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Professor Elena Doldor

Elena

Professor of Leadership and Diversity

Email: e.r.doldor@qmul.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7882 8985
Room Number: Room 4.21, Francis Bancroft Building, Mile End Campus
Office Hours: Thursday 4-5pm

Profile

Roles:

Biography:

I am a Professor of Leadership and Diversity within Queen Mary Business School. My expertise is on diversity and leadership, having carried out research on this topic for 20 years. My empirical work is generally qualitative and draws on naturalistic organisational data to investigate and theorize the organisational processes accounting for the lack of diversity in leadership, and for the different career experiences of women and ethnic minorities.

Across different projects I have examined senior leadership promotions as experienced by women and ethnic minority professionals, sponsorship, head-hunters’ board selection practices and their impact on gender balance on corporate boards; the nature of gender bias in developmental leadership feedback; and gendered and racialised experiences of organisational politics for leaders. I have published in journals of recognized international excellence such as the Academy of Management, Journal, The Leadership Quarterly, Human Relations, Human Resource Management Journal, Journal of Vocational Behavior, British Journal of Management and Harvard Business Review.

I have a track record of collaborating as a speaker, consultant, or advisor with organizations and policymakers seeking to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. I worked with national and transnational policymakers (e.g. FTSE Women Leaders Review, Davies Review on Women on Boards, Hampton-Alexander Review on Women FTSE Leaders, Government Equalities Office, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the European Parliament), corporations and professional services firms (e.g. Aviva, Wates, KPMG, EY and Barclays) and D&I practitioners (Moving Ahead, Delta).

Before joining Queen Mary, I worked as a Senior Research Fellow at Cranfield School of Management, where I obtained her PhD. I have an MSc

in Organizational Psychology from Pierre Mendes University, France, and I was a Fulbright Visiting Fellow at Northwestern University, USA.

I welcome proposals for PhD supervisions on topics broadly related to my core research areas.

Twitter: @DrElenaDoldor LinkedIn: Elena Doldor

Teaching

Undegraduate:

  • BUS317: Organisational Change and Development

Postgraduate:

  • BUSM156: Continued Professional Development and Academic Skills Workshops for MSc International Human Resource Management & Employment
  • BUSM182: Managing Yourself and Building Positive Relationships at Work

Elena is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

Research

Research Interests:

My research explores the careers and leadership journeys of women and ethnic minorities in contemporary organizations, focusing on causes for the underrepresentation of women and ethnic minorities in senior leadership (e.g. corporate boards, professional services firms) and strategies for change; senior promotion processes; sponsorship across difference; gender exclusion in board recruitment processes and in the work of head-hunters; power, organizational politics, and the gendered and racialised experiences employees have when navigating workplace politics.

Centre and Group Membership: Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity (CRED)

Publications

Journal articles

  • Doldor, E., Wyatt, M., & Atewologun, D. (2026). Polyphonic career scripting: Political and relational dynamics in the construction of promotion norms. Academy of Management Journal
  • Cingiene, J., Doldor, E., & Briner, R. (2026). Shifting approaches to blurred work–nonwork boundaries in consulting careers. Journal of Vocational Behavior.
  • Wyatt, M. & Doldor, E. (2024) “When Office Politics Shortchanges Women and People of Color”. HBR Guide to Navigating the Toxic Workplace (edited book)
  • Doldor, E. & Seierstad, C. (2023) “Advocating for Women on Boards in the UK and Norway: Framing Processes and Actor Positions”.Academy of Management Proceedings. Recipient of the Best Transnational Faculty Paper Award.
  • Wyatt, M. & Doldor, E. (2022) “Office Politics Don’t Have to Be Toxic”. Harvard Business Review
  • Wyatt, M., Doldor, E., Tresh, F. (2022) “To be or not to be political? Racialized cognitive scripts and political motivation” Human Relations, vol. 76, issue 6
  • Doldor, E., Wyatt, M., & Silvester, J. (2021) “Men Get More Actionable Feedback than Women”. Harvard Business Review. Listed in HBR’s top 10 most read papers in 2021.
  • Doldor, E. & Atewologun, D. (2020) “Why work it when you can dodge it? Identity responses to ethnic stigma among professionals”. Human Relations, vol 47, issue 6
  • Doldor, E., Wyatt, M., & Silvester, J. (2019) “Statesmen or cheerleaders? Using topic modelling to identify gendered messages in leadership developmental feedback”. The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 30, issue 5
  • Doldor, E. (2017) “From Politically Naïve to Politically Mature: Examining Leaders’ Political Maturation Journey” British Journal of Management, vol. 28, issue 4, p.666-686
  • Atewologun, D., Kutzer, R., Doldor, E., Anderson, D. & Sealy, R. (2017) “Individual-level foci of identification at work: A systematic review of the literature”, International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 19, pp. 273-295  
  • Sealy, R., Doldor, E., Vinnicombe, S., Terjesen, S., Anderson, D. & Atewologun, D. (2016) “Expanding the Notion of Dialogic Trading Zones for Impactful Research: The Case of Women on Boards Research”, British Journal of Management, Special Issue on “Impact and Management Research: Exploring Relationships between Temporality, Dialogue, Reflexivity, and Praxis", vol 28, issue 1, pp. 64-83.
  • Doldor, E., Sealy, R., & Vinnicombe, S. (2016) “Accidental activists: Headhunters as marginal diversity actors in institutional change towards more women on boards”, Human Resource Management Journal, vol. 26, issue 3, pp. 285-303
  • Doldor, E., Vinnicombe, S. (2015) "Women’s pathways to the boardroom", Gender in Management: An International Journal, Vol. 30 Iss: 7.
  • Doldor, E., Anderson, D. and Vinnicombe, S. (2013), “Refining the Concept of Political Will: A Gender Perspective”. British Journal of Management, vol 24, pp. 414–427
  • Atewologun, D. & Doldor, E. (2013) "Women at the top: Where now, what next? Reflections on the British Psychological Society's Division of Occupational Psychology 2012 conference", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, Vol. 32, issue 2, pp.223 - 229

