Julie Davies

What do business school deans do? Insights from a UK study

Purpose – During the last 40 years, the growth and impact of UK business schools have been significant. Relatively few studies have reviewed how business school deans emerge and grow. This paper aims to explore the experiences and psychometric profiles of UK business school leaders to understand their tenures, problems, dilemmas and succession issues.Design/methodology/approach – The study comprised 16 semi‐structured interviews with business school deans and Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) questionnaires completed by deans and aspiring deans (associate deans and heads of department). The study uses the executive life cycle and concepts of social capital as theoretical frameworks to understand the deans role.Findings – The study revealed a pattern of individuals working in their first deanship at their third business school. Their career trajectories highlighted the usefulness of consultancy skills similar to those of a partner in a professional service firm. The importance of the deans role in terms...

Are business school deans doomed? The global financial crisis, Brexit and all that

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on different types of university-based business school dean (BSD) in a context of insecurities within the business school business and more widely with changing business and educational models and disruptions such as the global financial crisis and Brexit. The position of the BSD is contextualised within the industry sector, institutionally, and in relation to individuals’ tenures to make sense of how BSDs are operating on a burning platform. A well-established middle management strategic role framework is applied to the empirical data. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 50 one-to-one interviews were conducted with deans and their colleagues. Deans’ behaviours were analysed according to attention paid to “facilitating”, “synthesizing”, “championing”, and “implementing” strategic activities. Findings – Behaviours from primary professional identities as scholars and educators were identified as prevalent. It is suggested that to achieve greater legitimacy...

Book Review: Defining management: Business schools, consultants, mediaEngwallLarsKippingMatthiasÜsdikenBehlül, Defining management: Business schools, consultants, media, Routledge: New York, 2016. 318 pp. ISBN: 9780415727884 (pbk)

Chayko’s book is not really – as the book back cover would persuade – a groundbreaking study of the field, but rather a quite informative introduction to the field. The author seems to be concerned to offer an overview in a true Weberian style, as much value-free as possible; the strength claimed in the book – that is a perspective covering communication, sociology, psychology and technology studies – turns into a weakness when exploring foundational, ethical and political issues. Many digital media problems can be indeed better explored, analysed and explained just through instruments offered by philosophy, history and economics.

A contribution to SEAM with power analysis and technology impact

Change readiness and cost-benefit analysis at the individual level are not sufficient to understand organizational change because they fall into the rational action theory. While organizational eff...

Deans’ ""boundaried"" career patterns: Ensuring the beat goes on

Business school deans act as boundary spanners in hybrid academic leadership roles They must synchronize university and business school rhythms. How they do so shapes the nature of the role they en...

Book review: Leadership paradoxes: Rethinking leadership for an uncertain worldBoldenRichardWitzelMorgenLinacreNigel (eds), Leadership paradoxes: Rethinking leadership for an uncertain world, Routledge: London; New York, 2016. 174 pp. ISBN: 9781138807129 (paperback)

Grey C, Huault I, Perret V and Taskin L (eds) (2016) Critical Management Studies: Global Voices, Local Accents. London: Routledge. Jones O, Sharifi S and Conway S (2006) Accounting for organization: Round-up the usual suspects. Critical Perspectives on Accounting 17(3): 283–304. Knights D and Willmott H (eds) (2006) Introducing Organizational Behaviour and Management. London: Thompson Learning. Parker M (2010) The sclerosis of criticism: A handbook of critical management studies? Critical Policy Studies 4(3): 297–302.

Book review: Leadership paradoxes: Rethinking leadership for an uncertain world

Grey C, Huault I, Perret V and Taskin L (eds) (2016) Critical Management Studies: Global Voices, Local Accents. London: Routledge. Jones O, Sharifi S and Conway S (2006) Accounting for organization: Round-up the usual suspects. Critical Perspectives on Accounting 17(3): 283–304. Knights D and Willmott H (eds) (2006) Introducing Organizational Behaviour and Management. London: Thompson Learning. Parker M (2010) The sclerosis of criticism: A handbook of critical management studies? Critical Policy Studies 4(3): 297–302.