David Vickers
PhD Management Learning, 2005
Employer: Lancashire Business School
I was a Human Resources (HR) manager for 16 years in a range of large multinationals in the electronics and chemicals sectors. I completed the MA in Management Learning at Lancaster in 1997 as a part-time student.
Many of my MA cohort left their employers and moved to others or became consultants. I stayed with ICI as I was already able to challenge and change the way things were done and was strongly encouraged to continue with such behaviours. At the same time I decided to continue my studies at Lancaster as a part-time PhD student in Management Learning.
I completed my PhD in 2005. My thesis was entitled “A Study of Burnsland Strategic Organisational Change and Power during an Acquisition”. I used actor-network theory and communities of practice theory to analyse my data taken from an eighteen-month period of participant observation as an HR Manager.
I moved into Higher Education in 2000 at the University of Central Lancashire just down the road in Preston and I drive past Lancaster University every week, so I am reminded of the good times every time I pass! I am now a Senior Lecturer in the Lancashire Business School where I lead several HR programme courses and teach postgraduate HR practitioners.