Book chapters

  • Atewologun, D., Kutzer, R., Doldor, E. (2018) “Applying an Intersectional Perspective to Identity Foci at Work”, in The [Oxford] Handbook of Identities in Organizations by Brown, A. (Ed), Oxford University Press, pp. 117-133
  • Doldor, E. (2017) “Gender diversity on boards in the UK: The merits and shortcomings of a voluntary approach”, in Gender Diversity in the Boardroom: European Perspectives on Increasing Female Representation, by Seierstad, C., Gabaldon, P., & Mensi-Klarbach (eds), Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 13-44
  • Doldor, E, Silvester, J., & Atewologun (2016) “Qualitative research methods in organizational psychology”, The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology, Sage Publications, pp. 520-539
  • Doldor, E. (2013). “Organizational Politics: The Missing Link to Women’s Progression into Managerial Roles”, in Burke, R., Vinnicombe, S., and Moore, L. (Eds) Handbook of Research on Promoting Women’s Careers, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 196-211
  • Doldor, E. (2012). “Gender diversity on UK Boards: Exploring Resistance to Quotas”, in Groschl, S. And Tagaki, J. (Eds) Diversity Quotas, Diverse Perspectives: The Case of Gender, Ashgate Publishing, pp. 135-148

Research and policy reports

Supervision

Doctoral Supervision

Completed

  • Mursheda Begum ‘Gender and ethnic diversity management within the Speech and Language Therapy profession in the UK (with Prof. Tessa Wright)
  • Jurate Cingiene ‘Exploring meanings of work-nonwork boundaries’ (with Prof. Rob Briner)
  • Deborah Osei, 'Highly qualified women’s career experiences and work-life balance: A need for integration of work-life balance policies and talent management policies’ (with Prof. Gill Kirton)
  • Omolola Olaleye, 'Apprenticeships: Breaking Down Barriers for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Youth?' (with Prof. Gill Kirton)

 

Currently under way

  • Vick Bain, 'Gender inequality in the UK music industry' (with Prof. Ahu Tatli)
  • Cathrine Marks (with Dr Louise Ashley)
  • Gabriella Diniz (with Dr Louise Ashley)

 

Public Engagement

Through commissioned research, advisory roles, and media presence, I engage regularly with policy-makers and organizations seeking to diversify their leadership ranks and create more inclusive workplaces. Over the last decade, I have advised prominent UK businesses and policy-makers on diversity in leadership pipelines and on boards, generating knowledge creation and transfer. I have co-authored annual reports for women on boards (The Female FTSE Board Report) which served as evidence in national policy initiatives (e.g. Davies review on Women on Boards, Hampton-Alexander review on Women Leaders) that have led to an increased representation of women on boards. This research was sponsored and endorsed by leading FTSE 100 organizations (Aviva, Barclays, KPMG) and key policy-makers (Government’s Equalities Office; Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; Equality and Human Rights Commission). I am a member of the Government’s Equalities Office Work and Gender Equality (WAGE) Network, where I was invited to speak at policy events and provide webinars for employers. I also carried out research on the career and leadership experiences of minority ethnic professionals in a Big 4 professional services firm, which has informed more inclusive talent management practices across the firm. My research has been regularly featured in the media. As a business psychology consultant, I was involved in designing and delivering diversity management initiatives and leadership development training in countries including France, Romania, Nigeria and the UK.

Academic leadership and service

  • Editorial Board Member – British Journal of Management
  • Representative-at-Large for the Academy of Management, Gender and Diversity in Organizations Division
  • Regular reviewer for journals such as Human Relations, Human Resource Management Journal and Gender, Work and Organization
  • Regular convener / chair for conference tracks, workshops and symposia in prestigious international conferences such as the Academy of Management, and Gender, Work and Organization
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