Professor Paul Latreille
BSc, PhD
Management School
Chair in Management


+44 114 222 3283
Full contact details
Management School
Room C051
Sheffield University Management School
Conduit Road
Sheffield
S10 1FL
- Profile
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I joined the Management School in January 2013 as Chair in Management.
During my time in Sheffield I have had the privilege of undertaking various leadership roles, most recently from 2016-17 as Deputy Vice-President (Education), with an institution-wide remit for embedding individual learning and teaching development and support across the University.
Prior to that I was Associate Dean for Learning & Teaching in the Management School.
An economist by training, I obtained both my BSc and PhD from the University of Warwick and subsequently worked at Swansea University for more than 20 years, latterly as Professor of Economics.
Until shortly before coming to Sheffield, I was also founding Director of the Swansea Academy of Learning & Teaching.
I am currently a visiting professor at Westminster Business School’s Centre for Employment Research, a Research Fellow of the IZA, Bonn, an Associate of the (formerly Higher Education Academy (HEA)) Economics Network, a Fellow of the Learning and Performance Institute and a Member of the Chartered Management Institute.
I am also President of the International Employment Relations Association’s European region, and serve on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Organizational Leadership and the Journal of Experimental Economics and Management Science.
Reflecting my research interest in workplace mediation, I am a member of the Civil Mediation Council’s Workplace and Employment Group.
- Research interests
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My research comprises several, sometimes interconnected strands crossing disciplinary boundaries between labour economics, HRM, employment relations and employment law. A member of the Work, Organisation and Employment Relations Research Centre (WOERRC) at the University of Sheffield, my main area of expertise concerns individual workplace conflict and its management and resolution.
A particular focus has been on Employment Tribunals (ETs), including the factors associated with settlement and pre-hearing resolution, the role of representation, outcomes at hearings, and the consequences for claimants of bringing cases.
An ESRC-funded project with Susan Corby from Greenwich University looked at the role of lay/non-legal members and included a unique survey of judges and lay members at both the ET and its appellate counterpart.
During 2008-9 I was the ESRC Visiting Research Fellow at Acas, working on a series of pieces around conflict at work, from which developed a strand exploring the role of workplace mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.
An ESRC-funded seminar series with Richard Saundry in 2012-13 brought together academics, policymakers and practitioners to examine these issues in greater depth and from a variety of perspectives.
This formed the basis of a Palgrave volume entitled Reframing Resolution – Innovation and Change in the Management of Workplace Conflict, co-edited with Richard Saundry and Ian Ashman, published in 2016.
I am currently working with Richard on a project evaluating the delivery of conflict resolution skills training for managers in an NHS trust, having previously completed a seminal Acas-funded piece looking at a conflict management system in the UK.
Other areas of research include the relationships between disability and work; occupational health and safety; and vocational training.
I have published on these and other issues in a range of leading international business and economics journals.
However, the applied and policy-relevant nature of my research has provided opportunities to engage with policymakers and practitioners, and I have led and/or been involved in a number of projects with and for external organisations including the European Commission, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (and its predecessors), the Ministry of Justice, the Low Pay Commission, Acas, the TUC and Welsh Government.
- Publications
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Books
- Modern Labour Economics. Routledge.
Edited books
- Reframing Resolution: Innovation and Change in the Management of Workplace Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan.
Journal articles
- “So what if ChatGPT wrote it?” Multidisciplinary perspectives on opportunities, challenges and implications of generative conversational AI for research, practice and policy. International Journal of Information Management, 71.
- The management of discipline and grievances in British workplaces: the evidence from 2011 WERS. Industrial Relations Journal, 48(1), 2-21. View this article in WRRO
- Job Anxiety, Work-Related Psychological Illness and Workplace Performance. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 54(4), 742-767. View this article in WRRO
- Individual Motives for Choosing Self-employment in the UK: Does Region Matter?. Regional Studies, 48(5), 804-822.
- A regional analysis of flows into and out of the UK national minimum wage. Applied Economics, 45(21), 3074-3087.
- Work-related health risks in Europe: ‘Are older workers more vulnerable?’. Social Science & Medicine(88), 18-29.
- Representation in UK Employment Tribunals: Analysis of the 2003 and 2008 Survey of Employment Tribunal Applications (SETA). British Journal of Industrial Relations.
