Conferences & presentations
What we have been up to lately
People Management in Education, Ghent, Belgium
18 November 2025
Sandra, Eva and another colleague travelled to Ghent, Belgium for this year’s People Management in Education conference. Here, Sandra presented the design of her third study which focuses on how perceptions of people management are shaped as too little, optimal or too much and the role expectations regarding people management play in this.
It was a great conference with insightful and constructive feedback!
European Group of Public Administration (EGPA) Conference in Glasgow, Scotland
27 – 29 August 2025
Our team attended the EGPA conference in Glasgow this year. Here, Roos presented the third paper of her dissertation, applying the Goldilocks principle (not too little, not too much, but just right) to the relationship between people management and outcomes.
Julia presented her and Sandra’s design for the third paper of her dissertation. A study on the (un)met support expectations that shape perceptions of people management as too little, optimal or too much in schools.
It was an inspiring and fruitful conference, where we received plenty of valuable feedback.
Keynote on ‘Too Much of a Good Thing’ at Talent Management Workshop
2 October 2025
On 2 October 2025, Eva Knies delivered a keynote at the 14th EIASM Network Workshop on Talent Management, hosted by Fontys.
Speaking in a historic former Philips building in Eindhoven, she brought together the various sub-studies from the research project and challenged the common assumption that more support is always better. Her keynote showed the importance of organizations optimizing (rather than maximizing) people management support to foster both performance and well-being.
A fitting location, as Philips was once known for its extensive employee care – from housing and healthcare to company-organized holidays. So much care, in fact, that some employees felt it may have been… too much of a good thing.
Work and Organizational Psychology conference (WAOP), Utrecht, The Netherlands
29 November 2024
We don’t always have to travel far for an inspiring conference!
Roos and Maria Peeters visited the WAOP conference again. This year it was in our home city, Utrecht. This time, Roos presented her full paper on the interviews with line managers and nurses in hospitals. It was an inspiring day!
Dutch HRM conference
6 – 8 November 2024
Roos and Sandra participated in the Dutch HRM conference this year, which was held in Rotterdam. On Wednesday they started off with a PhD consortium. Here they attended an interesting keynote which touched not only upon the speaker’s research but also their journey as a PhD. Afterwards we split up into small groups for a feedback session with peers and a professor. Here we presented our research and got valuable feedback from the others in our group.
In the afternoon the conference itself started. During the course of the conference Roos presented the results and implications of her qualitative study. Sandra presented her quantitative paper up to the method section.
It was an insightful few days where we received plenty of constructive input for our papers!
European Group of Public Administration (EGPA) Conference in Athens, Greece
4 – 6 September 2024
We just returned from sunny Athens after an inspiring and productive conference! We participated in the Study Group on Public Personnel Policies.
Roos presented her qualitative paper, co-authored with Eva Knies, Jasmijn van Harten and Maria Peeters, based on 55 in-depth interviews from which 6 manifestations of the dark side of people management were distilled. She introduced us to overly enthusiastic, clumsy, etc. people management.
Sandra shared the setup of her quantitative study, co-authored with Eva Knies, Julia Penning de Vries and Toon Taris, on the nonlinear relationships between people management and employee wellbeing and performance. Stay tuned to find out if the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
We both received great feedback that will help take our research to the next level!
Our own conference! Utrecht, The Netherlands
8-9 February 2024
We are honored to have our esteemed advisory board consisting of (international) academic colleagues and public sector professionals join us as guests! We invited the advisory board of the research project to join us for a small conference on the topic of our research.
Eva started off our first morning by introducing the project. Afterwards Roos presented the research design and some preliminary results of her interview study, and Sandra presented the outline of her PhD. Together they presented the systematic literature review which included a first look at the results. The round off the day, Liesbeth van Rensen held a session on research and practice in healthcare, and Bas de Wit presented on research and practice in education.
The second day the other members of our advisory board shared some of their knowledge. David Giauque presented on the dark side of new ways of working and Julian Gould-Williams shared his research on whether high performance and high commitment HRM systems are the same. Afterwards we split into different groups for parallel sessions. Jessica Sowa shared her knowledge and experience with interdisciplinary publishing, and Christian Jacobson took us along on how to manage (larger) research projects.
The discussions were inspiring, offering new insights into the unintended effects of well-intended people management on performance and well-being. The advisory board’s presence added great value, and their constructive feedback will undoubtedly strengthen our ongoing project!
People Management in Education, Utrecht, The Netherlands
16 November 2023
Sandra participated in the People Management in Education conference held in Utrecht, her hometown. There, she presented her research proposal for her PhD project titled ‘When well-intended people management support in secondary schools becomes too much of a good thing.’ In addition, witnessing colleagues’ high-quality research on People Management in Education was truly inspiring.
Interested in Sandra’s work? Contact her!
Work and Organizational Psychology conference (WAOP), Groningen, The Netherlands
24 November 2023
Roos visited Groningen alongside Maria Peeters for the WAOP conference. She had the privilege of presenting the outlines of her PhD research project and the research design for the first empirical study, which is a qualitative study. This study will involve conducting interviews with both line managers and nurses in Dutch hospitals to explore their experiences with people management.
Want to know more about this study? Contact Roos
European Group of Public Administration (EGPA) Conference in Zagreb, Croatia
6 – 8 September 2023
We have had the privilege of participating in the EGPA conference in Zagreb. It was an inspiring event filled with knowledge-sharing and networking in a great environment. We participated in the Study Group on Public Personnel Policies.
Roos and Sandra presented the research design of their systematic literature review.
Want to know more about this study? Contact us!
The Dark Side of People Management 