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Alan Brown

Professor of Management

Current teaching

• Human Resource Management
• Contemporary Employment Issues
• Supervision of Masters and PhD students

Background

Professor Alan Brown is Foundation Professor of Management at ECU. He has served in several leadership positions including Head of School and Dean of the Faculty of Business and Public Management. He has extensive experience in teaching, including international, and research in management areas and has undertaken consultancy work for a variety of public and private sector clients. Alan has published widely in international journals and presented papers (including keynotes) at national and international conferences primarily in areas of quality management and human resource management.

Alan has been a visiting scholar at Ersamus University (Netherlands), Jvyaskyla University (Finland), Technologico de Monterrey (Mexico) and Hong Kong Baptist University.  

Alan also holds membership on a variety of journal editiorial boards, including the Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research Management and the The TQM Journal.

Alan is a Life Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) and was the President in 2006, he is an Honorary Research Fellow for the Human Resources Institute at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences in Shenyang, China (Appointed January 2006).

Staff qualifications

• PhD WAust
• MCom
• BCom (Hons)

Research

Research interests

• Human resource management
• Quality management
• Small business

Recent research grants

• 2012 - Labour turnover in the fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) mining industry in Australia. Faculty of Business and Law, Strategic Research Grant, $9,000.
• 2005  -  Managerial competencies and training needs in the wine industry. ECU Faculty of Business and Law Strategic Research Grant and Grape and Wine Research Development Corporation. $40,000.

Current research

• Sustainability of business excellence/quality management
• Turnover in fly-in fly-out mining
• Employer of choice

Recent publications

Book chapters

• Brown, A. and Wilkinson, A. (2007) Managing Human Resources for Quality Improvement, in Dale, B (ed), Managing Quality, 5th edition, Oxford: Blackwell.

Refereed journal articles

• Brown, A. (in press). Managing challenges in sustaining business excellence, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management.
• Brown, A. (in press). How do excellent companies stay excellent? Total Quality Management and Business Excellence.
• Susomrith, P. & Brown A. (in press). Motivations for outsourcing HRM in Australia, International Journal of Human Resource Management.
• Brown, A. & Susomrith, P. (2009) Australian Local Government and Quality Motivations and Challenges, Sinergie, 78, Gennaio-Aprile, 115-126.
• Van der Wiele, A., Van Iwaarden, J.D., Brown, A., Steimle, U., and Zink, K.J. (2009) An International Comparison of the Perceptions about the Revised ISO 9000 Quality System Standards, Total Quality Management and Business Excellence, 20, 4, 393-408.
• Charters, S, Clark-Murphy, M., Davis, N., Brown, A., and Walker, B. (2008) An Exploration of Managerial Expertise in the Western Australian Wine Industry, International Journal of Wine Business Research, 20, 2, 138-152.
• Moore, B. and Brown, A. (2006) The Application of TQM: Organic or Mechanistic?, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, 23, 7, 721-742.
• Prajogo, D. and Brown, A. (2006) Approaches to Adopting Quality in SMEs and the Impact on Quality Management Practices and Performance, Total Quality Management and Business Excellence, 17, 5, 555-566.
• Webster, B, Walker, E, and Brown, A. (2005) Australian Small Business Participation in Training Activities, Education and Training, 47, 8/9, 552-561.
• Walker, B. and Brown, A. (2004) What Success Factors are Important for Small Business Owners?, International Small Business Journal, 22, 6, 577-594.
• Prajogo, D. and Brown, A. (2004) The Relationship Between TQM Practices and Quality Performance and the Role of Formal TQM Programs: An Australian Empirical Study, Quality Management Journal, 11, 4, 31-42.
• Huang, X, Soutar, G. and Brown, A. (2004) Measuring New Product Success: An Empirical Investigation of Australian SMEs, Industrial Marketing Management, 33, 2, 117-124.

Conference papers in proceedings

• Brown, A. (2012). Sustaining business excellence: innovation required, Proceedings 6th Middle East Quality Conference, Dubai, January 30-February 2 (Keynote).
• Susomrith, P and Brown, A. (2011). Outsourcing processes in Australia organisations, Proceedings, ANZAM Conference, Wellington, New Zealand, December 6-9.
• Brown, A. (2011). Staying excellent: managing challenges to excellence, Fourteenth Toulon-Verona Conference on Quality in Services, Alicante, Spain, September 1-3 (keynote).
• Brown, A. (2011). Challenges to business excellence some empirical evidence, Fifteenth International Conference on ISO and TQM, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 26-28 July (keynote).
• Devine, J & Brown, A. (2010). Developing management capabilities within micro businesses: who supports the micro manager? Proceedings, ANZAM Conference, Adelaide, December 8-10.
• Charters, S., Clark-Murphy, M., Brown, A. & Walker, E.(2010). Marketing perspectives within the Western Australian wine industry. 5th International Conference of the Academy of Wine Business Research, Auckland: AWBR.
• Brown, A. (2010). Organisational and managerial impediments to quality, Fourteenth International Conference on ISO 9000 and tQM, Scranton, USA, April 5-7 (keynote).
• Clark, K. and Brown, A. (2009) Leading clinicians to maximise performance, Proceedings 1^st Annual Conference on e-Health, Dubai, April 8-9.
• Brown, A. (2008) Quality: From Where to Where? Paper presented at the Second Middle East Quality Conference, Dubai, April 6-9.
• Brown, A., Davis, N., Steve Charters, S., Clark-Murphy, M. & and Walker, E. A. (2007). Challenges for improving management skills through training in a diverse industry: the Australian wine industry EURAM 2007 16th -19th May. Paris.
• Brown, A, Walker, E., Charters, S., Clark-Murphy, M., Davis, N. (2007) Small Australian wineries: surviving or thriving? Proceedings 21st ANZAM Conference, Sydney, December 4-7.
• Richardson, N., Hocking, J. and Brown, A. (2006) Work Intensification and Public School Teachers in Australia: Physical and Psychological Dimensions, Proceedings ACREW/KCL Conference (Socially responsive, socially responsible approaches to employment and work), Prato, Italy, July 1-4.
• Walker, E. A., Charters, S., Brown, A. Clark-Murphy, M., and Davis, N. (2006) Managerial Competencies in the Australian Wine Industry, Proceedings 51st ICSB World Conference, Melbourne, June 18-21.
• Brown, A (2004) Developments in Quality Management in Higher Education in Australia, Proceedings 7th Toulon-Verona Conference on Quality, Toulon, September 2-3.
• Brown, A. (2004) Quality and Good Practice HR, Keynote Paper, Proceedings, 9th International Conference on ISO 9000 and TQM, Bangkok, April 5-7.
• Viriyakul, P. and Brown, A. (2004) The Adoption of Quality Practices in Small and Medium Manufacturing Enterprises in Thailand, Proceedings, 9th International Conference on ISO 9000 and TQM, Bangkok, April 5-7.