- Employment tribunals and the civil courts: Isomorphism exemplified. Industrial Law Journal, 41(4), 387-406.
- Tripartite Adjudication – An Endangered Species. Industrial Relations Journal, 43(2), 94-109.
- Are you experienced? SME use of and attitudes towards workplace mediation. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(3), 590-606.
- Quantitative evidence in the evaluation of ADR: the case of judicial mediation in UK Employment Tribunals. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(3), 567-589.
- Disability and self-employment: evidence for the UK. Applied Economics, 43(27), 4161-4178.
- The post-application labour market consequences of employment tribunal claims. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(2), 171-189.
- Disability and earnings: Are employer characteristics important?. Economics Letters, 106(3), 191-194.
- Disability, health and the labour market: Evidence from the welsh health survey. Local Economy, 24(3), 192-210.
- Training, job satisfaction, and workplace performance in Britain: Evidence from WERS 2004. Labour, 23(SUPPL. 1), 139-175.
- Is there a public sector training advantage? Evidence from the workplace employment relations survey. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 46(4), 674-701.
- Crossing the tracks? Trends in the training of male and female workers in great Britain. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 46(2), 268-282.
- An analysis of reservation wages for the economically inactive. Economics Letters, 97(1), 1-5.
- Disability, gender and the labour market in Wales. Regional Studies, 40(8), 823-845.
- Disability, gender, and the British labour market. Oxford Economic Papers, 58(3), 407-449.
- Making a difference? Legal representation in employment tribunal cases: Evidence from a survey of representatives. Industrial Law Journal, 34(4), 308-330.
- Gender effects in British unfair dismissal tribunal hearings. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 54(4), 816-834.
- Gender Effects in British Unfair Dismissal Tribunal Hearings. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 54(4), 816-816.
- How far do cases go? Resolution in industrial tribunal applications. Manchester School, 68(6), 723-744.
- Discipline, dismissals and complaints to employment tribunals. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 38(4), 533-555.
- Inter-industry and inter-occupational wage spillovers in UK manufacturing. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 62(1), 83-99.
- Apprenticeship training and day release in UK engineering: Some cross-sectional evidence. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 34(2), 307-314.
- Custodians of contemporary pluralism? Acas' evolving role in addressing conflict during a time of economic and regulatory flux. Industrial Relations Journal.
Chapters
- Toward a System of Conflict Management? Cultural Change and Resistance in a Healthcare Organization, Managing and Resolving Workplace Conflict (pp. 189-209). Emerald Group Publishing Limited
- Toward a System of Conflict Management? Cultural Change and Resistance in a Healthcare Organization In Lipsky DB, Avgar AC & Lamare JR (Ed.), Managing and Resolving Workplace Conflict (Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations) (pp. 189-209). Emerald Group Publishing Limited
- Workplace conflict: Who, where, when, and why? In Saundry R, Latreille P & Ashman I (Ed.), Reframing Resolution: Innovation and Change in the Management of Workplace Conflict (pp. 57-77).
- Transforming the culture of conflict management: Lessons from in-house mediation In Saundry R, Latreille P & Ashman I (Ed.), Reframing Resolution: Innovation and Change in the Management of Workplace Conflict (pp. 315-338).
- Erratum to: Reframing Resolution, Reframing Resolution (pp. E1-E3). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Introduction, Reframing Resolution (pp. 1-9). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Employment Rights and Industrial Policy, New Perspectives on Industrial Policy for a Modern Britain (pp. 241-260). Oxford University Press
- View this article in WRRO
- Workplace Mediation, The Oxford Handbook of Conflict Management in Organizations Oxford University Press
- Bullying and harassment at work: Acas solutions, Workplace Bullying: Symptoms and Solutions (pp. 196-212).
Conference proceedings papers
- Nationality and Gender Biases in Multicultural Online Learning Environments. Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Scholarly editions
Dictionary/encyclopaedia entries
Preprints
- Work-Related Health in Europe: Are Older Workers More at Risk?.
- Job Anxiety, Work-Related Psychological Illness and Workplace Performance.
- Why Do Individuals Choose Self-Employment?.
- When It's (Mostly) the Taking Part that Counts: The Post-Application Consequences of Employment Tribunal Claims.
- Training, Job Satisfaction and Workplace Performance in Britain: Evidence from WERS 2004.
- How Far and for How Much? Evidence on Wages and Potential Travel-to-Work Distances from a Survey of the Economically Inactive.
