Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Management Research Matters to Us
Chapter 1: In Search of Management Research
Chapter 2: The Purpose of Management Research
Chapter 3: Philosophies of Management Knowledge
Chapter 4: Methods of Management Research
Chapter 5: Theory in Management Research
Chapter 6: Who Are We to Do This?
Conclusion: What Kind of Management Researcher Are You?

About the Author

Emma Bell is Professor of Management and Organisation Studies and Head of the Centre for Economics and Management at Keele Management School. Her research is framed by a desire to understand cultures and belief systems in organizations. She has also studied business improvement initiatives and organizational change. Emma was a member of the British Academy of Management Council, and is current Co-Chair of the US Academy of Management Critical Management Studies Division. Her early working life included a period as a graduate trainee in the UK National Health Service. Emma's PhD was an ethnographic study of payment systems and organizational time in the chemical industry. She has always been interested in methods and methodologies of management research and the ways in which management knowledge is created. Recently, Emma has been involved in a number of projects related to visual analysis of organizations and management. She is a founding member of InVisio - the International Network of Visual Studies in Organizations, and worked on an ESRC Researcher Development Initiative to promote the development of visual analysis in management research. Richard Thorpe is Professor of Management Development and Pro Dean for Research at Leeds University Business School. His research interests have included: performance, entrepreneurship, knowledge and leadership as well as research methods in management research. His early career as a management trainee on a Clarks programme informed the way his ethos has developed. Following a period in industry his first academic appointment was as a researcher at Strathclyde University in the Pay and Reward Research Centre. There, as a consequence of the research conducted he developed close links with practitioners, intermediaries and policy makers, something he has strived to maintain as his career progressed. Common themes in his work are: a strong commitment to conducting research in collaboration with practitioners; a focus on action and change; an interest in and commitment to the development of doctoral students and the development of capacity within the sector. Richard has been past president and chair of the British Academy of Management and member of the ESRC Training and Development Board. He is currently chair of the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies.

Reviews

[T]his is more a book about how to think about management research than a book on how to do management research per se: and this is very much its strength. This process is conveyed in the following ways: first, the book emphasises the messiness of the research process and gives licence not to know all the answers and to be puzzled and confused at times. Second, Emma and Richard (as they describe themselves in the text) provide honest accounts and interesting vignettes of their own research experiences and dilemmas and, as such, position themselves not (just) as experts within the field but also, through their ‘warts and all’ accounts, as researchers who have hunches but are not always sure how to research them, who have highs and lows in the research process and who have sometimes taken wrong turns along the way. Third, the book poses some fundamental questions, which urge the researcher to step back, consider options and debate possibilities before acting in order to better understand the nature of choices they make and the implications for the research that this produces.
*Sarah Robinson*

Who knew that Management Research could be this much fun? The authors cover a lot of important ground without appearing to, keeping the reader engaged and in good humour throughout.
*Brad Jackson*

A wonderfully clear, engaging, and fun book to read. An invaluable introduction to management research and one that I shall be using with my students for years to come.
*Albert Mills*

By providing a lively and accessible introduction to management research - which is theoretically informed and methodologically inclusive - Bell and Thorpe′s timely text offers illuminating responses to a wide range of issues raised by students entering this field.
*Hugh Willmott*

Among the weighty tomes on management research methods, this lively, elegant and readable guide is welcome indeed. Emma and Richard carry their deep knowledge of the field lightly, distilling complex debates and terminology into a lucid navigation of the key issues in management research.   It should be on every graduate student’s bookshelf - and probably on their supervisors as well.
*Amanda Sinclair*

[A] colourful, engaging and challenging discussion regarding the tenets and process of management research.
*Dr Orna O’Brien*