Dr Kendra Briken

Publications

Marx in the Field (Anthem Frontiers of Global Political Economy and Development) Edited by Alessandra Mezzadri. : anthem press, February 2021, 256 Pages, ISBN: 9781785274497, Price $125.00, h/b.

Briken Kendra

British Journal of Industrial Relations (2024)

Analysing the labour process and the global political economy of work

Briken Kendra

Handbook of Research on the Global Political Economy of Work (2023) (2023)

Industry 5 and the human in human-centric manufacturing

Briken Kendra, Moore Jed, Scholarios Dora, Rose Emily, Sherlock Andrew

Sensors Vol 23 (2023)

https://doi.org/10.3390/s23146416

Technology and the organization of work

Briken Kendra, MacKenzie Robert

International Human Resource Management , pp. 275-296 (2022)

Upskilling and intensification of work; are robots the answer?

McQuarrie Johanna, Findlay Patricia, Briken Kendra

Nordic Academy of Management (2019)

Welcome in the machine. Human-machine relations and knowledge capture

Briken Kendra

Capital and Class (2019)

More publications

Teaching

My teaching covers the broad range of sociology of work. 

 My core areas are:

• Sociology of Work
• Social Theory
• HRM and Public Sector
• (International) Employee Relations
• Surveillance Studies

Research Interests

My reserach interests are in the broad area of changing work and employment structures, with a focus on new technologies and re-roganisation. I did research the impact of the implementation of New Public Management on public servants in different nations and sectors (police, waste collection, energy). More recently, I started to investigate in the effects robotics-led workplaces have on job quality. I am also interested in reseraching trade unions, particularly in terms of their representational and oragnisational capacities. My research relies on inter-disciplinary as well as international collaborations.

Professional Activities

Gender, Work and Organisation

Speaker

28/6/2023

The impact of the AI revolution on our businesses and teams

Speaker

15/6/2023

Gendered organisations and its impact on women's leadership trajectories

Contributor

30/5/2023

Is your organisation ready for the ChatGPT of things? (Episode 159, CIPD podcast)

Recipient

2/5/2023

International Labour Process Conference 2023

Organiser

12/4/2023

AI and workplace cultures. Unpacking the Human in Industry 5

Chair

29/3/2023

More professional activities

Projects

Fair Work in Scottish HEI's

Remnant, Jennifer (Principal Investigator) Briken, Kendra (Co-investigator)

18-Jan-2023 - 01-Jan-2023

Research Excellence Award: Hearing the unheard: amplifying the voices of frontline essential workers £99,008

Johnstone, Stewart (Principal Investigator) Briken, Kendra (Principal Investigator)

Employee voice – defined as the ability to have a say at work and influence over workplace affairs – is a central dimension of a good job and fair work (Fairwork Convention, 2021, Norris-Green and Gifford, 2021; Taylor, 2017; Wilkinson et.al, 2021). For much of the twentieth century in Britain employee voice was synonymous with trade unions and collective bargaining. However, union representation is now unavailable in 90% private sector workplaces, and limited voice has a disproportionate impact on workers most vulnerable to exploitation. It also has the the potential to exacerbate intersectional inequalities among those already identified as having a constrained voice at work including women, the disabled, younger workers and ethnic minorities (Hodder and Lefteris, 2015; Wacjman 2002; William et.al, 2009). The pandemic highlighted societies dependency on frontline 'essential workers' defined by the Scottish Government as 'people who keep the country running'. However, many essential workers, including those in retail, logistics and the platformed mediated gig economy, are in low paid and insecure employment. These 'minimum wage heroes' (BBC, 2020) are also among the most likely to be treated unfairly but least likely to have access to traditional collective union voice mechanisms. This does not, however, mean such workers have no voice. Many employers have devised their own organisational voice channels, though concerns have been raised about the extent to which these can challenge management authority or promote employee interests. Workers also have alternative means of expressing themselves, including informal dialogue with peers and managers, social media, as well as support from other interest and advocacy groups. However, little is known about whether such channels are sufficient in empowering vulnerable frontline workers, promoting good jobs or promulgating fair work. Assessing this issue is the aim of the project.

01-Jan-2022 - 01-Jan-2025

Amplifying Employee Voice and Hearing the Unheard: A Multidisciplinary Study of Contemporary Working Lives in Deindustrialised Communities

Johnstone, Stewart (Principal Investigator) Briken, Kendra (Co-investigator) Cunningham, Ian (Co-investigator) Hadjisolomou, Tasos (Co-investigator) McCarthy, Tony (Co-investigator) McIntyre, Stuart (Co-investigator) Scholarios, Dora (Co-investigator) Taylor, Philip (Co-investigator)

01-Jan-2022 - 30-Jan-2025

AI and Ethics in Manufacturing

Briken, Kendra (Principal Investigator) Rose, Emily (Co-investigator) Moore, Jed Hanson (Co-investigator)

Preparation of online training module for the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, Manufacturing Skills Academy

01-Jan-2022 - 23-Jan-2022

Industry 4.0: Can AI ethics be embedded in the innovation lifecycle?

Briken, Kendra (Principal Investigator) Rose, Emily (Co-investigator) Scholarios, Dora (Co-investigator)

01-Jan-2022 - 31-Jan-2023

The Care Necessities - Developing Inclusive Digital Technologies for Scotland’s Post Pandemic Social Care (Digit Innovation Fund)

Briken, Kendra (Principal Investigator) Cunningham, Ian (Co-investigator)

01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2022

More projects