Key details
Dr Minjie Cai
Senior Lecturer in Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour
Dr Minjie Cai joined the University of Greenwich in December 2018 as a Lecturer (Research) in Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour after completing her PhD in Organisation Studies at Cranfield School of Management. She is also an Associate Fellow at the Advance High Education (previously Academy of Higher Education).
Minjie is primarily interested in the nature of and changes to work, employment relations, and human resource management practices in the context of transitional organisations and economies. She frequently deploys sociological lenses to examine these subject areas. Her recent research focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including work in retail sector and union representations on occupational health and safety in the UK.
Minjie’s teaching champions students' personal and work experience through encouraging diverse perspectives and cultivating psychological safety. She was nominated for the Greenwich Student Union Student-led Teaching Award (Extra Miles Category in 2020 and the Faculty Staff Award (Innovative use of Technology for Online Teaching Category) in 2021.
Awards
- Greenwich Student Union Student-led Teaching Award 2020. Category: Extra Miles (Nomination)
- Faculty Staff Award 2021. Category: Innovative use of Technology for Online Teaching (Nomination)
Recognition
- VP Communication, International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management (September -December 2021)
- Communication Officer, Human Resource Management Special Interest Group, British Academy of Management (September 2017- December 2020)
- Associate Fellow at the Advance High Education (previously Academy of Higher Education).
Research / Scholarly interests
Dr Minjie Cai's research interests include:
- The changing nature of work and employment relations
- Equality and inclusion
- HR practices and decision making in transitional context
- Organisational change
Key funded projects
Work and crisis management on supermarket frontline in the COVID-19 pandemic
About: This research examines how supermarket frontline managers and employees perceive and experience crisis management and organisational change amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, supermarket frontline work intensifies with additional health and safety risk, changing customer demands, and new regulations during the pandemic. These challenges have pertinent implications for frontline employees whose contractual status entails 'forced availability' and frontline managers who face competing demands of performance targets, flexible workforce control, and organisational policies that evolve with the pandemic development.
Project length: April 2021- October 2022
Funders: British Academy/Leverhulme Trust
Recent publications
Cai, M, Velu, J., Tindal, S., Bennett, S. (2021) ‘It’s Like a War Zone’: Jay’s Liminal Experience of Normal and Extreme Work in a UK Supermarket during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Work, Employment and Society. 35(2), 386-395.
Presentations
Cai, M., Bennett, S., Stroleny, A., Tindal, S., (2021) Liminality and organisational anomie: UK supermarket frontline work and employment relations during the COVID-19 Pandemic. 35th Annual Conference of the British Academy of Management (Online).
Bennett, S., Tindal, S., Cai, M., Stroleny, A. (2021) Between mundane and extreme: supermarket frontline employees’ experiences of work during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Labour Process Conference, London (Online).
Cai, M (2017) Bourdieusian Symbolic Violence and Confucian Harmony: the generality and particularity of domination and struggles in organisational life. In: British Academy of Management Conference 2017, Warwick, 5-7 September 2017.
Cai, M (2017) 'Othering' and the Challenges of Global Work Experience under Political Uncertainties. In: British Academy of Management HRM SIG Conference 2017, London, 7-8 June 2017.
Cai M, Parry E, Dickmann M (2014) Mind the Gap: Researching and Theorising Guanxi in the Context of Personnel Selection Decision-making. In: British Academy of Management Conference 2014, Belfast, 9-11 September 2014.