Associate Professor Penny Williams

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Director - Centre for Decent Work & Industry

PhD (Mgt) (Queensland University of Technology), Bachelor of Commerce (Griffith University)

Associate Professor Penelope Williams (Penny) is the Director of the Centre for Decent Work and Industry and a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Management. Penny’s research explores technology’s impact on work, workers and workplaces. This encompasses new modes of working, like platform work and flexible/hybrid working, and new technologies to manage work and people at work, such as AI and robots.  Penny is an ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) 2023-2026 recipient, awarded for her research project: “Automated people management: When algorithms manage employees”. She is co-lead of the Human-Robot Workforce Program in the Australian Cobotics Centre where her research helps to understand the human implications when adopting collaborative robots (cobots) in Australian manufacturing. Her industry background as a human resource professional informs her research interests and supports her teaching practice. She is an experienced lecturer, and workshop facilitator with a depth of knowledge in strategic HRM, including using people analytics for workforce planning and HR decision-making. Penny is an advisory board member of the Australian Human Resources Institute’s Research and Future of Work panels, a member of the Association of Industrial Relations Academics Australia and New Zealand, and an Associate Fellow (Indigenous Knowledges)  of the Higher Education Academy (UK).She has been a two-time recipient of the QUT Vice Chancellor’s Performance Award, for excellence in teaching practice, and research engagement.

Additional information

Penny's research has been presented at national and international conferences, been published on industry blogs and magazines, and has informed policy submissions to the Senate Select Committee on the Future of Work and Workers, and the Victorian government Inquiry into the On-Demand Workforce, among others. Recent Projects

  • Automated people management: when algorithms manage employees
  • Working the Gig Economy - the experience of platform workers
  • Australians and the Gig Economy - National Prevalence Survey 2019, 2023
  • Developing digital capabilities in university graduates
  • Developing professional presentation skills in business students www.doctoralteaching.org
  • Flexible Work Arrangements
  • Workshop Facilitation - HR metrics & Workforce Planning
Title
Automated People Management: When algorithms manage employees
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
DE230100950
Start year
2023
Keywords
Title
ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Collaborative Robotics in Advanced Manufacturing
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
IC200100001
Start year
2021
Keywords
  • Mind the (Legal) Gap: The Need for Responsive Regulation of AI-enabled Employee Monitoring in Australia
    MPhil, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Professor Paula McDonald
  • Exploring User Resistance Behaviour in Human Resource Information Systems
    PhD, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Associate Professor Xiaowen Hu
  • Potential Influence of Cobots Intervention on Australian Manufacturing Workforce Diversity
    PhD, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Professor Greg Hearn, Dr Melinda Laundon
  • Effect of collaborative robotic usage on perceived work design characteristics, job satisfaction and turnover intention: A mixed methods study
    PhD, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Professor Greg Hearn
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