LERA honours for Cardiff postdoctoral fellow

20 April 2020

A postdoctoral researcher from Cardiff Business School has won the Labor and Employment Relations Association’s (LERA) 2020 Thomas A. Kochan and Stephen R. Sleigh Best Dissertation Awards Competition.

Joey Soehardjojo completed his PhD studies at Warwick Business School. He will receive a plaque, one-year complimentary LERA membership and a $1,000 cash prize.

Upon receiving news of his success, Joey offered the following response: “I’m delighted that LERA recognises the importance of understanding the voices of the political economy actors beyond mainstream research areas and conventional approaches. I would like to share this achievement with everyone involved in making my PhD journey meaningful, and I hope I can make their voices heard...”

“I’m indebted to the dedicated and committed thesis supervisors who have offered guidance and support throughout my doctoral studies and thereafter. Equally, my appreciation goes to the research participants across industries and backgrounds, including shop-floor workers, managers, trade union leaders, policymakers, business practitioners, and representatives of NGOs and Think Tanks. Numerous individuals shared their time, views and experiences, contributing to the accumulation of rich data and expanding my understanding.”

“The best dissertation competition allows me to build new research skills and an essential platform to disseminate my research and stimulate discussion,” he added.

Joey’s thesis, titled Knowledge and HRM Practice Transfer in Emerging Economies: The Case of Japanese Joint Ventures in Indonesia, investigates the mechanisms used to transfer dominant management practices in multinational corporations (MNCs) to an emerging market economy context and the response of local actors in managing its own business systems and practices.

His research focuses on the objectives and processes of the MNC’s diffusion of human resource management and industrial relations “best practice” to standardise subsidiaries’ practices, control their management and influence policy developments in the emerging market economies of Southeast Asia.

Shannon Gleeson, chair of the Best Dissertation Awards Committee, said: “On behalf of the committee I’d like to congratulate Joey on this achievement. His transnational research is pioneering in combining the insights of both the International HRM and Industrial Relations literatures in an understudied emerging economy...”

“This study is likely to challenge our existing understanding of ‘Japanization’ and deepens our knowledge of the industrial relations of South and East Asia more broadly.”

Shannon Gleeson Chair of the Best Dissertation Awards Committee

Having completed a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) fellowship and eight months of fieldwork in Japan and Southeast Asia, Joey joined Cardiff Business School in December 2019. He has taken up an Economic and Social Research Council-funded postdoctoral researcher role alongside Professor Rick Delbridge.

Together they will be consolidating Joey’s doctoral and JSPS studies while developing new insights into the impacts of tripartite arrangements among quasi-government agencies, business associations and MNCs at the meso-institutional level.

Reflecting on Joey’s achievements to date and looking ahead to their proposed collaborative research, Professor Delbridge said: “This is a major achievement and I’m delighted for Joey...”

Professor Rick Delbridge Professor of Organizational Analysis

Joey will receive the award at LERA’s 72nd Annual Meeting on Sunday 14 June 2020 in Portland, Oregon. He’s also invited to submit a 25-page summary of his winning thesis for publication in the 2020 LERA Proceedings, which will be published online.

LERA is an American organisation where professionals interested in all aspects of labour and employment relations network to share ideas and learn about new developments, issues, and practices in the field.