Keele Management School

I am a lecturer in HRM and currently the undergraduate course director for HRM at KMS. I joined Keele University in 2009, having previously worked for a number of years as a senior lecturer in HRM, a postgraduate course director for HRM, an associate lecturer and a graduate teaching assistant in HRM in British universities.  

I have a PhD in HRM and industrial relations from Keele University. Prior to this, I gained an undergraduate degree (BA-Hons) and four postgraduate degrees (MA, MRes, PgC, MSc) from various British universities, including UMIST and Keele University. I am a Chartered member of the CIPD, a Fellow member of the HEA and a member of the BPS (Level A & B). I am also a member of the Academy of Management and the British University Industrial Relations Association.   

I have taught HRM to undergraduate and postgraduate students and have supervised a range of student research from undergraduate to postgraduate level. I have acted as an external examiner for a number of British Universities and as a reviewer for a series of international journals and textbooks. My principal research interests lie in the labour process of front-line employment, with particular reference to the impact of managerial control on work organisation, HRM and international HRM, gender and the student psychological contract.

My research interests lie in four areas. 

HRM and experience of front-line work: work organisation and management control in contact and call centres; work organisation and management style in small-to-medium size enterprises; emotion management in contact and call centres; high commitment management and performance management in customer service work. 

International human resource management: diffusion of employment and management practices in multinational enterprises; influence of institutional and contingency factors on the management and employment of customer service work in organisations of different national origin. 

Gender equality: gender segregation and pay equality; government and enterprise level policy impact on pay and career development; the sexual division of labour and work-life balance. 

Student psychological contract: student perceptions of the psychological contract; formation and experience of the student psychological contract; ethics and psychological contract breach and violation.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles 

Koskina, A. (2014). ‘What does the student psychological contract mean? Evidence from a UKbusiness school’. Studies in Higher Education, 39(2). (DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2011.618945). 

Koskina, A. (2012). ‘Control and social relations in a small contact-centre’. International Journal of Work Innovation, 1(1): pp.24-41. 

Koskina, A. and Keithley, D. (2010). ‘Emotion in a call centre SME: A case study of positive emotion management’.  European Management Journal, 28(3): pp.208-219. 

Koskina, A. (2009). ‘Career development and gender pay disparities in state employment in Greece’. Gender, Work and Organization, 16(5): pp.600-620. 

Koskina, A. (2008). ‘The pros and cons of career development in the Greek public sector’. Personnel Review, 37(3): pp.264-279. 

Book Chapters 

Koskina, A. (2006). ‘How Taylorised is call centre work? The sphere of customer practice in Greece’ in J. Burgess and J. Connell (ed.) Developments in the Call Centre Industry: Analysis, Policy and Challenges, London: Taylor and Francis, pp.170-188. 

Book Reviews 

Koskina, A. (2011). Review of, ‘Service Work and Critical Perspectives’, Personnel Review, 40(2): p.175. 

Koskina, A. (2004). Review of, ‘Call Centres and Human Resource Management: A Cross – National Perspective’, British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA) Newsletter, (No. 47): pp. 9-11. 

Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers 

Koskina, A. ‘Social relations and control on the shop floor: The case of a Greek contact centre’, Paper presented at the 7^th International Critical Management Studies Conference, Naples, Italy, 11-13 July 2011. 

Koskina, A. (with Rizk, R. / Durham University). ‘Ethics in Higher Education: The psychological contract of UK students’, Paper presented at the 7^th International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, Durham, UK, 3-5 September 2008.    

Koskina, A. (with Keithley, D. / University of Sunderland). ‘Emotional labour in a Greek SME’, Paper presented at the 4^th International Conference on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Athens, Greece, 6-9 August 2007. 

Koskina, A. (with Thornley, C. / Keele University). ‘Copping out or coping? An exploration of spill over and work-life balance’, paper presented at the 24^th International Labour Process Conference, London, England, 10-12 April 2006.   

Koskina, A. ‘Cultivate your ‘smile’ over the phone? Attitudes, manner and behaviour of call centre workers’, paper presented at the 1^st Annual International Conference on Organisations, Occupations and Self, London, England, 23 September 2005. 

Koskina, A. ‘Equal pay and equal opportunities in the Greek public sector: is there a hidden agenda?’ paper presented at the Gender, Work & Organisation: 4^th International Interdisciplinary Conference, Keele, England, 11-15 June 2005. 

Koskina, A. ‘Smiling down the phone: reflections on emotional labour in Greece’, paper presented at the International Conference of Emotion and Interpersonal Skills at Work, Thessaloniki, Greece, 03-04 June 2005.    

Koskina, A. ‘Converging divergences of call centre management in Greece’, paper presented at the 23^rd International Labour Process Conference,Glasgow,Scotland, 21-23 March 2005.     

Other Conference and Workshop Papers 

Koskina, A. ‘An integrated approach to analyse call centre employment in an international context’, paper presented at the Postgraduate Research Symposium, Keele Management Centre, Keele, England, 13 May 2009. 

Koskina, A. ‘The realms of the masculine – feminine pay ratio in Greece’, paper presented at the International Working Lives Conference, Bristol, England, 23-26 September 2005.   

Koskina, A. ‘The paradox of the call centre diffusion thesis’, paper presented at the Postgraduate Research Symposium, Keele Management Centre,Keele,England, 15 June 2005. 

Koskina, A. ‘Converging divergences of management and employment practices in customer services in Greece’, paper presented at the Doctoral Workshop,Keele,England, 17 November 2004.   

Koskina, A. (2003), ‘Issues and barriers in conducting industrial relations research in Greece’, paper presented at the International Working Lives Conference, Uddevalla, Sweden, 09-11 October 2003.   

Koskina, A. ‘Control, skills and well-being in call centres’, paper presented at the Doctoral Workshop, Keele, England, 19 November 2003.