Management
Our research and teaching covers a wide range of different aspects of management. These include:- organisational behaviour
- strategy
- human resource management
- entrepreneurship and innovation
Our research expertise is extensive and covers a variety of themes within management:
Organisational Behaviour
Colleagues within the Organisational Behaviour section of the division draw on organisational, sociological and psychological theory to study organisational behaviour and management practice. Several colleagues in this section of the division share a concern with applying concepts of identity, discourse and narrative to issues of organisational and managerial practice and work behaviour. Ongoing research is being conducted on: managerial and entrepreneurial identities; politics and ethics in the workplace; organisational knowing and sense-making; human and organisational issues in supply chain management; technological change in organisations; international management in emerging and developing economies; inter-organisational relationships and organisational embeddedness; entrepreneurial action, learning, culture and history; alternative organisations; and public services management.
Strategy
Research in the area of strategy takes an integrative approach which draws upon a variety of disciplines, including economics, organisation behaviour, management and psychology in the study of how firms exploit the opportunities that their internal and external environments generate. Research into aspects of international business operations forms an important element in the strategy arena. This section of the Division includes within it the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ICCSR) which focuses on research and teaching in CSR.
Human Resource Management
Research in the area of HRM relates to a range of employment relations issues. Significant themes include: workplace equal opportunity practices, new forms of union representation (equality reps, union learning reps); employment relations in small and medium sized enterprises; labour-management partnerships in private and public sectors; the employment relations implications of management buy-outs; and agency workers in the public sector. These themes are both theoretically-informed and empirically rigorous, drawing on either in-depth case-based research or on the quantitative analysis of large-scale survey data.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
In the areas of entrepreneurship and innovation, an early emphasis on research into SME financing has developed into a broader interest in wider aspects of entrepreneurial and innovative activity. This includes studies of serial and habitual entrepreneurs, technology transfer, innovation and new product development, science parks and business incubation. Since the establishment of the University of Nottingham Institute for Enterprise and Innovation (UNIEI) in 2000, a particular focus has been on action research, involving large numbers of entrepreneurs and businesses. This is a rapidly developing area of all business schools' activity and one in which Nottingham University Business School occupies a leading position in the UK, both in terms of its research and entrepreneurship education.
Members of the division are active within several key academic networks including:
- The Academy of Management
- British Academy of Management
- The British Sociological Association
- The European Group for Organisation Studies
- The European Foundation of Management Development
- The Economic and Social Research Council
A number of colleagues are members of the editorial boards of the leading journals in the field, including Human Relations, Journal of Management Studies, Organization and Organization Studies.