Staff Profile
Professor Stephen Procter
Alcan Chair of Management
- Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 1680
- Address: Room 3.22
Newcastle University Business School
Frederick Douglass Centre
Helix Science Square
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE4 5TG
UK
Background
Roles and Responsibilities
Stephen Procter is the Alcan Chair of Management.
Qualifications
PhD, University of Bristol, 1990
MSc (Econ), University of London (Queen Mary), 1985
BA, University of Warwick, 1984
Research
1. Organization and Re-Organization of Work
A key focus of Stephen Procter’s research over a sustained period has been the contemporary restructuring of work. In particular, he has made major contributions to our understanding of teams and teamworking as central elements of this restructuring. In contrast to most other work, his analysis has stressed how teams have impact not through the attitudes of individual team members but through more structural factors at the level of the organization as a whole. This emerges both from empirical work which shows the importance of structural interdependence and from more conceptual work aimed at identifying the essential characteristics of teamworking and its links with organizational performance. More recent research has extended these ideas to provide an understanding of ‘lean’ teamworking that provides an alternative to an interpretation based simply on work intensification.
The focus on teamworking developed out of earlier work on workplace flexibility. Procter and his colleagues were important contributors to the debates around flexibility that dominated discussion of restructuring in the early 1990s. In response to these debates, the model of the new flexible firm was put forward as a means of understanding contemporary developments. It provided a novel and insightful means of linking workforce flexibility with broader operational and organizational concerns
2. Management of Organizational Change
Linked closely to issues in work restructuring has been Procter’s work on the management of change. Here we highlight two particular issues: the role of middle-level managers and employee attitudes to change. The importance of middle-level managers in the successful implementation of change has increasingly come to be recognized, and Procter’s work on the antecedents of their strategic contribution has come to be a standard reference in the area. More recent work has turned to the issue of employee attitudes to change, and Procter’s has been amongst work that has allowed a more nuanced approach to emerge, one that embraces such concepts as ambivalence and ambiguity.
3. Management and Organizational History
The application of historical methods to management and organizations has been a long-standing concern of Procter’s. An early contribution in this area has been influential in encouraging explicit linkages between the concerns of organizational culture and those of business history. More recent work has also made a significant contribution to the ‘historical turn’ in organization studies, in its attempt to use ideas of social memory to improve our understanding of what memory means in organizations.
Doctoral supervision
Stephen Procter is keen to receive expressions of interest from potential doctoral students in areas related to any of the above. He has a strong record of supervising students to successful completion. Among recent completions are the following:
Islam, M. ‘An Exploration of Industry 4.0 and Human Resource Management in the UK Retail Industry, [PhD, Newcastle University, 2024, co-supervised with A. McKinlay].
Haist, J. ‘Understanding Grit in an Organisational Context: The Concept of Grit and its Role as a Predictor of Work-related Stress and Employee Performance’, [PhD, Newcastle University, 2021, with H. Jha].
Photiou, C. 'How the Line of Sight (LoS) Concept Enhances our Understanding of the Impact of HR Practices on Employee Outcomes: an Investigation Conducted within the Cypriot Banking Sector' (PhD, Newcastle University, 2019, co-supervised with T. Scurry).
Watson, J. 'The Value of Voice through Employee Ownership: Fabric or Fabrication?' (PhD, Newcastle University, 2019, with S. Johnstone and J. McBride).
Ewington, E. 'Professional Women's Experiences of Trade Unionism: Understanding Enablers and Barriers to Participation' (PhD, Newcastle University, 2018, with A. Lopes).
Thirkell, E. ‘Implementing, Managing and Working Under Lean’ (PhD, Newcastle University, 2016, with T. Scurry and F. Worthington).
Siddique, M. ‘Exploring the Linkages between High Performance Work Systems and Organizational Performance: the Role of Relational Coordination in the Banking Sector of Pakistan’ (PhD, Newcastle University, 2014, with S. Maioli).
Harrison, D. ‘Roles, Responsibilities and Relationships: A Qualitative Exploration of the Experiences of ‘Non-Professionally Affiliated’ Workers in Community Mental Health Care’ (PhD, Newcastle University, 2012, with P. Pearson and C. Dickinson).
Alsaghir, L. ‘Exploring HR Policies and the HR Specialist’s Role in the Context of Innovation: the Case of BPR in Two Large Lebanese Banks’ (DBA, Newcastle University, 2011).
Publications
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Articles
- Randall J, Procter S. Vocation, Identity Work and Reflexivity: Career Transitions of Former Priests and Seminarians. Journal of Change Management 2024, 24(2), 123-136.
