With this new Chair, SBE aims to recognize and build research competencies in the field of HRM and the Future of Work. Work is an area of life that affects many of us, at an individual and society level and it is changing rapidly with the continuous advent of new technology, ideas and practices. Specifically, with the changing nature of work - including, but not limited to, the increasing amount of autonomous work structures, the importance of individual initiative, outsourcing and globalization - organizations must overcome challenges and grasp opportunities to attract, retain, monitor, and improve the productivity and well-being of their workforce. Understanding the challenges and opportunities that come with these changes is crucial for the sustainability of work and workers. Given that increasingly more emphasis is placed on the micro processes that drive businesses and economies it is important to reflect this research area with a Chair focusing on these topics.
Maria Tims: "Work is such an essential aspect of life and it is well known that work has a profound influence on mental and physical health. However, for many, the quality of their work remains substandard resulting in mental and physical health issues with high personal and societal costs. I am dedicated to contribute to healthy work for all, now and in the future. And there are many ways to do so: with the redesign/reorganization of work, with personal strategies such as job crafting or executive coaching, or with better monitoring systems that are designed for employee well-being and prevention, rather than control and retroactive.
With my research I aim to generate knowledge, options and solutions for organizations and employees to create a better experience at work through improved work design and proactive, personal work redesign strategies. It is my goal to create of a team of early-career researchers who can advance this research field scientifically and who can become a lively community of experts on the topic of the Future of Work at SBE. Organizations that understand the importance of the way they work and design work, are attractive and competitive organizations who make use of the full potential of their employees."
Maria Tims is an applied psychology scholar who works at the VU since 2013. She received her PhD (Cum Laude) from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her research talent has been recognized with a personal research grant from NWO 'VENI' in 2017. She is a highly cited scholar on the topic of job crafting and work design, with more than 10.000 citations. She is an Associate Editor of Organizational Psychology Review with AI. 91, and served as an Associate editor of the Journal of Vocational Behaviour. Currently, she serves as Director of Doctoral Education at the Amsterdam Business Research Institute of VU Amsterdam.