Dr Sheree Gregory
Dr. Sheree Gregory is a Lecturer in Human Resources and Management in the School of Business, teaching Managing People at Work, Innovation and Professional Practice, and executive and post-graduate subjects in leadership. She is the recipient for awards for teaching management (individual), best academic paper in entrepreneurship (with co-authors), and international education (with team).
Prior to joining Western Sydney University, Sheree completed an ARC Linkage Project Postdoctoral Research Fellowship about family business succession planning decision-making and gender equality among intergenerational firms across Australia, which involved co-designing the Global Succession Planning Survey translated into 9 languages and involving 56 countries.
Sheree is a joint national convenor of the Work, Labour and Economy thematic group of the Australian Sociological Association. She is joint editor of two monographs on Women and Work (RMIT 2005, 2007) and Editorial Advisory Committee Member of the ‘A-Ranked’ (ABCD list) International Small Business Journal (SAGE). She was Reviews Editor of Media International Australia (SAGE).
Sheree’s current funded research projects focus on diverse women entrepreneurs, the future of work and care, and a care and work White Paper. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on women’s working lives, contemporary issues surrounding Australian households, work and families, women and innovation and entrepreneurship, and Small to Medium Enterprises. She is interested in questions on equality, diversity and inclusion, emergent multi-faceted challenges faced by workers and leaders in the creative industries, higher education sector, private enterprise, and particularly how tensions are managed.
In 2021, Sheree concluded her role as Board Director and Chair of the Crack Theatre Festival – a national theatre festival for emerging artists, held annually in Newcastle, NSW. She served on the Board since 2017 and assisted with successful funding applications and collaborations in the sector. This role complemented her research on work and employment issues in creative industries – Australian theatre and screen, in particular.
In 2019, Sheree was a visiting scholar at the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship at Brown University (USA). In 2016, her WSU Women's Fellowship investigated the barriers to women's employment participation in the cultural industries and gender equality policy and practice in film and television. Sheree was selected as a visiting scholar to the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam in July 2016 for cross-cultural research development around her work on the entrepreneurial urban economy, family business networks, and work/life balance.
As a scholarly academic with a growing public intellectual profile, Sheree is frequently called on for invited keynote addresses in community forums, industry conferences, seminars, and Dean's lectures. Her work is featured in industry magazine and national newspapers in Australia and internationally. She has been an invited reviewer for proposed books in gender, family business and entrepreneurship.
Dr. Gregory aims to improve the working life of employees and managers/leaders by exploring the theoretical and practical implications of notions of 'cultural intelligence', and 'domesticity ideology' in her research around equality, households and workplaces in the 21st century. She is a champion of collaborative social and cultural research for business and has worked with partner organisations such as GM Holden, Pitcher Partners, and the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, among others.
In 2015, Sheree was appointed by the Dean of the School of Business to the Research and Higher Degrees Committee. Sheree has supported students as a mentor and convenor of the HR and Management discipline for The Lucy Mentoring Program in 2016, for third year female high-achieving students, and student and staff collaboration hackathons in 2016 and 2017 with the Institute for Culture and Digital Humanities Research Group, and Academic Program Advisor in 2020 to 2021.
Qualifications
- PhD, 2011, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
- BA (Hons), 2002, Sociology and Anthropology, University of Newcastle, Australia
Research Focus
- Work/family policies and innovative strategies and interventions for transitions around pregnancy, parenthood, work/life interference and flexible work
- Work-based gender inequality and the 'care economy'
- Family business succession planning and entrepreneurship
- Social, Collaborative and Innovation Networks
- Success strategies for social and cultural change in cultural industries
- 'Cultural intelligence' approach applied to gender equality policy initiatives
Awards and Recognition
- 2021: Best Academic Paper, Small Enterprise Assoc. of Australia and NZ conference (with co-authors)
- 2020: Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Awards, Meritorious Service in International Education, School of Business, Western Sydney University (with the team)
- 2015: Recognition of excellence in teaching, School of Management, College of Business, RMIT University (individual award)
Selected Publications
Chikweche, T., Evangelista, A., Cull, M., Evangelista, F., Dadich, A. and Gregory, S. ‘SME sentiments, access to government support, and resilience during a pandemic’, In Adapa, S., McKeown, T., Lazaris, M. & Jurado, T. (Eds) SMEs and Business Uncertainty – Just Surviving or Thriving? Palgrave Macmillan (Forthcoming / In press).
Rodriguez Serna, L., Bowyer, D.M. and Gregory, S 2022, ‘Management control systems. A non-family stakeholder perspective on the critical success factors influencing continuous stakeholder support during businesses succession’, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print, June. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-09-2021-0364
Gregory, S., and Verhoeven, D 2021, ‘Inequality, Invisibility and Inflexibility: Mothers and Carers Navigating Careers in the Australian Screen Industries,’ In Liddy, S., and O’Brien, A. (Eds.) Media Work, Mothers and Motherhood: Negotiating the International Audio-Visual Industry, Chapter 2, Series: Routledge Studies in Media and Cultural Industries. ISBN 978036753600-8.
Gregory, S. 2021, ‘Managing Labour Market Re-entry Following Maternity Leave Among Women in the Australian Higher Education Sector,’ Journal of Sociology, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 577–594.
Nguyen, Dinh Tho. N., Trang, Thi M., and Gregory, S 2020, ‘Positivity and Quality of College Life of Business Students: The Mediating Role of Learning Approaches,’ Studies in Educational Evaluation, vol. 66.
Verhoeven, D, Riakos, M, Gregory, S, Joly, E & McHugh, M 2018, Honey, I hid the kids! Experiences of parents and carers in the Australian Screen Industry (opens in a new window), Raising Films Australia, Sydney.
Gregory, S & Brigden, C 2017, 'Gendered scenes: conceptualising the negotiation of paid work and child care among performers in film, television and theatre production' (opens in a new window), Media International Australia, vol. 163, no.1.
Gregory, S & Brigden, C 2016, 'Conceptualising the negotiation of paid work and childcare among performers in film, television and theatre production', Special Issue: Gendered Labour and Media, Media International Australia, no. 161.
Gregory, S 2016, 'International women's day: equality and work in the screen industry under the microscope', Institute for Culture and Society Blog, 8 March 2016.
Gregory, S 2016, 'Behind the scenes: new research will shine a light on the precarious work/life balancing act in the entertainment industry', Equity Magazine, Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, January 2016.
