Publications

Technology and the labour process : insights from Indian e-commerce warehouses

Nataraj Manikantha, Taylor Philip, Briken Kendra

The Indian Journal of Labour Economics (2025)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-024-00540-2

Marx in the Field (Anthem Frontiers of Global Political Economy and Development) Edited by Alessandra Mezzadri, London: Anthem Press. 2021. 256 pp., ISBN: 9781785274497, $125.00, h/b.

Briken Kendra

British Journal of Industrial Relations Vol 62, pp. 513-515 (2024)

https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12792

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)

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

Mechanical And Aerospace Engineering (Organisational unit)

Advisor

10/2/2025

New Technology, Work and Employment (Journal)

Editor

1/10/2024

Simple Devices for Complex Work? The Introduction of Everyday Technologies and their Impact on Employment Relations in Social Care Settings in the U.K.

Speaker

27/6/2024

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

More professional activities

Projects

Research Excellence Award: Sorry we missed you: The unheard voices of parcel delivery workers £101,388

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

Freedom of association and worker representation are key tenets of international labour standards, the International Labour Organisation Decent Work Agenda, and UN Sustainable Development Goal 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth. Though precise definitions of ‘decent work’ vary, employee voice has long been recognised as a central dimension of fair work and good jobs (Wilkinson and Fay, 2011), while limited voice opportunities can have a detrimental impact on employee health and wellbeing (Johnstone and Ackers, 2015).

Yet while the value of employee voice is well-established, most research assumes a ‘standard’ employment relationship, where a job is continuous, full time and with a direct relationship between employer and employee (ILO, 2023). Less attention has been paid to employee voice in the ‘gig economy’, now estimated to employ up to 5 million people in the UK (Shenker, 2019). Though several studies have explored collective action and self-organisation in ride hailing and food delivery (e.g. Uber,Deliveroo), little is known about voice in a broader sense i.e. “the potential to influence organisational affairs through a variety of means including formal/informal and individual/collective opportunities” (Wilkinson et.al, 2022). This is important as gig workers typically have fewer employment rights and limited face to face interaction with managers/co-workers, and are often subject to intense technological surveillance and performance management.

The study will explore the working lives of parcel delivery workers - who frequently attract attention in the media because of exploitative working conditions (Guardian 2017, 2018, 2021) - but who whose voices remain unheard in the literature.

01-Jan-2024 - 01-Jan-2027

Effective Voice in Scottish Social Care Workplaces – A Mixed Methods Study

Scholarios, Dora (Principal Investigator) Briken, Kendra (Co-investigator) Cunningham, Ian (Co-investigator) Johnstone, Stewart (Co-investigator) McCarthy, Tony (Research Co-investigator) Nikolova, Marina (Researcher)

19-Jan-2024 - 18-Jan-2025

Fair Work in Scottish HEI's

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

18-Jan-2023 - 01-Jan-2023

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

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

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

More projects