Key details
Dr Neela NSM Mühlemann
Senior Lecturer in Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour
Dr Neela S. Mühlemann joined the University of Greenwich in December 2020 as a lecturer in Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour. She has a background in social and organisational psychology and holds a PhD in Psychology awarded by the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Prior to joining the Department of Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour, she was a Teaching Fellow and Research Officer at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Research Associate at the Nottingham Trent University. Outside academia, she has gained working experience in consulting and HR related areas such as recruitment, leadership evaluation, people development and training.
In her research, she applies a social identity approach to study identity change and group processes in organisations, leadership, health and well-being. In particular, her work addresses the questions how change (on the social, organisational, and individual level) and the associated identity dynamics can affect health and well-being and how identity transitions can be managed to facilitate adjustment. In her PhD thesis she developed the Social Identity Model of Organizational Change (SIMOC) which aims to explain leadership and group processes during organisational changes and employees’ adjustment to change. Visiting Prof. Alexander S.
Awards
In January 2019, Neela Mühlemann in collaboration with Dr Ilka Gleibs was awarded with the LSE Research Infrastructure and Investment Fund (RIIF) by the London School of Economics and Political Science for the project ‘We are fighting together - Promoting firefighters’ resilience to traumatic events’.
Research / Scholarly interests
Neela Mühlemann is generally interested in the interplay between individual and group-level processes. Currently, she is developing and testing a multilevel model of resilience. Disentangling individual and social resilience to stressful incidents at work or major life events can contribute to a better understanding how we can promote health and well-being in organisations and in society at large.
Key funded projects
We are in it together? Promoting citizens’ health and well-being through a multi-level model of resilience amidst the Covid-19 pandemic
In cooperation with Dr I. H. Gleibs, The London School of Economics and Political Science, and Dr YingFei Héliot, University of Surrey
Understanding the transition to retirement for emergency service officers: A social identity approach
In cooperation with Dr N. McNamara, Prof. C. Stevenson, Dr R. Hill, Nottingham Trent University, and Dr C. Haslam, Dr N.K. Steffens, S. Bentley, University of Queensland
We are fighting together - Promoting firefighters’ resilience to traumatic events
In cooperation with Dr I. H. Gleibs, The London School of Economics and Political Science, Prof. C. Haslam, The University of Queensland, and Dr T. Cruwys, The University of Canberra
Media activity
Podcast by Oxford Review on Managing Organisational Change
Shout Podcast by the Fire Fighter Charity on Firefighters’ Retirement and Well-being
Recent publications
Mühlemann, N. S., Steffens, N. K., Ullrich, J., Haslam, S. A., & Jonas, K. (2022). Understanding responses to an organizational takeover: Introducing the social identity model of organizational change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000386
Presentations
Mühlemann, N.S., McNamara, N., Stevenson, C., Hill, R., Haslam, C., Steffens, N.K., Bentley, S. (2022) Retirement: A major identity change for firefighters. International Poster presentation at the Conference of Social Identity and Health (ICSIH), Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Mühlemann, N. S., Steffens, N.K., Ullrich, J., Haslam, S.A., & Jonas, K. (2022). Social Identity and Social Change: Introducing The Social Identity Model of Organizational Change. Invited talk at the Congress of the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP), Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Mühlemann, N., Steffens, N.K., Ullrich, J., Haslam, S.A., & Jonas, K. (2019). Adjusting to change by creating a new sense of ‘We and Us’. Oral presentation at the Social Psychology Group Meeting of the German Psychological Society (DGPs), Cologne, Germany.