Learn how to tackle skills gaps in your organisation

The OU has released a new limited podcast series, in partnership with the British Chambers of Commerce, discussing the ongoing skills crisis in the UK.

According to last year’s OU Business Barometer report, which looks at the skills landscape and its impact on employers across the UK, three in four employers struggle to access the skills they need. These skills shortages are having a huge impact on organisations, affecting their ability to recruit, grow, innovate and succeed.

Hosted by Baroness Martha Lane Fox CBE, the five podcast episodes see business leaders from across the four nations discussing issues arising out of the Business Barometer findings and what employers can and are doing to address skills gaps. Each features a guest speaker and covers a different area of skills development.

Keep an eye out for the 2024 edition of the Business Barometer report this June.

Westminster launch for largest-ever UK report into online violence against women

The full report of the largest-ever UK study into online violence against women and girls, designed and led by Professor of Law Olga Jurasz, was launched and discussed at the Houses of Parliament.

The launch on Tuesday 19 March was in partnership with White Ribbon, a charity dedicated to ending men’s violence against women and girls. It was attended by politicians including Alex Davies-Jones MP, Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding (pictured right, with Olga), as well as media, charities, industry regulators and policy makers.

According to the ‘Online Violence Against Women: A Four Nations Study’ report, more than one in seven women across all four nations (15%) have experienced online violence but young women and non-heterosexual women are bearing the brunt of online violence in the UK.

Olga from our sister Law School will further explore the uneasy relationship between violence, law, and women’s lives in her Inaugural Lecture, ‘Violence, women and the law: an unfinished story’, on Thursday 9 May (details on how to register via Events section). Find out more about the themes she will tackle in her lecture in this short trailer video.

Learning at Work Week (13 – 19 May)

This year’s Learning at Work Week will focus on the theme of ‘Learning Power’ and explore how lifelong learning gives us the power to achieve our individual, team and organisational goals. The annual initiative is designed to promote the benefits of continual learning and development.

Get involved by heading to our dedicated Learning at Work Week 2024 page  where you will find a range of free resources and activities aligned to this year’s three key strands: power to grow, power to connect and power to engage - all designed for you and your colleagues to dip in and out of at any time.

You can also find more free content on OpenLearn, the OU’s award-winning learning platform and partner of Learning at Work Week, where you can sign-up for exclusive access to courses that will support you and your employees at work (teamwork, communication, personal development) and beyond (finance, retirement planning, language learning).

Does the loss of shared spaces affect police wellbeing?

Dr Sean Bell from our Department for Policing is investigating the impact of the loss of canteens and shared spaces on police wellbeing.

He said: “The project aims to get a sense of the role of canteens and shared rest spaces in policing and police wellbeing, particularly in the context of budget cuts and changes to the police estate over the last 10-15 years. We know that these spaces are important to officers who encounter traumatic events, often on a daily basis, and who find themselves unable to speak openly to family and friends about their experiences. In addition, we want to examine how such informal meetings are used as a vehicle for knowledge exchange among peers.”

The first phase consists of a survey distributed by respective federations to their members, followed by a second phase which will include interviews and observations.

Sean (pictured) is conducting this research with Dr Carina O’Riley (University of Lincoln) and Nick Kealey (Liverpool John Moores University).

New project exploring women managers’ careers in Eastern Europe

An OUBS academic has won funding to research women managers’ career experiences in former Eastern Bloc countries. This follows the retraditionalisation of women’s social roles in the likes of Hungary and Poland where women’s careers have also been impacted by the pandemic and the widespread introduction of remote working.

Dr Alex Bristow, Senior Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour, will lead an international team of seven researchers based in Austria, Poland, Hungary and the UK as principal investigator for ‘Post-pandemic experiences of women’s careers in post-socialist illiberal contexts’.

She is co-Director of our Research into Employment, Empowerment and Futures (REEF) academic centre of excellence and this two-year project, which starts in June, is part of REEF’s ‘Doing careers differently’ theme.

SHORT COURSE SPOTLIGHT: COACHING

Whether you are new to coaching or whether you already have experience, these two courses will support those who are interested in developing people, their wellbeing, and the organisations they work in. Students will develop and enhance their skills in active listening, questioning and paraphrasing, and fostering rapport, which are all vital when it comes to coaching.

Take a look at BGXS001 | Introduction to Workplace Coaching (open.ac.uk) and BGXC001 | Developing a Coaching Culture | Open University Course to see which is right for you.

