Research and PhD
In all, we have thirteen academic teaching staff, not counting visiting and part-time teachers. Lancaster staff are the centre of a web of national and international collaborative activities, in which our reputation as a centre of excellence in organisation theory and many applied areas of research is key. Our research and academic interests span a wide range of topics in the related fields of organisation theory, organisational analysis and organisational behaviour applied to a wide range of substantive areas and topics. In addition to the department's reputation for innovative work in the area of organisational theory and organisational change, there is an emerging interesting in technology and the impact of technology on organisation.
We have recently established the Centre for the Study of Technology and Organisation (CSTO). This new research centre was established at the beginning of 2001 with the remit to promote the critical study of the relationship between technology and organisations in the context of contemporary developments associated with the emergence of the 'information society'. It places much emphasis on the social (including economic, ethical and political) factors shaping the processes through which technologies are constructed for managerial and organisational purposes. The Centre has already received funding from BT, which has sponsored 3 PhD studentships to investigate the role of new technology in the delivery and management of public services. CSTO is directed by Professor Theo Vurdubakis.
To generalise rather drastically, staff have research interests in one or more of the following major areas of activity:
- Organisation studies: In this area our department has a long established international standing for its scholarly and critically informed analysis of diverse managerial practices and processes in a variety of empirical settings. This area of research is common to all members of the department.
- HRM, Work and Globalisation: As the societal power of HRM consolidated since the 1980s, our research focuses on the relationships between work, organisational structures and cultures, and the social reproduction of identity through new kinds of people management practices with an increasingly global reach (Cooke, Blackler, Costea, Crump, Bozkurt, Dale and Greasley)
- Technology and Organisation: This strand of the department’s research is located in the department’s Centre for the Study of Technology and Organisation. This is the single biggest grouping of researchers in the field of Technology and Organisation Studies in the UK, and internationally. The focus of research in the group is the manner in which technology is constructed and implicated as an integral part of the ongoing process of organising. (Bloomfield, Introna, Vurdubakis, Hayes, Brigham and Neyland).
- Management and Society: This area of research is concerned with broader societal concerns raised by contemporary organisational and managerial practices with specific reference to governance, ethics and the environment (Cooke, Introna, Brown, Brigham and Dale).
The research excellence of the School and the department was confirmed in the 2008 research assessment exercise (RAE) with 75% of our research activity been assessed as world leading or internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour. This is a continuation of a long tradition of research excellence that has now been confirmed in all the RAEs since its inception. We expect to continue and expand this tradition of excellence, especially in our expanding inter-disciplinary collaborations through the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS).
