Professor Paul Sparrow
Director Centre for Peformance Led HR

Centre for Performance Led HR
Charles Carter BuildingLancaster University
Bailrigg
Lancaster
LA14YX
Current Research
HR Strategy
Global resourcing and talent management.
Global human resource management,
Research Grants
The Centre for Performance-led HR, 2006-2013, has attracted £442,000 industrial funding for 2011-2013 through Professor Paul Sparrow and Martin Hird. It previously attracted .£1.2 million from 2006-2010 through the efforts of Professors Cary Cooper, Paul Sparrow, Dr. Anthony Hesketh and Martin Hird.
Lottery Research Fund, 2009- 2011, £322,000. A collaborative bid with Working Families and Lancaster University Management Schooled with LUMS involvement led by Caroline Gattrell, and involving Cary Cooper and Paul Sparrow. The research investigated and documented the barriers which prevent working fathers’ greater engagement as parents.
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development £30,000 (with Chris Brewster, Henley Management College) Globalizing Human Resource Management: 2007-2008
Department of Health Policy Research Unit £250,000. Improving health through human resource management. 2004-2007.Part of team with Paula Hyde, Mick Marchington, Bonnie Sibbald, Ruth Boaden, Claire Harris and Penny Cortvriend of MBS.
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, £12,000. International recruitment, selection and assessment. 2005-2006. The research examined the impact of four contexts on internationalisation of HR processes at firm-level.
Customer Management Leadership Group, £15,000. Creating and sustaining a customer service based culture. 2004- 2005. Funded study to review the literature on the service-profit chain, employee engagement, role of coaching and selection for customer service
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, £110,000. 2000-2002. Collaborative bid with Professor Chris Brewster and Dr. Hilary Harris of Cranfield University for a two year project to look at the role and contribution of International HR professionals.
Profile
Paul Sparrow is the Director of the Centre for Performance-led HR and Professor of International Human Resource Management at Lancaster University Management School. From 2008 to 2012 he has consistently been voted amongst the Top 15 Most Influential HR Thinkers by Human Resources Magazine.
He has worked as a Research Fellow at Aston University, Senior Research Fellow at Warwick University, Consultant/Principal Consultant at PA Consulting Group, Reader/Professor at Sheffield University and whilst at Manchester Business School he took up the Ford Chair from 2002-2004 and was Director, Executive Education 2002-2005.
He has consulted with major multinationals, public sector organisations and inter-governmental agencies He has published over 100 journal articles and chapters, and several books.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
External Roles
Editorial Board Member Academic Journals: Human Resource Management, 2009–to date; British Journal of Management, 1999-to date; European Management Review, 2003-to date; Career Development International, 2003-to date; Cross-Cultural Management: An International Journal, 2007-to date; International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 2008-to date; Journal of World Business (formerly Columbia Journal of World Business). 1997-98.
Former Editor of Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 1998-2003
Visiting Faculty: International Visiting Scholar, Dublin City University, 2011; Reykjavik University School of Business. Iceland 2012,ALBA, Athens, Greece 2003-2012; Previously Hong Kong Business School. 1995, 1996.
International Academic Advisory Board Member for the Centre for Strategic People Management, City College, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2008 to date.
Member of the Scientific Steering Board for the Research Project Future of Working World 2030 Europe. Technische Universitat Darmstadt, 2011 – to date
Visiting International Fellow, Cornell University. USA, Industrial and Labor Relations School April – June 2006.
Advisory Board for People Management from 2009-2012
Editorial Advisory Board for Kogan Page, from 2010 to date
Advisory Panel Member for the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Shaping the Future research programme 2008-2011.
Member of the Guru Group for the UK Government’s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform’s (BERR) Macleod Review on Employee Engagement, 2009 – 2010; part of the Engage for Success Movement, 2011 to date.
Expert Advisory Panel member to the UK Government’s Sector Skills Development Agency 2004-2008.
