcell and S. Wood, The Experience of Unemployment, London: MacMillan, 1986.

K. Purcell, S. Wood, A. Waton and S. Allen, The Changing Experience of Employment, Restructuring and Recession, London: Macmillan, 1986.

D. Marsden, T. Morris, P. Willman and S. Wood, The Car Industry: Labour Relations and Industrial Adjustment, London: Tavistock, 1985.

K. Thurley and S. Wood, Industrial Relations and Management Strategy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

S. Wood and I. Dey, Redundancy: Case Studies in Co-operation and Conflict, Cambridge: Gower, 1983.

S. Wood (Ed.), The Degradation of Work? Skill, Deskilling and the Labour Process, London: Hutchinson, 1982.

• All areas related to recent research
• Good work agenda
• Ageing and work performance
• Employment relations
• Human resource management

Blogs

• The appeal of hybrid working
• Productive alternatives to Boris Johnson’s cheesy vision of homeworking
• Distrust of Employer’s Responses to COVID-19 Could increase both Presenteeism and Absenteeism in UK Workplaces
• Homeworking during the Pandemic
• Employee involvement during and after the Pandemic
• High involvement management or High-Performance Work Systems; Is one or other best of productivity
• Differentiating High-Involvement Management from High-Performance Work Systems: Why it Matters for UK Productivity
• First Findings of the ‘Work-Life Balance and the Pandemic’ Study Amongst University Employees
• Changing Job Demands during Covid-19
• Exposing the downsides of Homeworking

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• Appeal of hybrid working, ESRC