Dr Deborah Foster

Teaching profile

Undergraduate Teaching

Module co-ordinator for final year module BS3544 ‘Management & Public Policy in the European Union’

Postgraduate Supervision

I annually supervise students on the MSc HRM and the MBA. I am also an experienced supervisor at PhD level. I welcome enquiries from prospective postgraduate students who are interested in conducting postgraduate research in the following areas:

Equality & diversity in the workplace (particularly in the areas of gender, disability and work-family conflict).
Public services, trade unionism and industrial relations in the UK &EU.
Work and employment in Europe & Asia.

Research interests

- Equality & diversity in the workplace (particularly relating to disability and gender discrimination).
- Public service trade unionism in the UK and Europe.
- Women employees in China & Taiwan.
- Policies of privatisation and marketisation and their impact on industrial relations.

Selected publications

Foster, D and Fosh, P. (2010, forthcoming) ‘Negotiating ‘difference’: Representing disabled employees in the British workplace’. British Journal of Industrial Relations.

Ren, X and Foster, D. (2010, forthcoming) ‘Women’s Experiences of Work and Family Conflict in a Chinese Airline’. Asia Pacific Business Review.

Chen, C. C., Fosh, P and Foster, D. (2009) ‘Gender Differences in Perceptions of Organizational Cultures in the Banking Industry in Taiwan’, Journal of Industrial Relations, 50 (1) 139-156.

Foster, D. (2007) ‘Legal Obligation or Personal Lottery? Employee Experiences of Disability and the Negotiation of Adjustments in the Public Sector Workplace’. Work, Employment and Society, 21 (1) March, 67-84.

Foster, D and Scott, P. (2007), ‘Trade Unions and Regional Government Working in Partnership? Emergent Lessons from Wales’. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 28 (3) 349-373.

Wen-Chi, GC, Fosh, P and Foster, D (2005), Female Managers in Taiwan: Ongoing Change and the need for Further Research. Asia Pacific Business Review, Volume 11, no.2, 251-266, June.

Foster, D and Scott, P (2003), ‘European Monetary Union and Public Service Trade Unionism: Between States and Markets’, TRANSFER, Volume 9 no. 4, 702-721

Foster, D and Scott, P (2001) ‘Private Hopes and Public Concerns: the Unions and the Euro’, Employee Relations Review, no. 17, May 2001, 18-24.

Foster, D and Hoggett, P (1999) ‘Change in the Benefits Agency: Empowering the Exhausted Worker?’ Work, Employment and Society, 13 (1), March, 19-39.

Foster, D and Scott, P (1999) ‘Things Can Only Get Better? Local Government Employee Relations from CCT to ‘Best Value’’. Employee Relations Review, Issue no.10, August.

Foster, D and Scott, P (1998), ‘Conceptualising Union Responses to Contracting out Municipal Services, 1979-97, Industrial Relations Journal vol. 29, no.2, June, pp. 137-150.

Foster, D and Scott, P (1998), ‘Competitive Tendering of Public Services and Industrial Relations Policy: The Conservative Agenda under Thatcher and Major 1979-97. Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, Autumn, No.6, pp. 101-132.

Foster, D. (1993) `Industrial Relations in Local Government: The Impact of Privatisation', The Political Quarterly, vol. 64, no. 1, January - March, pp. 49-59.

Book Chapters

Foster, D (2010, forthcoming) ‘Understanding Workplace Adjustments for Disabled Employees: The Law and Good Practice’ in Wright, T and Conley, H (eds) Handbook of Discrimination at Work, Gower.

Foster, D with Williams, L. (2010, Forthcoming) “The Past, Present and Future of Equality Agendas: Problems of Intersectionality in Theory and Practice” chapter 14 in Blyton, P. Heery, E. Turnbull, P Reassessing the Employment Relationship, Sage.

Wen-Chi, GC, Fosh, P and Foster, D, (2009) ‘Role Conflict Amongst Female Managers in Taiwan’ in Rowley, C and Vimolwan Yukongdi, (eds). The Changing Face of Women Management in Asia. Routledge.

Scott, P and Foster, D (2008) ‘La *Desregularizatión* del Empleo: El Impacto de la Reorganización del Estado Británico’, (editors: S. Castillo, M. Pigenet and F.Soubiran-Paillet. Estados y relaciones de trabajo en la Europa del siglo XX. [States and Work Relations in Twentieth Century Europe], Madrid, F.Largo Caballero / Ediciones Cinca, pp. 299-319.

Wen-Chi, GC, Fosh, P and Foster, D (2006), Female Managers in Taiwan: Ongoing Change and the need for Further Research. In, Yukongdi and Benson (eds.), Women in Asian Management, pp. 110-125. Routledge.

Foster, D and Hoggett, P (2006), ‘Change in the Benefits Agency: Empowering the Exhausted Worker?’ Volume 11 pp. 439-459 in
Beynon, H and Nichols, T. (eds.) Patterns of Work in the Post Fordist Era. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Foster, D and Scott, P (2003) “Trade Unions, Public Services and the Euro” pp. 167-197 in Foster, D and Scott, P (eds) “Trade unions in Europe: Meeting the Challenge”. P.I.E Peter Lang, Brussels.

Scott, P and Foster, D (2003), Meeting The Challenge? Chapter 1 pp. 11-32 in Foster, D and Scott, P (eds), “Trade unions in Europe:
Meeting the Challenge”. P.I.E Peter Lang, Brussels.

Foster, D and Hoggett, P (2000) ‘Change in the Benefits Agency: Empowering the Exhausted Worker?’ in ‘Managerialism and Social Policy’ (D861), The Open University.

