Dr Chidozie Umeh
Lecturer in Human Resource Management

Profile

Biography

Chidozie Umeh is a lecturer in Human Resource Management and Programme Leader for MSc HRM in the School for Business and Society. He was previously a Teaching Fellow at the school of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Research methods (with distinction) from the University of Bradford, a Postgraduate Certificate in learning and teaching in higher education (with distinction) from Queen Mary University of London, MSc in Human Resource Management from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, and a PhD in Business and Management from QMUL. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (ACIPD). Before joining academia, Dr Umeh had over 14 years of industry experience, including over a decade in the retail banking sector.

Research

Overview

Dr Umeh’s research interests span general management, international management, strategic HRM, and organisation studies. He is interested in management and managerial practices in developed and culturally diverse and developing contexts, new challenges and weakly understood meanings in management facing the Global North and Global South, innovative management practices in nation-states, formal and informal organisations, international companies, NGOs, and their impact on sustainable development and social inequalities. He continues to engage in high impact research collaboration with colleagues in the United Kingdom, North America, Africa, and the Middle East. Dr Umeh uses multi-qualitative methods that span ethnography, narratives, phenomenology, and case study research approaches. He is particularly interested in elicitation methods within a qualitative approach and a broadly interpretivist lens such as vignette-elicited interviewing, and photo-elicitation. He also uses analytical methods such as thematic analysis, narrative analysis, discourse analysis and specifically a Foucauldian discourse analysis.

He has presented peer-reviewed papers to academic and non-academic audiences in over 25 national and international conferences. These include Academy of Management (AoM), European Group for Organisational Studies (EGOS), British Academy of Management (BAM), Gender. Work and Organisations (GWO) Conference, European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM). His paper received two best paper awards, including the prestigious Best Developmental Paper Award at the British Academy of Management (BAM) Conference in Warwick, UK in 2017.

He has been involved in several past and ongoing funded research projects with grants from the British Academy of Management (BAM), the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), and Money and Pensions Service (Cabinet Office). He co-authored a report, Diversity in the management pipeline, which explores diversity management practices of FTSE 100 companies in the UK. The research was funded by the British Academy of Management (BAM) and Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and launched in the UK House of Commons in 2017. He also published a book chapter on the Ethinicisation of Identity in 2019. He is presently a co-researcher in a high impact research study on mental health and wellbeing in UK business schools funded by the British Academy of Management.

His most recent publications output includes three papers in revision in two high impact journals - Human Resource Management Journal (ABS 4*) and Work, Employment and Society (ABS4).

Dr Umeh is the Assistant Editor of Personnel Review journal.

