TUC prize for MA student

WBS postgraduate Emma Plant has been awarded the annual TUC-Warwick Prize for Outstanding Attainment in Employment Rights. Emma graduated with distinction from the MA Industrial Relations and Personnel Management in January 2009.

The award recognises in particular Emma's outstanding work on her dissertation project, examining the development and implementation of disciplinary procedures in dispersed workplaces. The research was conducted in a chain of inns and public houses, and found that disciplinary standards operated by line managers are largely informal and diverge from the requirements of legally required procedures. The findings raise substantial issues for organisations and for public policy.

Her award, presented by Roger McKenzie (Regional Secretary, West Midlands Regional TUC) included GBP100 in book tokens and a book titled Alice Hawkins and the Suffragette Movement in Edwardian Leicester, by Dr Richard Whitmore. In presenting it, Roger emphasised the often neglected contribution made by women like Alice Hawkins to the development of effective employment rights and union representation in workplaces.

Following the award, Roger gave an overview for current MA students on trade union responses to the recession. Outlining the impact on jobs and investment in the West Midlands region, he warned against demands from some quarters to delay new employment rights and to weaken existing ones.

He added, "The TUC is delighted to deepen our already long-standing relationship with Warwick through the award of this prize. We hope that it encourages students to think and write about some of the immense challenges facing working people at this time. It is only through research like this that we can begin to develop a deeper understanding of the steps that are needed to bring about the sort of changes that will improve the lives of working people."

Emma's research led to her appointment as an Assistant Human Resources Officer in the company that she studied, where she is currently working on a Human Capital Management Project. Addressing current students she said, "Conducting your own research is a valuable lesson and helps to prepare you for future activities. Our department is about to embark on research into competencies and this involves interviewing numerous line managers, however because I conducted interviews for my dissertation this is not daunting as I have already been through a similar process."

Trevor Colling, Academic Director of the MA programme, said, "WBS recognises the vital importance of real links between business and universities and the benefits that independent research brings to all parties. We are delighted that Emma's work has been valued by the TUC in this way and by the organisation where she is now employed."