Business and Management

The department's research interests span several academic disciplines: coaching and mentoring, human resource management, international business, organisational studies, pedagogy, strategic management. This diversity is also reflected in epistemological variety.

Faculty publish in leading journals in these fields and are active in the main national and international conferences relating to each disciplinary area. A strong overarching theme of the department is the bridging of theory and practice: our research aims to provide new academic insights and to be relevant to managers and other stakeholders. Latest research outputs are disseminated through our publications and a wide array of teaching interfaces.

Faculty are active in winning research grants from UK and EU funding bodies, providing key note talks at academic and practitioner conferences, sitting on the editorial boards of leading journals, reviewing for funding providers, managing special interest groups and reviewing for the main journals and conferences in their fields.

We have an expanding body of PhD students and a number of post doctoral fellows who focus upon topics in our current areas of interest. These include:

Coaching and Mentoring

Developmental Coaching
Organisational Factors Impacting Coaching
Transformative Learning
Leadership Development
Coaching and Mentoring Discourses
Coaching Supervision
Team and Peer Coaching

Click here for further information on Coaching and Mentoring research.

Human Resource Management

Diversity and equality management
Career management
Employee relations in SMEs
Health, Safety and well-being at work
Human resource development, including knowledge management, and communities of practice
International human resource management, including multinational strategies and practices
Managing downsizing, turnover and absence
Public and service sector employment relationships
Service work and emotional labour
Trade union organization and partnership working
Working with internal consultants

International Business

International mergers and acquisitions
Foreign Direct Investment and International Trade
Outsourcing/off-shoring and the role of asset specific investments
Impact of exchange rate volatility on international trade
International capital mobility
Multinational HR practices

Organisational Studies

New forms of working, including teleworking and outsourcing
Entrepreneurship and organisational creativity
Comparative organisational leadership
Innovation and change management
Psychological contracts and organisational justice and trust
Arts-based inquiry

Pedagogy

The Faculty of Business recognises the importance of pedagogy research as a key factor in underpinning teaching excellence and has a strong commitment to engaging in research and evidence-based practice. Consequently it hosts a dedicated Pedagogy Research Centre.

Strategic Management

Competitive Strategy
Mergers and Acquisitions
Corporate Recovery
Strategy as Practice
Strategic Communications
Strategy Directors

Click here for further information on our PhD and Post Doctoral students.

For further insights into the research activities and interests of this department, contact the Department's Research Leader, Professor Duncan Angwin at

Journals and Research Grants

International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring

This is a free access, international peer reviewed journal, which is published bi-annually online in February and August. The aim of the journal is two-fold: firstly, to provide evidence-based, well-researched resources for students, professionals, corporate clients, managers and academic specialists who need to be at the forefront of developments in the field; and secondly to offer an accessible yet powerful discussion platform for the growing number of coaching and mentoring practitioners seeking to validate their practice.

Find out more

Unison-funded research project

Project Title: False Economy? The Costs of Contracting and Workforce Insecurity in the Voluntary Sector

Researcher: Professor Philip James

This project, which is being carried out in collaboration with Dr Ian Cunningham from the University of Strathclyde, is concerned with exploring the implications of the current trend to outsource social care activities to the voluntary sector for service quality, voluntary organisation staff and union membership and organisation. Data for it is being gathered through interviews with senior managers from voluntary sector organisations and union officials and activists and the holding of focus groups with staff.

ESRC funded project

Project Title: Knowledge Evolution in Action: Client-Consultancy Relationships

Researcher: Dr Karen Handley

The aim of this project was to identify how business knowledge is developed, transferred and transformed in projects involving management consultants and their clients. It has involved both detailed case studies and a survey conducted in collaboration with the Management Consultancies Association. Findings from the study were reported in a book co-authored with project colleagues based at University of Stirling, University of Bristol and the University of Durham, and published by Oxford University Press (2011).

Oxford University Funded research project

Project Title: Corporate communication and reputation: An in-depth analysis into impact, practices, and reputational aspects tied to M&A announcements

Researcher: Professor Duncan Angwin

This project investigates corporate communications during the mergers and acquisition process. Cross sectional and longitudinal analysis is used to identify patterns in two large quantitative databases of US and UK mergers. In addition case data is being interpreted through qualitative analysis techniques, to complement and enrich statistical insights. Findings from the study will be disseminated through journal articles and conferences and form the basis for a book to be co-authored with project colleagues based at Oxford University and Open University. The project is funded by the Centre for Corporate Reputation, Said Business School, Oxford University.