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Professor Mike Noon

Mike

Professor of Human Resource Management

Email: m.a.noon@qmul.ac.uk
Room Number: Francis Bancroft Building, Mile End Campus

Profile

Role:

Biography:

I joined QMUL as Professor of Human Resource Management in September 2005, and I was Dean of the School from July 2018 to July 2025. As Dean I worked with many talented colleagues and together we increased our intake of both home and international students, doubled the revenue, doubled the number of academic staff, gained international accreditation, greatly improved our research standing, delivered our commitment to widening participation, and built our reputation as a purpose-driven business school committed to promoting social justice, sustainability and good governance through our education and our research.

I have been a full time academic since 1989, previously holding academic management, research and teaching positions at Leicester Business School, De Montfort University, Lancaster University and Cardiff Business School. I have a BA from Sheffield University, and a MSc and PhD from Imperial College London.

Teaching

I am currently on a research sabbatical so will not be undertaking teaching in the current academic year.

 

Research

Research Interests:

Mike Noon’s research focuses on workplace equality and diversity, including employee experiences, management initiatives, and local and national policy. His approach, reflected in his publications, critically questions what might be considered ‘mainstream’ approaches to the challenges of equality and he advocates taking a more progressive stance.

Mike's research explores the effects of contemporary management practices on the work of employees. His main research interest is equality, diversity and discrimination, particularly in relation to ethnic minorities. In earlier work he explored the disadvantages faced by ethnic minorities in gaining access to work and training, then broadened the scope to examine the effects of gender, ethnicity, disability and age on the work experiences of UK employees using large scale survey data.

In recent work he has returned to studying the experiences of discrimination for employees through case studies and interviews. In one project, this has included exploring the organisational barriers, obstacles and prejudice experienced by low paid workers struggling to progress to better jobs. In another project it has led to examining inter-managerial tension as senior executives attempt to drive forward inclusion initiatives.      

His work also explores the theoretical and conceptual underpinning of equality policy. His approach challenges the assumptions behind mainstream equal opportunity policies in organisations and he argues for the pursuit of more progressive approaches. He has been invited to present his ideas to various equality policy forums including the Government Equality Office, the Higher Education Leadership Foundation and the Equality Challenge Unit (now Advance HE), the Metropolitan Police Service, The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and the Cabinet Office.

As well as having research findings reported in the national media, he has published widely in leading academic journals, has co-edited two research books, and co-authored two successful textbooks.

Centre and Group Membership:

 

Publications

Selected journal articles 

  • Noon, M and Ogbonna, E. (2020) Controlling management to deliver diversity and inclusion: Prospects and limits. Human Resource Management Journal. 2020: pp1–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12332
  • Netto G, Noon M, Hudson M, Kamenou-Aigbekaen N, Sosenko F. (2020) Intersectionality, identity work and migrant progression from low-paid work: A critical realist approach. Gender, Work and Organisation, 2020; pp 1–20.
  • Noon, M. (2018). Pointless Diversity Training: Unconscious Bias, New Racism and Agency. Work, Employment and Society, 32 (1), pp.198-209.
  • Hudson, M., Netto, G., Noon, M., Sosenko, F., de Lima, P. and Kamenou-Aigbekaen, N. (2017). Ethnicity and low wage traps: favouritism, homosocial reproduction and economic marginalization. Work, Employment and Society, 31 (6), pp.992-1009.
  • Oswick, C. and Noon, M. (2014) ‘Discourses of diversity, equality and inclusion: trenchant formulations or transient fashions?’, British Journal of Management, 25 (1), 23-39.
  • Noon, M., Healy, G., Forson, C. and Oikelome, F. (2013) ‘The equality effects of the “hyper-formalisation” of selection’, British Journal of Management, 24 (3): 333-346.
  • Noon, M. (2012) ‘Simply the best? The case for using threshold selection in hiring decisions’, Human Resource Management Journal, 22 (1): 76-88.
  • Noon, M (2010) The shackled runner: time to rethink positive discrimination? Work, Employment and Society, 24(4).

 

Selected books

  • Noon, M., Blyton, P. and Morrell, K. (2013) The Realities of Work (fourth edition) Basingstoke: Palgrave.
  • Healy, G., Kirton, G. and Noon, M. (eds) (2010) Equality, inequalities and diversity - contemporary challenges and strategies. Basingstoke, Palgrave
  • Heery, E. and Noon, M. (2010) A Dictionary of Human Resource Management, (second edition) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Supervision

PhD Supervision Completions:

  • Pedro Trespaderne, 'Self-employment among Migrants and the Social, Cultural and Economic changes in the neighbourhood of San Francisco in Bilbao (Spain).' Awarded 2020.
  • Nadia Ahmed, 'Is the Ivory Tower wheelchair accessible? What are the barriers and enablers to the employment of disabled academics and what theoretical frameworks can be adopted to understand them?' Awarded 2020. She is currently a Teaching Fellow in the School of Business and Management, QMUL.
  • Emily Yarrow, 'What is the impact of national research evaluation exercises on women’s academic careers in the UK? A case study of the Research Excellence Framework 2014.' Awarded 2016. She is now a Lecturer in Organisation Studies and HRM at Portsmouth University Business School.
  • Simon Roberts, 'Exploring how gay men manage their gay identity in the workplace.' Awarded 2014. He is now a Senior Lecturer in HRM and Organisation Studies at Bournemouth University

Public Engagement

He has been invited to present his ideas to various equality policy forums including the Government Equality Office, the Higher Education Leadership Foundation and the Equality Challenge Unit (now Advance HE), the Metropolitan Police Service, The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and the Cabinet Office.

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