Johanna Macneil

Johanna Macneil is Professor of People, Organisation and Work in the Department of HRM and IR, School of Management, RMIT University, and a formidable academic leader with an international reputation in her field of expertise, industrial relations. Johanna’s research over more than 30 years has been on understanding and improving genuine cooperation at work to achieve gains for workers and employers.  Her current areas of research interest are a) how to effectively and equitably address psychosocial hazards at work; b) the intersection of industrial relations, gender equality and employment, OHS and discrimination law; and c) the role of government tribunals and agencies in ensuring fair, just, equitable work.  She has received competitive funding for her work from many schemes and organisations, including ARC Discovery and ARC Linkage grant funding.

Johanna is co-author of four influential books, including the leading Australian text on employment relations, and of many academic articles. These reflect and inform her applied industrial relations research in the public sector, local government and industrial sectors, on issues including psychosocial risk management, socio-technical systems work redesign, just transition, enterprise bargaining, process improvement, and building safe, decent, cooperative workplaces.  Johanna has worked with unions including the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU), the Australian Workers' Union (AWU), the Australian Services Union (ASU), the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) and Botswana Federation of Public, Private and Parastatal Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU); regulators and tribunals including the Fair Work Commission, Safe Work Australia, the Fair Work Ombudsman, and NSW Industrial Relations Commission; and a wide range of government and business organisations including (from most recent) GSK, Amcor, Tomago Aluminium and Hydro Alulinium, Orora Fibre Packaging (now Opal), Delta Electricity, Loy Yang B, Australia Post, Norske-Skog, Victorian Depts of Education and Treasury & Finance, and Commonwealth Department of Defence.

For three years (2023-35) Johanna was Academic Director, Engagement for Social Impact, an Executive position in the College of Business and Law. This role was created to identify, encourage, accelerate and promote the outstanding potential of the College’s people to make a substantial and positive social impact through their work.   Johanna led the College’s efforts to integrate and accelerate positive social impact, developing and leading the implementation of the College's Social Impact Plan 2024-25, acting as Director for the College's Festival of Social Impact (Sep 2024) and Festival of Technology and Social Impact (2025), and making a significant contribution to the College's success in achieving AACSB accreditation in 2025.  During this time, Johanna also rechartered and was Chair of the Colleges Ngulu Indigenous Advisory Group, initiating in 2022 the highly successful pursuit across the College of Associate Fellow (Indigenous Knowledges) accreditation with the Higher Education Academy, to build broader understanding and commitment to Responsible Practice.  

Johanna joined RMIT University in 2020 as Dean of the School of Management in the College of Business & Law. Prior to this appointment, Johanna worked at The University of Newcastle for 15 years, most recently as Assistant Dean, Learning and Teaching, in the Faculty of Business and Law and Professor of HRM and Employment Relations and as Director, Corporate and Executive Programs. Johanna’s own teaching and program design in HRM and industrial relations and her expertise in the management of learning and teaching have been recognised by senior university appointments and significant national awards, including the highest national award from the Commonwealth Government, the Australian Universities Award for Teaching Excellence (2014). 

Professional activities:

• Member, Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ), 1993 to date
• Member, Academy of Management, 1993 to date
• Member, Scientific Commission, International Labour and Employment Relations Association (ILERA) World Congress, Sydney, 2027
• Chair, College of Business and Law Ngulu Indigenous Advisory Committee, 2023-2025
• College of Business and Law Indigenous Reconciliation Champion, 2025
• PRME Academic leader, 2024-2025
• DVC representative, RMIT Vice-Chancellor's GBV Advisory Group, 2025

Industry experience

Johanna has conducted collaborative applied research with unions, managers and stakeholders in a range of organisations. Some significant projects include:

• launching the Fair, Innovative and Resilient Australian Futures Leadership Forum, with RMIT colleagues Profs Xavier Mulet and Jago Dodson, to support a transdisciplinary approach to implementing the Future Made in Australia Industry Policy; attended by the Federal Minister for Industry and Innovation, Minister for Science (2025 - );
• working with the Fair Work Ombudsman, the CEO of Safe Work Australia, and academic colleagues from QUT, UTS, UniSA, Swinburne and Newcastle on the role of IR frames of reference in determining the nature and effectiveness of delegates' rights at work (2024 - );
• a commissioned evaluation for the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) Victoria, industry partners and the WorkSafe Victoria WorkWell Program on a collaborative project to reduce psychosocial hazards in manufacturing workplaces (2020-2023);
• international, comparative project (US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and NZ) on industrial tribunals and agencies with the US (Cornell), UK and Ireland (Cardiff; QUB, UCD), Canada and NZ, and their different approaches to dispute resolution (2019- );
• annual review on unions and collective bargaining for the Australian Labour and Employment Relations Assoc. (ALERA) Journal of Industrial Relations (2018-2020);
• investigation of the role of industrial relations tribunals in supporting cooperation at work, supported by the FWC, the NSW IR Tribunal and members of the Industrial Relations Society; awarded an ARC Linkage grant and resulting in significant practical and academic outputs (2015-2020);
• working with a steel manufacturer, using annual WGEA reports to explain organisational learning to improve workplace gender equality (2015-16);
• labour relations training for the Botswana Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), following a change in law introducing public sector bargaining (2010-2012); and
• qualitative organisational assessment for management/unions on the employment relations climate at the Hydro aluminium smelter, in the Hunter Valley, NSW (2008-09). 
  
  From 1998 to 2006, Johanna was a Senior Consultant in industrial relations and workplace change for Corrs Schneider (a joint venture between Corrs Chambers Westgarth and US-based consulting firm, Restructuring Associates Inc.). Prior to this, Johanna worked at Deakin University, as Director of the Centre for Change Management (1995-1998), and Monash University, as a Senior Research Fellow in the National Key Centre in Industrial Relations (1992-1995).