Dr Liz Rivers
Project Fellow - Good Employment Learning Lab
My profile
Biography
I joined MMU in January 2021 as a Project Fellow in the ESRC-funded Good Employment Learning Lab (GELL). The GELL project aims to understand ‘what works’ when developing line managers. My role in the project involves the recruitment of line managers and, design and delivery of evidence-based innovative online workplace interventions (masterclasses, coaching, peer learning) to over unique 350 line managers across the North West. I am also responsible for input into the project evaluation reports, and impact work.
Prior to joining MMU I was a Senior Lecturer in HRM at the University of Huddersfield from 2014-2020. I am a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and a Fellow of the HEA.
I completed my PhD at the University of Bath School of Management in 2020. My PhD titled ‘Navigating emotionally demanding work: a narrative study of HR practitioners’ experiences’ used in-depth narrative interviews with participant-led photo-elicitation methods to understand how HR practitioners experience the emotional aspects of their work. I developed an innovative approach to narrative interpretation using mimesis and diegesis which facilitated a deeper understanding of emotion.
Prior to my career move into academia, I have over 17 years practitioner experience in the retail industry, where I worked in HR, learning and development, operational management and strategic change project management roles for Tesco, Woolworths, The Body Shop International, and Asda.
My research interests centre around the subjective experience of work using in-depth and creative qualitative methods to better understand others’ experiences. I am specifically interested in management learning, emotions at work, and health and well-being.
Research outputs
Rivers, E. (2022). Unmasking the emotional human resource professional. In: BAM HRM SIG, June 2022, University of Prato, Italy.
Rivers, E., Acton, S. (2022). Developing a collective agile mindset whilst developing line managers to manage agile teams: Experiencing good work during a pandemic. In: CIPD ARC Conference, 26th - 27th January 2022, Online.
Rivers, E. (2019). Navigating emotion in HR work: Caring for ourselves? Personnel Review, 48(6), pp.1565-1579.
Rivers, L. (2018). “Capturing” Emotions through the Camera Lens. Tea, Toast and Tissues in HR Work. In Qualitative Research Methods 2018: Performance and Praxis in Research, 27th-29th March 2018, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
Rivers, L. (2018). Emotional Reflexivity – Just Another Way of ‘Managing’ Emotion. In Qualitative Research Symposium, 31st January 2018, University of Bath.
Rivers, L. and Cockman, R. (2017). ‘Cinderella’s magic “bubble of happiness”: Taming destructive leadership tasks through storytelling.’. In: 22nd Organisational Storytelling Seminar, 8th June 2017, University of Portsmouth.
Swailes, S., Handley, J. & Rivers, E. (2017). Talent management: critical perspectives. In Human Resource Management: A global and critical perspective. Syed, J. & Kramar, R. (eds.). 2 ed. Palgrave Macmillan UK, p. 279-297.
Rivers, L (2016). ‘Here’s what it’s like to work at a company that goes into administration’ The Conversation . ISSN 2044-5032
Rivers, L., Carmichael, J., Tomkinson, E. and Greggains, M. (2015). Managing change – can HR software help? Leeds, UK: Cascade HR Ltd.