Specialist Advisor to UK Research Assessment Exercise Sub-Panel I36 - Business & Management, 2008
External Assessor for Monash University Research Quality Exercise preparation for the Research Quality Framework assessment, 2008
Elected Member of US Academy of Management HR Division Executive Committee, ChaIr of International Human Resource Management Committee, HR Division, US Academy of Management, 2005-2008.
Research Associate of ESRC Centre for Organisation and Innovation, Institute of Work Psychology, 1999–2006
External Examiner at London Business School, 2005-2009; Birkbeck College, University of London1997-2000; Leeds University, 1997-99
Director and Council Member, Society for the Advancement of Management Studies, 2001-2008
Qualifications
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Applied Psychology, PhD
Current Teaching
GUEST MBA, MSc AND RESEARCH PROGRAMME LECTURES
He has been a guest lecturer at a number of institutions including: Athens Laboratory of Business Administration, Greece; Copenhagen Business School, Denmark; Cornell University, US; Rutgers University, US; Hong Kong University; IMD Lausanne, Switzerland; Irish Management Institute, Dublin; MIB School of Management, Trieste, Italy; Leuven University, Belgium; Washington University UK study tour; and London Business School, Cranfield University and Warwick Business School, UK.
EXECUTIVE TEACHING
Paul has taught on executive programmes for many organisations
Research Interests
Through the Centre for Performance-led HR, he focuses on eight areas of research: the nature of strategic competence; HR leadership and boardroom engagement; performance drivers, such as customer service; business model change; the employee engagement-performance link; changing ways in which talent is managed; evaluating and benchmarking the ways in which people improve the capital of an organisation; and future HR trajectories.
Globalisation and the Impact on International HRM: For recent books see: a research handbook Wiley Handbook of International Human Resource Management, an analysis of findings from the research project Globalizing Human Resource Management, an co-edited volume on International HRM: A European perspective and the CIPD teaching text International Human Resource Management 3rd edition.
He worked on GMAC and Brookfield Global Relocation Services reports on International Mobility in the Pharmaceutical and Finance services sectors. The Brookfield Global Relocation Services report was recognized with an Expatica HR Top 5 Industry Survey Award for excellence in HR surveys.
See also the Sector Skills Development Agency report on International recruitment, skills supply and migration, Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development report: International Recruitment, Selection and Assessment
Comparative Human Resource Management Systems and the Impact of National Culture on Employee Behaviour
Organization-Individual Linkages and employee engagement: See The Employment Relationship: Key Challenges Facing HR
Management cognition, Knowledge Management, Organisational Learning and Strategic Competence: See: The Competent Organization: A Psychological Analysis of the Strategic Management Process
Professional Role
Director, Centre for Performance-led HR, a partnership between Lancaster University Management School and major corporations, nominated as one of five Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiatives in the 2009 Times Higher Education Awards
Recent publications
- Strategic HRM and Employee Engagement
Sparrow, P. 30/08/2013 In: Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice. Truss, K., Delbridge, R., Alfes, K., Shantz, A. & Soane, E. (eds.). London : Routledge
Chapter - Work-life Balance and Parenthood: A comparative review of definitions, equity and enrichment
Burnett, S., Gatrell, C., Cooper, C. & Sparrow, P R. 2013 In: International Journal of Management Reviews.
Journal article - Fathers at work: a ghost in the machine
Burnett, S., Gatrell, C., Cooper, C. & Sparrow, P. 2013 In: Gender, Work and Organization. 15 p.
Journal article - Engagement and performance
Sparrow, P. 2013 In: Wiley Encyclopedia of Management. Flood, P. & Freeney , Y.. (eds.). Cheltenham : John Wiley
Chapter (peer-reviewed) - An empirical study of the role of the corporate HR function in global talent management in professional and financial services firms in the global financial crisis
Sparrow, P., Farndale, E. & Scullion, H. 2013 In: International Journal of Human Resource Management.
Journal article