Foster, D. (1996), 'Competitive Tendering in Local Government: Trade Unions andOrganizational Change'. Chapter 3, pp. 41-66, in Braddon and Foster (eds.), Privatisation: Social Science Themes and Perspectives. Dartmouth.

Braddon, D. and Foster, D. (1996), 'Introduction', Chapter 1, pp. 1-17. in Braddon and Foster (eds.), Privatisation: Social Science Themes and Perspectives. Dartmouth.

Foster, D. and Braddon, D. (1996), ‘An Inter-Disciplinary Approach to the Analysis of Privatization and Marketization’. Chapter 12, pp. 287-310. in Braddon, D. and Foster, D. (eds.) Privatisation: Social Science Themes and Perspectives. Dartmouth

Foster, D. and Meech, J. (1995) `The Social Implications of Virtual Reality', in Carr, K. (ed.) Simulated and Virtual Realities, Taylor and Francis.

Other Publications

Foster, D with Taylor, G. (April 2000) “EMU and Social Europe: Public Service and the future of citizenship” Centre for Social and Economic Research, Occasional Papers, University of the West of England.

Foster, D. with Scott, P and Taylor, G (March 2000) “Public service trade unions and European Monetary Union: A Threat or opportunity?” Centre for Social and Economic Research (CESER) Occasional Papers, University of the West of England

Foster, D. (1997), review for “Work, Employment and Society” Vol. 11 no.1, of Ledwith,S and Colgan,F “Women in Organisations: Challenging Gender Politics” Macmillan, 1996.

Foster, D. and Hoggett, P. (July 1996) “Attitudes Towards Quality Initiatives Within the Severnside Benefits Agency”, Research Report for the Severnside District Benefits Agency, Bristol.

Foster, D. and Taylor, G. (1994) `Privatisation and Public Service Trade Unions', Occasional Papers in Sociology, no. 11, University of the West of England, Bristol, December. (Externally refereed).

Conference Papers (selected)

Ren, X and Foster, D. – Balancing work and Life in the Chinese Airline Industry: Women’s Experiences in the East and Some Comparisons with the West. Paper presented at the ‘International Federation of Scholarly Association of Management’ (IFSAM) 9th World Congress, July 27th-28th, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Scott, P and Foster, D (2007) ‘Deregulation of Employment: the Impact of Re-Organisation of the UK State’ paper presented at the ‘States and Work Relations in the Twentieth Century’ conference, University of Madrid, Spain, November.

Foster, D and Fosh, P (2006) ‘Representing Disabled Employees in the Workplace: The Need for a Multi-Dimensional Approach’ Paper presented at the British Universities Industrial Relations Association Conference, University of Galway, July. (Refereed)

Foster, D and Scott, P (2004) ‘Public service trade unions and devolved government in the UK: a new political contingency?’ Paper presented at the IREC conference Utrecht, August. (Refereed)

Foster, D and Scott, P (2001) “Trade unions, public services and the Euro: Cross-European Perspectives”, paper to the Organisation Studies and Human Resources Seminars, Dept of Business and Management, University of Portsmouth, 6th November 2001. Presented by P. Scott.

Foster, D, Scott, P and Taylor, G (1998) “Public Services and Public Jobs: European Unions and European Monetary Union”, paper presented to the Work, Employment and Society Conference, Cambridge University, 14-16 September. (Refereed)

Foster, D. and Scott, P., (1996) “From `vested interest' to `public service' unionism? Local Government Trade Union Policies towards Contracting Out of Services, 1979-96”. Paper (refereed) presented to the British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA) conference, Bradford, July. (Refereed)

Foster, D. and Taylor, G. (1994) '"Re-inventing the Weal?" Public Service and Trade Unionism in a Changing State', paper presented at the Employment Research Unit Annual Conference - "The Contract State? The Future of Public Management", Cardiff Business School, 27-28 September (refereed)

Book Reviews
Foster, D. (1997), review for “Work, Employment and Society” Vol. 11 no.1, of Ledwith,S and Colgan,F “Women in Organisations: Challenging Gender Politics” Macmillan, 1996.

Grants
2004-2006 – ESRC small grant - Award Reference Number: RES-000-22-0722 for a project entitled “Gender, Disability and Representation in the workplace” (Dr. D. Foster – principal applicant). Examined employee experiences of negotiating workplace adjustments and the representation they received during this process.

1997 a grant for £120,000 (over 3 years) was received from Non-Formula Funding (NFF) sources (awarded to UWE by HEFCE). The money was awarded to the project entitled: ‘A comparative Study of the Implications of the European Monetary Union on Public Services and Public Service Trade Unionism'.

1995-1996 small grant for research with Prof. Paul Hoggett (UWE, Bristol) to investigate ‘quality initiatives’ in the re-structured Social Security Benefits Agency. Grant of £4,000 awarded by the Severnside District Benefits Agency, Bristol.

Activities

Editorial Activities

Foster, D and Scott, P (eds.) (2003) ‘Trade Unions in Europe: Meeting the Challenge.
1997-2000 Editor of ‘Notes and Issues’ for the journal ‘Work, Employment & Society’
Braddon, D and Foster, D. (eds.) (1996) Privatisation: Social Science Themes and Perspectives.

Membership of Professional Organisations and external roles

Member of the British Sociological Association since 1985.
Member of the British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA)
Elected to the Editorial Board of the BSA journal Work, Employment and Society – 1996-2000
Elected Editor of ‘Notes and Issues’, for the journal Work, Employment and Society, January 1997 – 2000
Elected chair of the ‘Work, Employment and Society’ Editorial Search Committee, October 1997
Participant in academic round-table – Gender and pay in the financial services sector enquiry (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2010).