Associate Professor
Penny Williams
Faculty of Business & Law,
School of Management
Biography
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.Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Personal details
Positions
- Associate Professor
Faculty of Business & Law,
School of Management
Keywords
flexible work, digital economy, platform work, human resource management, algorithmic management, artificial intelligence, strategic HRM, organisational change, decent work
Research field
Strategy, management and organisational behaviour
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- PhD (Mgt) (Queensland University of Technology)
- Bachelor of Commerce (Griffith University)
Professional memberships and associations
- Fellow - Higher Education Academy (HEA)
- Associate Fellow (Indigenous Knowledges) Higher Education Academy
- Member - Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI)
- Member - Association for Industrial Relations Academics Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ)
- Member - Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM)
Teaching
Penny's teaching has comprised unit coordination, lecturing (in-person and online), tutoring and workshop facilitation at under-graduate and post-graduate levels, and the supervision of higher degree research students. Her teaching areas are in Management and Human Resource Management, including strategic HRM. Penny is an experienced presenter and workshop facilitator who has delivered workshops on workforce planning and analytics for government, industry and QUT graduate school of business. Penny developed and delivered a series of video lectures on Professional Presentation skills which have been used to support international students and sessional academics new to Australia. She has also co-created the "Real World HR" podcast series of interviews with HR professionals used to support the learning of under-graduate and post-graduate HRM students at QUT. Teaching Awards include:
- QUT Vice Chancellor's Performance Award 2017
- QUT Sessional Teaching and Reflection Showcase, Grand Finalist 2016
Experience
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
Publications
- McDonald, P., Williams, P., Mayes, R. & Khan, M. (2024). Income generation on care work digital labour platforms. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 62(2), 358–380. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/245398
- Stewart, A. & Williams, P. (2023). Regulating the Fairness of Work Contracts in the Gig Economy. Federal Law Review, 51(4), 466–486. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/245116
- Williams, P., (2022). Organisational culture: Definitions, distinctions and functions. In C. Newton & R. Knight (Eds.), Handbook of Research Methods for Organisational Culture (pp. 5–22). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/232980
- Williams, P., McDonald, P. & Mayes, R. (2022). The Growing 'Gig Economy': Implications for the Health and Safety of Digital Platform Workers. In P. Brough, E. Gardiner & K. Daniels (Eds.), Handbook on Management and Employment Practices (pp. 769–785). Springer. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/233028
- McDonald, P., Williams, P. & Mayes, R. (2021). How professional photographers engage with and resist digital platform work. New Media and Society, 23(6), 1602–1623. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/202987
- McDonald, P., Williams, P. & Mayes, R. (2021). Means of Control in the Organization of Digitally Intermediated Care Work. Work, Employment and Society, 35(5), 872–890. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/209519
- Williams, P., McDonald, P. & Mayes, R. (2021). Recruitment in the gig economy: attraction and selection on digital platforms. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 32(19), 4136–4162. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/209522
- Williams, P., Cathcart, A. & McDonald, P. (2021). Signals of support: flexible work for mutual gain. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 32(3), 738–762. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124720
- Mayes, R., Williams, P. & McDonald, P. (2020). Mums with cameras: Technological change, entrepreneurship and motherhood. Gender, Work and Organization, 27(6), 1468–1484. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/203282
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Penny, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Selected research projects
- 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
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.
Supervision
Current supervisions
- 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
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.