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Dr Guy Vernon BSc, MSc, PhD

Associate Professor

Dr Guy Vernon is an Associate Professor within Southampton Business School at the University of Southampton.

Guy's formal education is in economics – he obtained his PhD (Economics) from Warwick (examiners: Andrew Glyn and Paul K. Edwards) in 2000.

However, through his PhD, Guy broadened his interests in political economy to encompass industrial and political sociology and industrial relations.

This was honed into specialism in cross-national comparative employee relations and international HRM through posts at Oxford, Kings College London, Henley Management College and (from 2007) Southampton Business School.

Guy is particularly interested in the implications of people management for organizational and industrial performance.

In the last few years (since 2011), Guy has published in:

the British Journal of Industrial Relations (ABS 4*),
European Journal of Industrial Relations (3*),
International Journal of Human Resource Management (3*)
Economic and Industrial Democracy (3*),

and completed a project for the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Meanwhile, he has (co-)authored the third edition of a leading textbook on international HRM, whilst delivering closely evidence-based teaching typically evaluated by students in the top decile and praised externally for its quality.

Research

Publications

Teaching

Office hours

Contact

Research interests

Guy specialises in international, (cross-national) comparative, and often historical, analysis, typically focusing upon organizational and industrial performance.

Since 2011, Guy has published in the British Journal of Industrial Relations (ABS 4*), European Journal of Industrial Relations (3*), International Journal of Human Resource Management (3*) and Economic and Industrial Democracy (3*), and completed an invited project for the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Much of Guy’s research concerns the implications of unions, joint regulation and the broader social regulation of work for the performance of OECD manufacturing sectors from the 1960s to the present.

He recently established the crucial relevance of the structure of unions for the productivity implications of stronger joint regulation (with Mark Rogers, Oxford), and indeed of pay compressions specifically. This is highly significant as previous international studies sought unsuccessfully to identify the productivity implications of more transient bargaining formalities, whilst single-country studies suggested the relevance of union structure without demonstrating it.

Work in progress

Guy is now examining the implications of unions and joint regulation for i) the response of pay growth to productivity growth (for the ILO), and ii) the growth in employment in manufacturing (presented at SASE Milan 2013).

Guy is also extending his PhD work on the implications of the social regulation of work for fatal injuries in OECD manufacturing.

An allied strand of Guy’s research explicitly and directly considers the implications of unions and joint regulation for the character of people management. Guy’s recent work (with Chris Brewster, Reading) on the implications of unions for the strategic integration of HR functions, deploying survey evidence on thousands of organizations across more than 30 countries, broke new ground at the interface of the study of employee relations and HRM by demonstrating the relevance of unions for the role of HR.

In a related vein, Guy is, for conference presentation in 2014, now elaborating the implications of international evidence on joint regulation and reward structures for our understanding of unions’ role in organizational governance.

Guy is also now beginning to extend his research into generic issues of organizational justice, with a view to further elucidating the manner in which joint regulation has its effects on organizational and industrial performance.

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Articles

Vernon, G. (2013). Does egalitarian pay add value? Pay compression, union structure and manufacturing productivity growth in the OECD. European Journal of Industrial Relations, n/a, 1-19. DOI: 10.1177/0959680113511007
Vernon, G., & Brewster, C. (2012). Structural spoilers or structural supports? Unions and the strategic integration of HR functions. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(6), 1113-1129. DOI: 10.1080/09585192.2012.703416
Vernon, G., & Rogers, M. (2012). Where do unions add value? Union structure, union strength and manufacturing productivity growth in the OECD. British Journal of Industrial Relations. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2011.00888.x
Akrofi, S., Clarke, N., & Vernon, G. (2011). Constructing a measure of executive learning and development. International Journal of Training and Development, 15(3), 184-209. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2419.2011.00378.x
Vernon, G. (2011). Still accounting for difference? Comparative joint regulation and pay inequality. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 32(1), 29-46. DOI: 10.1177/0143831X10365930
Vernon, G. (2006). Does density matter? The significance of comparative historical variation in unionization. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 12(2), 189-209. DOI: 10.1177/0959680106065040
Vernon, G. (2006). The potential of management-dominated work organisation: the critical case of Japan. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 27(3), 399-424. DOI: 10.1177/0143831X06065962
Vernon, G. (2003). Comparative work organisation, managerial hierarchies and occupational classification. Employee Relations, 25(4), 389-404. DOI: 10.1108/01425450310483398
Vernon, G., & Rees, C. (2001). Capital transnacional ¿el fin de los acuerdos socials nacionales? La evolucion reciente en Suecia [Transnational capital and the end of national social settlements? Recent developments in Sweden]. Cuadernos Relaciones Laborales, 19, 149-179.
Vernon, G., Cowling, K., & Yusof, F. M. (2000). Declining concentration in UK manufacturing? A problem of measurement. International Review of Applied Economics, 14(1), 45-54. DOI: 10.1080/026921700101470

Book

Brewster, C., Sparrow, P., & Vernon, G. (2007). International human resource management. 2nd Edition. London, UK: Chartered Institute of Personal Development.

Book Chapters

Vernon, G. (2010). International pay and reward. In T. Edwards, & Rees (Eds.), International Human Resource Management Second Edition. London: FT Press.
Vernon, G., Anderson, R., Baeton, X., & Neu, E. (2007). Unions, employers' associations and the joint regulation of pay. In C. H. Antoni, X. Baeten, B. J. M. Emans, & M. Kira (Eds.), Pay in Europe: a Stakeholder Approach (pp. 109-128). (Travail & Société; Work & Society; Vol. 53). Brussels: Peter Lang.

Conferences

Vernon, G. (2008). Making sense of contingency: variations in performance delivery via HIWS. Paper presented at BUIRA Conference 2008, United Kingdom.
Vernon, G. (2007). Union organisation and the productivity implications of joint regulation: comparative historical evidence. Paper presented at Industrial Relations in the European Community, .
Vernon, G., & Rogers, M. (2007). Where do stronger unions add value?. Industrial Relations in Europe Conference - IREC 2007, Greece.
Brewster, C., Vernon, G., & Wood, G. (2006). MNCs and the trade unions: how MNCs shape the realities, constraints and possibilities for trade unionism. Paper presented at ACREW Conference 2006, .
Vernon, G., Brewster, C., & Wood, G. (2006). Representative participation and the strategic role of HR: international evidence. Paper presented at British Academy of Management HRM Conference, United Kingdom.

Report

Vernon, G. (2000). Issues of method in research on employment relations. (SKOPE Working Paper). Southampton, UK: University of Southampton School of Managment.

Working Paper

Vernon, G. (1999). Working conditions, the logic of industrialism and the balance of social forces: exploring convergence and diversity across nations' manufacturing industry. (SKOPE Research Papers; No. 2). Oxford, UK: [Centre on] Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance.

Guy is the (co-)author of a leading textbook on international HRM now in its third edition. He delivers closely evidence-based teaching typically evaluated by students in the top decile and praised externally for its quality.

Guy’s teaching and supervision of dissertations and PhDs reflects his analytical approach, and his related concern that contemplation of people management be closely evidence-based.

Semester 1:

Tuesday 11.30am-12.30pm
Wednesday 2.30pm-3.30pm.

Semester 2:

Monday 2.30-3.30pm
Thursday 12.30-1.30pm

Dr Guy Vernon
Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK

Room Number: 2/6029

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