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Russell Wordsworth CMHRNZ (Academic)

What interests you about HR?

Broadly, and from a practical perspective I’m most interested in the challenge of aligning individual and organisational interests, i.e. how we might design jobs and workplaces that provide individuals with meaningful and rewarding employment such that, in return, employees are 100% committed to pursuing the core purpose and strategic goals of the organisation. From a more academic research perspective I’m interested in career transitions, career sustainability, employee turnover and retention processes, employee wellbeing in the workplace, the role of HR in fostering ethical practice in business and, more recently, the role of leadership in digital transformation in organisations.

 

What led you to the role that you are in currently?

I studied an undergrad degree in Tourism Management, so HR was never really on the radar. However, through work experience in the industry and a Strategic HR paper in my honours degree I quickly realized the importance of HR and also my own passion for the field and for working with people. So I pursued a Masters degree in Management where my thesis focused on the barriers organisations experienced in employing people with disabilities. The HR bug had well and truly bitten by this point and I picked up a my first teaching role while completing my masters. Skip forward a good few years and I found myself at the University of Canterbury teaching HR fulltime while pursuing a PhD in the field. All up I’ve been teaching HR and Management courses for well over 15 years now, and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon. Teaching is my first passion, it’s the part of the job I really love.

 

What do you enjoy about teaching HR and/ or doing HR research?

HR is a topic that all students can relate to, whether they are taking my course as a required course for the BCom or because they’re pursuing an HR major. A lot of students come into my 200-level HR course thinking ‘why do I have to do this boring topic? How is this relevant?’. I have 15 weeks to convince them that HR, and how we get the best out of employees, is of critical importance to an organisation’s success. Nothing makes me happier than reading course feedback along the lines of “I thought this course would be dull and boring, now I’m thinking of changing my major from Marketing to HR”. Of course I can’t help but have a jibe at my Marketing colleagues when I see comments like this.

 

Do you have any areas of HR that you are particularly interested in (and why)?

For a teaching perspective absolutely. I love teaching classes on employee recruitment and selection. Again, it is easy to make this content relevant for students so they love it, but it also an area of HR backed up by heaps of good empirical evidence, yet in the real world selection is often fraught by misguided opinion, outdated practices, bias and sometimes just plain stupidity, that it always makes for interesting classroom discussion and debate.

 

What motivated you to work to become an Academic Chartered Member?

I was already a Chartered member of HRNZ, but when the new Academic Chartered membership was introduced in 2021, I jumped at the opportunity to pursue a form of chartered membership that more closely aligns with my role as an academic working in the HR discipline. Also, UC Business School has engagement as a key pillar of our academic strategy. I see my professional connection with HRNZ as a key vehicle to ensure that my teaching and research is informed by, and help informs, HR practice in NZ. Being a Chartered member of HRNZ ensure that I stay engaged with the profession more broadly, and with other HR academics around NZ through the HRNZ Academic Branch.

 

What are your next steps now that you are a Chartered Member?

I’m keen to get more involved with the HRNZ Academic Branch again and to connect more closely with my academic colleagues around NZ. I’d also be keen to take on a mentoring role for new academics entering the HR area.