Graduated: 1999
Thesis: The effectiveness of outcome goals, learning goals, and self-talk training in improving an individual's team-playing behavior
Research areas: Human Resource Management; Labour Relations; setting goals and training effectiveness; management and leadership development
Now: Professor of Labour Relations and Human Resources with Memorial University
Dr. Travor Brown says that his experience working as a swim coach is part of what sparked an interest in training. His work in industry also played a role: "I saw both poor training interventions as well as the need to show that training was effective and worked.”
Brown’s doctoral studies came after several years of industry practice in the telecommunications and manufacturing sectors. His academic career, too, has combined practice with traditional academic and administrative appointments. He has served as Director of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Master of Employment Relations Program, Associate Dean Research and PhD/MSc Director, and, since 2018, has been appointed to the Newfoundland and Labrador roster of arbitrators. Brown remains active in the practitioner community and is well known for his “ability to engage both practitioner and academic audiences and to show the ‘real world’ implications of his research.”
Brown’s research encompasses a broad range of topics, including human resources management and labour relations, entrepreneurship, management education and organizational behaviour and psychology.
Selected publications:
- Brown, T. C., O'Kane, P., Mazumdar, B., & McCracken, M. (2019). Performance management: A scoping review of the literature and an agenda for future research. Human Resource Development Review, 18(1), 47–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534484318798533
- Brown, T.C, & Latham, G.P. (2018). Maintaining Relevance and Rigour: How We Bridge the Practitioner-Scholar Divide within Human Resources Development. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 29 (2), 99-105.
- McCracken, M., O’Kane, P., Brown, T.C., & McCrory, M. (2017). Human Resource Business Partner Lifecycle Model: Exploring how the Relationship Between HRBPs and their Line Manager Partners Evolves, Human Resource Management Journal, 27 (1), 58–74.
- Brown, T., Warren, A. M., & Khattar, V. (2016). The Effects of Different Behavioral Goals on Transfer from a Management Development Program. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 27 (3), 349–372.
- Brown, T. & Hanlon, D. (2016). Behavioural Criteria for Grounding Entrepreneurship Education and Training Programs: A Validation Study. Journal of Small Business Management, 54 (2), 399–419.
With fellow alumnus Bob Hebdon (CIRHR PhD 1992), Brown authored the textbook, Industrial relations in Canada. The book’s new, 4th edition is also coauthored with Scott Walsworth (CIRHR PhD 2006).
- Hebdon R., Brown, T.C. & Walsworth, S. (2020). Industrial Relations in Canada, 4th edition. Toronto: Nelson
“For me the best part was the overall environment,” Brown says of his time at the Centre “The supportive faculty, staff, and fellow students, that really stands out for me. It was an environment where I felt everyone wanted me to succeed and would provide guidance along the way to make that happen.”
Brown completed his undergraduate studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and first came to the Centre for his MIR. Brown is a Professor of Labour Relations and Human Resources with Memorial University, an Associate Editor for Human Resource Development Quarterly, and a former President of ASAC (the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada). He has also taught at the University of Toronto and the University of Ulster.