BOIGRAPHY

Alyson House has a PhD in Management from the University of Calgary, holds the CPHR designation, and 25+ years of work experience in academic and industry settings. Her teaching at other Alberta post-secondary institutions spans many domains within HR, while her past research examines employment-related issues, with a particular focus on downsizing and layoffs.

Alyson’s professional experience includes advising organizations through complex workforce and organizational change. Formerly part of the management team of KPMG’s People and Change consulting practice, she has supported many public sector, post-secondary, health care, and energy clients on projects related to organization design, HR transformation, change management, AI adoption, learning/training, and talent management.

Prior to her PhD, she held progressive roles with a global energy company across HR, learning, organizational development, restructuring, technology implementation, and business-facing advisory functions, all of which has shaped her interest in bridging teaching and practice to shape our workforce of the future and address contemporary organizational challenges.

KEY TEACHING AREAS

Introduction to Human Resources
Transition Management
Total Rewards

RESEARCH and SCHOLARLY WORK

House, A. & DeRitt, R-L. (2025). A Review and Synthesis of Downsizing Research: The Dilemma Endures. In R-L. DeWitt & A. House (Eds.), A Concise Guide to Corporate Downsizing: Past, Present, and Future. Edward Elgar.

DeWitt, R-L. & House, A. (Eds.) (2025). Concise Guide to Corporate Downsizing: Past, Present, and Future. Edward Elgar.

Steel, P. & House, A. (2024). Short-term pain for long term gain? A longitudinal meta-analysis of downsizing-financial performance relationships. Front. Behav. Econ. 3:1237750. doi: 10.3389/frbhe.2024.1237750.

House, A., & Steel, P. (2022). Downsizing and Financial Performance: A Multi-level and Longitudinal Meta-Analysis. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2022, No. 1, p. 10166). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.

House, A. (2022). Holding it together while falling apart: Norms of professionalism and employee feigning behaviors. Presentation at European Group for Organization Studies 2022 Annual Colloquium, Vienna, July 7-9, 2022

House, A. (2022). When is good pay bad? High relative pay, declining external conditions, and employment separation. Presentation at Administrative Sciences Association of Canada 2022 Annual Conference, Halifax, June 3-9, 2022

House, A. (2021) Three Perspectives on Good and Bad in the Study of Downsizing (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/113865

House, A. & Sherer, P. (2021) Asymmetric strategic responses: The relative strength of bad over good events in firm contraction/expansion. Presentation at Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting, Toronto (virtual), Sept 18-21.

House, A. (2020) Business-as-usual: The disenfranchised grief of organization-induced loss. Presentation at Administrative Sciences Association of Canada Annual Meeting, virtual, June 12-15. (Winner: best student paper)