Prof Michelle Brown

Profile

I am a Performance and Reward Management researcher.

I focus on employee reactions to the provision of performance feedback. I evaluate links  individual and collective pay (especially employee share ownership) and the level of transparency around pay outcomes.

I use a variety of methods to understand employee reactions, including survey data, experimental studies and qualitative data.

I have published studies that identify the negative implications of performance feedback for employee wellbeing and evaluated different approaches to the provisions of feedback. Organsiations often seek to link employee performance ratings to pay. I have examined the outcomes for employees, teams and HR.

Prof Michelle Brown

Professor of Human Resource Management
Area Head in Human Resource Management

Current Projects

My current focus is on pay communications.

Some organisations have chosen not to provide their employees with information about others pay and prohibit employees from discussing their pay with colleagues.  We are investigating organisational responses when they become aware of a breach of the policy.

I am also undertaking research into the role of gender in pay communications.  We want to know if men and women experience the same reactions  from colleagues  when they ask others for their pay information.