You may also be interested in our event Advice Traps: How to avoid them & produce more energy for change on Wednesday 15 May (further details via the Events section) which will explore the differences between advice-giving and coaching, and will be of interest to those who are in, or want to get into, a coaching or mentoring role.

Sir David part of University UK’s ‘100 Faces campaign’

An MBA alumnus and OU honorary graduate, Sir David Harrison, is part of a new campaign led by Universities UK which promotes 100 faces who were the first in their family to attend higher education.

UUK’s ‘100 Faces campaign’ aims to champion and celebrate the positive impact of ‘first-in-the-family’ graduates on the UK – including England footballer Beth Mead, Lord David Blunkett, Nobel Prize winner Sir Chris Pissarides and actor Amit Shah.

After undertaking several sales roles, Sir David sensed there was a better way to deliver financial advice, which he attributes mainly to his MBA studies with the OU. He has been a consistent champion of education and social mobility through his Harrison Foundation and, in 2017, set up the first Harrison Centre for Social Mobility which works with partners across the UK and overseas to support young, disadvantaged people with the aim of helping them into work.

With Sir David’s generous support, the OU also established the True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance (PUFin). This works to improve the public understanding of personal finance through its research and the delivery of free modules providing individuals with the tools to make sound financial decisions.

Virtual launch of the Black Leadership and Empowerment Programme (BLEP)

Thursday 2 May, 11:00 – 12:30

The OU’s new Black Leadership and Empowerment Programme (BLEP) has been developed to support the Black business and community leaders of the future. This webinar will help you learn more about BLEP and hear what motivated several stakeholders to get involved.

Violence, women and the law: an unfinished story

Thursday 9 May, 13:00 – 14:00

Olga Jurasz, Professor of Law in the OU’s Faculty of Business and Law, will explore the uneasy relationship between violence, law, and women’s lives in this online and in-person event. lecture. Olga designed and led the largest-ever UK study into online violence against women and girls (OVAWG) which has been launched and discussed at the Houses of Parliament.

Early pregnancy endings and the workplace knowledge exchange

Monday 13 May, 11:00 – 12:30

This knowledge exchange event will summarise key findings from the Early Pregnancy Endings and the Workplace research project, and best practice principles for organisational support for staff who are affected by early pregnancy endings.

Attendees will be able to ask the research team questions and will also be given the opportunity to read and comment on the research report before it is finalised.

This project is part of the OU’s Open Societal Challenges (OSC) programme which aims to tackle some of society’s most important challenges through impact-driven research, focusing on three themes - Tackling Inequalities; Living Well; and Sustainability.

Advice Traps: How to avoid them & produce more energy for change

Wednesday 15 May, 11:00 – 12:00

This event will explore the sometimes stark but often subtle differences between advice-giving and taking a non-directive coaching approach. However well-intentioned your advice may be, your clients or colleagues often already know what they ‘should’ do. The real issue is about what is stopping them from doing what they know they should do. This free webinar will be of interest to anyone who is curious about the value of a coaching approach, and the mindset and the skills that lie behind it. Presented by Phil Hayes and Hugh Reynolds of leading coaching organisations, Management Futures.

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia: Transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) lives and TGNC research in academia

Monday 20 May, 11:00 – 12:30

Professor of Sociology Alison Phipps from the University of Newcastle, who is a political sociologist and scholar of gender, will be in conversation with OUBS academic Saoirse O’Shea about Transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) lives and TGNC research in UK academia, chaired by Jo Brewis.

CVSL Conference 2024 – Voluntary Sector Collaborations: Cohesive or Coercive Influences on Leadership Strategy

Wednesday 22 May, 09:00 – 16:30

This year’s annual conference from our Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership (CVSL) is centred around the concept of collaboration, building on last year’s one which focused on the resilience of the voluntary sector within the context of the economic crisis.

Future-proof your social media marketing

Tuesday 21 May, 13:00 – 14:00

Digital continues to evolve at pace and ‘business as usual’ sales and marketing techniques simply do not work anymore. People’s knowledge and needs have changed and will continue to morph as greater pressures are placed upon the world economically, environmentally, and socially.

Presented by Grant Leboff, an international speaker, expert, consultant and author, this session will take a focused look at how the best strategies must evolve to meet the future of tech, digital and consumer demands.

Leadership essentials for an unknown future

In this session, Professor Steve Wyatt explored the skills and capabilities required for highly effective leadership in a dynamic and changing world.