Lancaster University Management School’s Professor Paul Sparrow formally retires this month after more than 16 years at Lancaster.

Paul, a Professor of International Human Resource Management, is a key member of LUMS’ Organisation, Work and Technology department whose expertise has influenced the HR profession around the world.

Prof Sparrow started his career in industry and admits he returned to academia ‘almost by accident’, after leaving his role in consulting. He came to Lancaster from Manchester Business School in 2006, becoming Director of LUMS’ newly formed Centre for Performance-led HR. As an academic focused on HR strategy, the challenge of developing the Centre carried much appeal – so much so, he ran it for a decade.

The Centre for Performance-led HR brought world-class academics together with top HR directors from major corporations and the public sector, to overcome the most pressing issues facing senior HR specialists. Through the Centre’s deep and long-term work with organisations, a library of the latest research and policy papers was built up and made available, helping HR professionals get a full and thorough understanding of the field.

The Centre successfully attracted more than £2million in funding over a ten-year period and in addition to working with around 15 large organisations, established strong institutional links with the likes of the Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD). Joint research with the CIPD allowed academics within the Centre to ensure the very latest knowledge and understanding of HR was accessible to, and benefiting, the whole profession.

“The Centre was born during a positive time for business, before the financial crisis hit and at a time when HR management was open to strategic thinking”, Professor Sparrow explained. “The fact that we were able to ‘learn as we go’, co-producing knowledge shoulder to shoulder with organisations, was novel and appealed to big businesses.

“I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been involved. The Centre drew me to Lancaster but the institution - LUMS as a workplace - was the ideal context for it. I was given the freedom and autonomy to allow the biggest challenges and burning issues impacting business to steer our research, which in turn allowed us to make the biggest impact.”

Alongside colleagues, Prof Sparrow established the Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance in 2014. The academic territory it covered was a direct result of the agenda identified by the Centre.

In 2016, just weeks before semi-retiring, Prof Sparrow was awarded the Michael Losey Lifetime Research Impact award by the USA’s Society for HRM for research contributions that impact the HR management field - the first non-American to receive the prestigious prize.

LUMS’ Dean, Prof Angus Laing, said: “Paul has made an outstanding contribution to LUMS and the global HR community. He epitomises what makes LUMS such a significant management school, namely the integration of intellectual excellence and engagement with practice. The challenges facing society today require such collaboration, the co-production of ideas and solutions, which Paul has pursued and contributed to embedding in the ethos of LUMS.”