- Gibbs E, Mackenzie E, McKinlay A, McNulty D, Phillips J, Procter S. Governing the factory: microhistories of the present. Management and Organizational History 2024, epub ahead of print.
- Rodriguez J, Procter S, Perez Arrau G. Doing extreme work in an extreme context: situated experiences of Chilean frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The International Journal of Human Resource Management 2024, 35(9), 1681-1707.
- Rodriguez J, Procter S, Perez Arrau G. Reconfigured Professional Purpose in Times of Crisis: Experiences of Frontline Healthcare Professionals during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Social Science and Medicine 2023, 329, 1-8.
- Procter S, Harrison D, Pearson P, Dickinson C. Theorising worker–client relations in front-line service work: Understanding the experience of non-professionally affiliated workers in UK mental health services. New Technology, Work and Employment 2022, 37(1), 124-145.
- Siddique M, Procter S, Gittell JH. The role of relational coordination in the relationship between high-performance work systems (HPWS) and organizational performance. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance 2019, 6(4), 246-266.
- By R, Kuipers B, Procter S. Understanding Teams in Order to Understand Organizational Change: The OTIC Model of Organizational Change. Journal of Change Management 2018, 18(1), 1-9.
- Procter S, Harrison D, Pearson P, Dickinson C. The non‐professionally affiliated (NPA) worker as co‐producer of public services: how is the role experienced in UK mental health services?. Industrial Relations Journal 2018, 49(3), 211-226.
- Procter S, Radnor Z. Teamworking and Lean Revisited: a Reply to Carter et al. International Journal of Human Resource Management 2017, 28(3), 468-480.
- Rodriguez J, Johnstone S, Procter S. Regulation of work and employment: Advances, tensions and future directions in research in International and Comparative HRM. International Journal of Human Resource Management 2017, 28(21), 2957-2982.
- Procter S, Harrison D, Pearson P, Dickinson C, Lombardo C. New Ways of Working in UK mental health services: developing distributed responsibility in community mental health teams?. Journal of Mental Health 2016, 25(2), 126-130.
- Procter S, Randall J. Understanding employee attitudes to change in longitudinal perspective: A study in UK public services 1996-2007. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management 2015, 10(1), 38-60.
- Procter S, Radnor Z. Teamworking under Lean in UK Public Services: Lean Teams and Team Targets in Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC). International Journal of Human Resource Management 2014, 25(21), 2978-2995.
- Randall J, Procter S. When instiutional logics collide: reinforcing dominance in a merged government department. Journal of Change Management 2013, 13(2), 143-158.
- Procter S, Rowlinson M. From the British worker question to the impact of HRM: understanding the relationship between employment relations and economic performance. Industrial Relations Journal 2012, 43(1), 5-21.
- Rowlinson M, Booth C, Clark P, Delahaye A, Procter S. Social Remembering and Organizational Memory. Organization Studies 2010, 31(1), 69-87.
- Delahaye A, Booth C, Clark P, Procter S, Rowlinson M. The genre of corporate history. Journal of Organizational Change Management 2009, 22(1), 27-48.
- Booth C, Rowlinson M, Clark P, Delahaye A, Procter S. Scenarios and counterfactuals as modal narratives. Futures 2009, 41(2), 87-95.
- Procter S, Burridge M. Teamworking and performance: The extent and intensity of teamworking in the 1998 UK Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS98). International Journal of Human Resource Management 2008, 19(1), 153-168.
- Delarue A, Van Hootegem G, Procter S, Burridge M. Teamworking and organizational performance: A review of survey-based research. International Journal of Management Reviews 2008, 10(2), 127-148.
- Randall J, Procter S. Ambiguity and ambivalence Senior managers' accounts of organizational change in a restructured government department. Journal of Organizational Change Management 2008, 21(6), 686-700.
- Clark P, Booth C, Rowlinson M, Procter S, Delahaye A. Project hindsight: Exploring necessity and possibility in cycles of structuration and co-evolution. Technology Analysis and Strategic Management 2007, 19(1), 83-97.
- Booth C, Clark P, Delahaye A, Procter S, Rowlinson M. Accounting for the dark side of corporate history: Organizational culture perspectives and the Bertelsmann case. Critical Perspectives on Accounting 2007, 18(6), 625-644.
- Currie G, Procter S. The Antecedents of Middle Managers’ Strategic Contribution: The Case of a Professional Bureaucracy. Journal of Management Studies 2005, 42(7), 1325-1356.
- Van Hootegem G, Benders J, Delarue A, Procter S. Teamworking: Looking back and looking forward. International Journal of Human Resource Management 2005, 16(2), 167-173.
