All in This Together? HRM and the Individualisation of the Academic Worker

Abstract

In the context of neoliberal government policymaking in the UK, universities have become increasingly managerial in their approach. Growing market pressures and a commodification of higher education (HE) has had a significant effect on the work of academics, as producers and providers of HE. Human Resource Management — a management tool that focuses on individual performance — has increasingly been deployed in universities to monitor and direct the work of academics with the aim of ensuring consistency in their standards of educational delivery. This paper considers the impact of such an approach and draws on the results of a case study that investigated the deployment of HRM in three English universities. Although variable in its impact, the use of HRM raises serious questions concerning academic freedom, autonomy and identity.