Publications

Selected publications

Publications

● Umeh, C. (2019). The Ethnicisation of Identity. In: Mahadevan, J., Primecz, H. and Romani, L. (Eds.) Critical cross-cultural management – An intersectional approach to culture. New York/London: Routledge. 
● Beech, N., Cornelius, N., Gordon, L., Healy, G., Ogbonna, E., Sanghera, G., Umeh, C., Wallace, J., and Woodman, P. (2017). Delivering diversity: Race and ethnicity in the management pipeline. London: Chartered Management Institute & British Academy of Management.
Under Journal revision
● Umeh, C., Cornelius, N., Wallace, J. - Exploring Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in multi-ethnic settings: A context-sensitive approach. Human Resource Management Journal (ABS 4*).
● Umeh, C., Cornelius, N., Wallace, J. - A Bourdieusian exploration of identity, ethnicity, class, and (in)equality in a Multi-ethnic Context. Work Employment and Society (ABS 4*).
● Umeh, C., Cornelius, N., Shaibu, Z., Alsalman, A. Exploring women’s experiences of diversity management in an African and Middle Eastern Context: Evidence from Ghana and Saudi Arabia. Human Resource Management Journal (ABS 4*), 2021 submission.
Under Journal review
● Umeh, C., Cornelius, N., Pezet, E., Wallace, J. Exploring HRM agendas in post-colonial, praetorian contexts: Qualitative evidence from Pakistan. Human Resource Management (ABS 4*) 2021 submission.
● Umeh, C., Tenebe, S, Cornelius, N., Wallace, J. Leadership and Identity at Work: A Study in Photo- and Vignette -Elicitation. Human Relations (ABS 4*), 2021 submission.
● Umeh, C., Maidugu, J., Cornelius, N., Wallace, J. Exploring relational approaches to managing human resources in turbulence: Evidence from Nigeria. Human Resource Management Journal (ABS 4*), 2021 submission.
In Preparation
● Umeh, C., Maidugu, J., Cornelius, N., Wallace, J. Mind the gap: Bridging the service-diversity gap in multi-ethnic settings – A context-sensitive perspective. Human Relations (ABS 4*), 2022 submission (First Quarter, 2022).
● Umeh, C., and Cornelius, N. Conducting vignette-elicited interviewing: A research note. Work, Employment, and Society (ABS 4*), 2021 submission (Second quarter, 2022).
● Umeh, C. and Cornelius, N. Bourdieu meets McCall: exploring relational and intersectional dynamics of difference in multi-ethnic contexts Work Employment and Society (ABS 4*)(Third Quarter, 2022).
Recent Conference Papers (Peer Reviewed)
● Triumph of theory or purpose? Contextualizing intersectionality in under-researched contexts: Insights from Nigeria. Gender, Work and Organisation (GWO) Conference, Kent, United Kingdom. Jun. 2021
● An intersectional exploration of gender, ethnicity, class/status and inequality in multi-ethnic contexts: Insights from Nigeria. Gender, Work and Organisation (GWO) Conference, Kent, United Kingdom. Jun. 2021
● Researching gender in under-researched contexts: An agenda (Co-author). European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Jul. 2021
● Bourdieu meets McCall – Exploring relational and intersectional dynamics of difference, status, and ethnicity in multi-ethnic contexts. European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium, Hamburg, Germany. Jul. 2020
● Employee Engagement and Organisational Performance: Exploring the Evidence in a Foreign-Owned Firm in an Emerging Market. European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM) Conference. Sept. 2020
● An Intersectional Exploration of Ethnic Identity, Class and Inequality in a Multi-ethnic Context. Academy of Management (AOM) Conference, Vancouver, Canada. August 2020
Selected Conferences Papers (Peer Reviewed)
● Contextualising intersectionality in the Global South: insights from Nigeria. European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Jul. 2019.
● Crying more than the bereaved? Researching gender in under-researched contexts – A gender research agenda (Co-author). European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Jul. 2019
● Leader-Member-Exchange (LMX) and the social (re)construction of leadership in Nigerian organisations (Co-author). European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Jul. 2019.
● The construction of ethnic Identity in Nigeria: Implications for diversity management. European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium, Tallinn, Estonia. Jul. 2018
● Perspectives on the intersecting identities of female academics in Saudi Arabia. (Co-author). Full paper, presented at European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium, Tallinn, Estonia. Jul. 2017.
● National cultures and employee commitment in a developing country context: Perspectives from Nigeria. Developmental paper, presented at The British Academy of Management (BAM), 31st Annual BAM Conference. Awarded Best Paper –International Business and International Management Stream. Warwick, United Kingdom. Sep. 2017.
Professional Development Workshop (PDW)
● Mental Health and Wellbeing policies and practices: The lived experiences of academics in UK business Schools. Professional Development Workshop (PDW) with Prof Nelarine Cornelius, Dr AnneClare Gillon, Dr Chidozie Umeh. British Academy of Management (BAM) Conference. Aug. 2021.

Full publications list

Compositions

Recordings

Teaching

Other teaching

Dr Umeh has taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across general management, human resource management, organisation behaviour, and employment relations. He is currently the Programme Leader for MSc Human Resource Management at the School for Business and Society. Dr Umeh leads the postgraduate modules, human resource management in context, the changing nature of work, and human resource management and sustainability. He also teaches behaviour in organisations (Undergraduate) and managing people (Postgraduate). He supervises postgraduate dissertations for the independent research project (MSc) and MSc human resource management.

He has been variously nominated for several teaching awards in previous roles, including the Assessment and Feedback Champion, Innovative Teaching Awards, Academic Support Award, and Teacher of the Year Awards.