Towards Sustainable Work & Employment: Navigating the Paradoxes of Job Deconstruction

Furthermore, employees’ current skills are at risk of becoming redundant, as the pace of change in skills means that many employees will require significant reskilling in the coming decade, creating further uncertainty for employees. These and other challenges raise important questions around sustainable work and employment. In this lecture, Prof Collings will consider the example of job deconstruction as a growing trend within organisations and explore the paradoxes it creates for sustainable work and employment. He will also offer some suggestions for managing these paradoxes and developing more sustainable employment for individuals and organisations alike.

About Prof David Collings

David Collings was appointed to the Chair of Sustainable Business at Trinity Business School in 2023. He previously held faculty positions at Dublin City University, the University of Sheffield and University of Galway and visiting positions at King’s College London, Nanyang Business School in Singapore and Cornell University as a Fulbright Scholar.

David is an elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. He a former Chair of the HR Division of the Academy of Management. He is a leading international expert on talent management, global mobility and sustainable work. His work has been published in leading international outlets including Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Management and Personnel Psychology, practitioner outlets such as Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review and he has edited 12 books including the Oxford Handbook of Talent Management. He is an Associate Editor at the Journal of Management and Academy of Management Perspectives and former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of World Business, Human Resource Management Journal, and the Irish Journal of Management. He sits or has sat on the editorial boards of multiple journals including Academy of Management Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management and Journal of Management Studies

About Inaugural Lectures

It is the tradition in that newly appointed Professors in Trinity are invited to give an Inaugural Lecture. The lecture represents the official recognition of their appointment to Professor and the lecture itself provides an opportunity to showcase their achievements in research, innovation, engagement and teaching activities before an audience of members of the University community, invited stakeholders and the general public. An inaugural lecture is a significant event in an academic staff member’s career.