- An Analysis of Reservation Wages for the Economically Inactive.
- Accounting for Differences in Labour Market Outcomes in Great Britain: A Regional Analysis Using the Labour Force Survey.
- Crossing the Tracks? More on Trends in the Training of Male and Female Workers in Great Britain.
- Disability, Gender and the Labour Market.
- Modern Labour Economics. Routledge.
- Research group
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- Grants
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- Managerial Competences, Engagement and Productivity - Developing Positive Relationships
- Awarding body: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
- Date: 2019/22
- Partners: R. Saundry, P. Urwin and G. Dix
- £757,819 (FEC)
- Reframing Resolution – Managing Conflict and Resolving Individual Employment Disputes in the Contemporary Workplace
- Awarding body: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
- Date: 2012/13
- Partners: R. Saundry, P. Teague, P. Urwin and C. Irvine
- £17,760
- Lay Members as Judges in Employment Rights Cases
- Awarding body: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
- Date: 2010/11
- Partners: S. Corby
- £99,075 (FEC)
- A Place for Mediation in Workplace Conflict Management
- Awarding body: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)/ Acas/ Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
- Date: 2008/09
- £61,788
- Managerial Competences, Engagement and Productivity - Developing Positive Relationships
- Teaching activities
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In 2018-19 I am module leader for MGT6128: Managerial Economics, and also contribute to the teaching on MGT3001: Management Project.
The first of these seeks to show how an understanding of Economics can help managers make better tactical and strategic decisions, while the latter module provides final year undergraduates with the opportunity to undertake a desk-based piece of research addressing real business challenges ‘pitched’ by external organisations such as PwC, the Sheffield Steelers, PlusNet, Ben’s Centre and Museums Sheffield.
Winner of multiple teaching awards, including nationally from the (then) Higher Education Academy (HEA) subject centre for Economics, and more recently a University of Sheffield Senate Award for Leadership in Learning & Teaching, I am passionate about teaching and seek to be both an innovative and reflective educator.
Adopting a constructionist orientation, I aim to ensure students can see the practical applications of theoretical ideas and are exposed to teaching which is – to use Griffiths’ 2004 taxonomy – research-informed, research-led, research-oriented and, where appropriate, research-based.
I have led and contributed to several HEA-supported/sponsored workshops/seminars and projects, the most recent focusing on inclusivity in relation to disability and (with Bill Lee) on the teaching of research methods.
I am currently working on the value of a placement year (with Nicki Newman and Jo Padmore).
Finally, I have written a number of practice-based case studies for the Economics Network and, with Steve Greenlaw from Mary Washington University, previously edited the chapter on ‘Creative uses of in-class technology’ for the Network’s Handbook for Economics Lecturers.
- Professional activities and memberships
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Editorial work:
- Co-editor, ‘Creative Uses of In-Class Technology’, in The Handbook for Economics Lecturers, Economics Network of the Higher Education Academy, 2013 (with S. Greenlaw)
- Editorial Board member, Work, Employment and Society, 2012–2014; International Journal of Organizational Leadership, 2015–; Journal of Experimental Economics and Management Science, 2015–
Awards:
- The University of Sheffield, 2016 – Senate Award for Leadership in Learning and Teaching
- EDUCAUSE, 2010 – recipient, Jane N. Ryland Fellowship
- Economics Network of the Higher Education Academy, 2008 – winner, Student Nominated Award
- Economics Network of the Higher Education Academy, 2007 – joint winner, eLearning Award
- Economics LTSN, 2003 – commendation, Outstanding Teaching Award
- Swansea University, 2002 – winner, University of Wales Swansea Teaching Fellowship
Current external chairs/boards memberships:
- Vice President (Europe), International Employment Relations Association (IERA), 2011 onwards
- Member, Civil Mediation Council Workplace and Employment Steering Group, 2016 onwards
Current external examining:
- University of Leeds (PhD programme) (2018-)
- PhD Supervision
I have supervised four PhD students to completion, and in 2018/19 supervised nine students looking at topics as diverse as:
- Employment transition and support for people with common physical and sensory disabilities
- Role perceptions and decision-making processes of line managers in the return to work of ill and injured workers in Oman
- Appraisal and reward in Chinese enterprises’ overseas projects
- The impact of performative university culture on inspirational teaching practice