- Booth C, Clark P, Delahaye A, Procter S, Rowlinson M. La memoria social en las organizaciones. Los metodos que las organizaciones usan para recordar el pasado. Revista Empresa y Humanismo 2005, 9(2), 95-130.
- Procter S, Currie G. Target-based teamworking: Groups, work and interdependence in the UK civil service. Human Relations 2004, 57(12), 1547-1572.
- Currie G, Procter S. The interaction of human resource policies and practices with the implementation of teamworking: evidence from the UK public sector. International Journal of Human Resource Management 2003, 14(4), 581-599.
- Currie G, Procter S. Impact of MIS/IT Upon Middle Managers: Some Evidence from the NHS. New Technology, Work and Employment 2002, 17(2), 102-118.
- Procter S, Currie G. How teamworking works in the Inland Revenue: Meaning, operation and impact. Personnel Review 2002, 31(3), 304-319.
- Currie G, Procter S. Exploring the relationship between HR and middle managers. Human Resource Management Journal 2001, 11(3), 53-69.
- Mueller F, Procter S, Buchanan D. Teamworking in its context(s): Antecedents, nature and dimensions. Human Relations 2000, 53(11), 1387-1424.
- Procter S, Ackroyd S. Strategies for flexibility: technology-centred and labour-centred flexibility in UK manufacturing. International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management 2000, 1(4/5), 366-380.
- Procter S, Toms S. Industrial relations and technical change: profits, wages and costs in the Lancashire cotton industry, 1880-1914. Journal of Industrial History 2000, 3(1), 54-72.
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Book Chapters
- Procter S, Toms S. Industrial Relations and Technical Change: Profits, Wages and Costs in the Lancashire Cotton Industry, 1880-1914. In: Wilson J;Toms S;Wong N, ed. The Cotton and Textile Industry: Innovation and Maturity: Studies in Industrial History. London: Routledge, 2021.
- Ingvaldsen J, Benders J, Procter S. Task-based Voice and Teamworking. In: A. Wilkinson, J. Donaghey, T. Dundon and R. Freeman, ed. Handbook of Research on Employee Voice. Edward Elgar, 2020, pp.328-341.
- Johnstone S, Procter S. Flexibility in Recession and Recovery. In: T. Dundon and A. Wilkinson, ed. Case Studies in Work, Employment and Human Resource Management. Edward Elgar, 2020, pp.25-30.
- Currie G, Procter S. The Role of Middle Managers in Realising Human Resource Strategy: Evidence from the NHS. In: R. Rushmer, H. Davies, M. Tavakoli, M. Malek, ed. Organisation Development in Health Care: Strategic Issues in Health Care Management. Routledge, 2017.
- Procter S, Randall J. Change in Practice: Surprise and Sense Making. In: Burnes,B; Randall,J, ed. Perspectives on Change: What Academics, Consultants and Managers Really Think About Change. Routledge, 2016, pp.64-80.
- Procter S, Benders J. Task Base Voice: Teamworking, Autonomy and Performance. In: Wilkinson, A; Donaghey, J; Dundon, T; Freeman, RB, ed. Handbook of Research on Employee Voice. Padstow, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc, 2014, pp.298-309.
- Procter S, Randall J. Changing attitudes to employee attitudes to change: from resistance to ambivalence and ambiguity. In: Boje, D., Burnes, B., Hassard, J, ed. Routledge Companion to Organizational Change. London: Routledge, 2011, pp.366-374.
- Booth D, Clark P, Delahaye-Dado A, Procter S, Rowlinson M. Modal narratives, possible worlds and strategic foresight. In: Costanzo, L., MacKay, R, ed. Handbook of Research on Strategy and Foresight. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2009, pp.113-127.
- Rowlinson M, Clark P, Delahaye-Dado A, Booth C, Procter S. The uses of history as corporate knowledge. In: Scarbrough, H, ed. The Evolution of Business Knowledge. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp.339-356.
- Procter S. Organizations and Organized Systems: from Direct Control to Flexibility. In: Ackroyd, S., Batt, R., Thompson, P., Tolbert, P, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Work and Organization. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2005, pp.462-484.
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Edited Book
- Procter S, Mueller F, ed. Teamworking. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.
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Editorial
- Benders J, Hotegeem G, Procter S, Mueller F. Once again: Teams. New Technology, Work and Employment 2001, 16(3), 150-151.
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Report
- Harrison D, Procter S, McKinlay A. Engineering Futures. London: Alex Ferry Foundation, 2022.