Dr Olga Andrianova

Professional biography

Olga Andrianova is an established expert in sustainable work practices, organisational responses to climate change, and employee engagement in corporate sustainability. She has extensive experience in workplace learning, organisational change, and social responsibility across research, policy, teaching, and industry. Since 2023, she has been a Lecturer in Management at the Open University (OU) teaching on MSc HRM and CMDA programmes.

Olga leads the Common Good HRM Research Cluster as subcluster under REEF, which connects scolars and practictioners who examine human resource management (HRM) through the lens of societal well-being, social justice, and sustainability. Her research explores how low-tier leaders, particularly front-line managers (FLMs), navigate sustainability challenges, highlighting power dynamics, resource inequalities, and employee voice in shaping workplace transitions toward environmental responsibility. She is particularly interested in how HRM systems can facilitate or constrain collective action for sustainability and equity.

Previously, Olga held academic positions at the University of Exeter Business School, including Industrial Impact Fellow Lecturer in Science, Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (SITE) at the Penryn Campus and Lecturer in Management at the Exeter Campus.

Before joining academia, Olga worked in private sector with international framework (Henkel CEE GmbH in Vienna (Austria), Beiersdorf AG in Hamburg (Germany) and with international organisations such as UNIDO in Vienna (Austria), OSCE Secretariat in Vienna (Austria), UNDP Belarus in Minsk (Belarus). 

Olga completed her PhD in the Department of Public Leadership and Social Enterprise (PulSe) at the Open University, supervised by Dr Anja Schaefer and Dr Owain Smolovic Jones. Olga also holds Masters in Research in Management and Business, Msc in HRM and MBA from the Open University, Degree in International Management form University of Hamburg (Germany). Moreover, Olga has a teaching qualification from the Academy of Education Stanislaw Staszyc (Poland) and a Trainer Certificate in Business from ABELARD Seminar centre (Austria).

Olga is a Senior Fellow of Higher Education Association (SFHEA).

https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5806-1422

Research interests

Olga's research focuses on critical approaches to management, work and organisation, and on key issues faced by people in organisations, such as change, knowledge, learning, identity and new societal changes and sustainability. Her PhD research project has investigated how front-line managers of chemical plants in Belarus engage their staff with environmental issues and facilitate learning for corporate greening in their organisations. Using qualitative methods, the study extends the existing literature on practices for pro-environmental employee engagement used by front-line managers to facilitate organisational learning towards more ‘green’ ways of working. Her other research has focused on the role of entrepreneurs, owners of social enterprises in Belarus. The research explored the perceptions of SMEs towards environmental responsibility and introduced evidence of an integrated enterprise policy approach observed in Belarus, drawing on a range of theoretical concepts in the fields of organisational studies.

Olga is a contributor to the British Academy of Management Specialised Conference on Responsible Leadership, leading the session on ‘Sustainability Education’ and PhD Symposium.

Olga welcomes interest from potential PhD students in her areas of research.

Teaching interests

Olga currently a member of the module team for MSc HRM Dissertation and Workbase learning for CMDA. She also leads the development of the OU’s new undergraduate core modules 

Impact and engagement

Olga is currently working in close collaboration with non-profit organisations in Somerset, and am interested in new ways to co-produce research with policy and practice partners. 

Recent public and practitioner engagement work includes:

Blog on the green gaming: