Professor Tony Watson

BA (London), (1968), MSc (Loughborough) (1972), PhD (Nottingham) (1976)
E-mail: Tony.Watson@nottingham.ac.uk


In my work here in Nottingham I teach, write about and do research on organisations, managerial work, strategy-making, entrepreneurship, HRM and industrial sociology. The books I have written include The Personnel Managers (1977), Management, Organisation and Employment Strategy (1986), In Search of Management (1994/ 2001), The Emergent Manager (1999), Organising and Managing Work (2002) and Sociology, Work and Industry (5th edition 2008). A theme running through my work is the relationship between the emergent life strategies and identities of organisational members (especially entrepreneurs and strategy-makers) and emergent enterprises. Although I use a variety of different research methods, I make particular use of ethnographic techniques. I am especially enthusiastic about narrative (including film-based) forms of research reporting as means of teaching and providing insights to a range of audiences about the complexities, contradictions, pains and delights of organisational and business life.

Research Interests
Organisation theory and the sociology of work; Managerial, entrepreneurial, strategic and human resourcing behaviour in organisations; Organisational culture, discourse, identities and narratives; Ethnographic research.


Memberships, Directorships, Fellowships & Awards

1991 - Ongoing		Membership of editorial board of "Personnel Review".
1993 - Ongoing		Member of the British Academy of Management
1997 - Ongoing		Membership of editorial board of "Journal of Management Studies".
2000 - Ongoing		Membership of editorial board of "Human Relations".
1969 - Ongoing		Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Devleopment (CPID)