Summer Term 2011

Staff at this year's graduation
Photo: staff and students at graduation this year

Largest ever DLMBA plenary at Royal Holloway

DLMBA Egham plenary 2011

In what is very much a team effort many members of the School of Management, both academic and administrative, pitched in to ensure that the 113 delegates (a record number) at this year's Egham plenary had a highly engaging and rewarding experience.

This year saw innovations such as a self-guided team building challenge to critically evaluate a London tourist attraction, and a peer-to-peer theory into practise seminar that saw students draw on theory to share their own business experience.

The old favourite Thames boat trip was reinstated and the ever-popular formal dinner with guest alumni and current campus MBA students in the Picture Gallery saw arts marketing specialist Dr Derrick Chong share some historical insights into the £30m Victorian oil painting collection that had recently returned from a two-year tour of America.

Following participant feedback more programme emphasis was put on engaging with industry speakers, with stimulating presentations from Research in Motion (Blackberry), British Airways and Levi Strauss.

The end of plenary feedback showed very strong positive responses from students about the plenary and the distance learning masters programme they follow. Whilst the big picture shows that we are getting many things right, it is not surprising that there are strong views from the Masters students on how we could make things even better particularly in the areas of responsiveness and course currency. The challenge for the upcoming year is to pull together as a team to deliver these improvements.

Justin O'Brien, MBA Course Director

Marketing update from Sonya

Moore Building extension

Celebratory event for the School
I am organising an event to celebrate the School's 21st anniversary and the official opening of the new extension. It will take place on Wednesday 26th October and Sir Alec Reed, CBE will give a short talk. Keep your diaries free – further details will follow shortly.

Queen's Diamond Jubilee Album
I am delighted to confirm the School as a sponsor and profile partner in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Album 2012. We will be featured under Best of British, Learning Societies, along with Cambridge and two other high-profile institutions.

Professor Chris Smith has given an interview which will be featured in the album.The book will be printed as a limited, private edition: a total of 33,000 copies will be made available on a complimentary basis and will be sent to UN heads of state, UK embassies, CEO’s and chairpersons of the leading 300 companies on each of the world 33 indices. Local health and education authorities, UK schools and colleges and UK, Commonwealth and top tier universities globally will also receive a copy. The reach is ideal for our target markets and I am delighted that the School is being featured in this prestigious album. It will be published next year and we will receive a copy to display in our reception area.

Promotional videos
I recently commissioned 3 promotional videos for our MBA, BIS and Sustainability programmes, and I am looking to produce videos for other PG programmes as well. Please let me know in the Spring Term if you have any suitable students to take part and I will contact them to arrange the film shoot. In addition to the undergraduate video featured on our website and YouTube, we also have the ‘Day in the Life’ of an undergraduate video.

Sonya Murrell, Marketing Officer

Birthday celebrations

Marianne Bowyer celebrated her 50th in June, so the UG team decorated her desk in a typically restrained manner (photo right). Helen McEwan also had a birthday in June: thanking everybody for her card and present, she reassured us that she would spend it on something frivolous as suggested.

Staff changes

New staff

Helen Bacci, External Relations and Placements Officer
Dr Amany Elbanna, Senior Lecturer in Information Systems
Lindsay Gomes (nee Jordan), Finance and Facilities Administrator
Prof. Dennis Tourish, Professor of Leadership
Prof. Jeffrey Unerman, returns to the School in September as a Professor of Accounting and Accountability
Dr Yingqin Zheng, Lecturer in Technology and Information Management

Staff leaving

Prof. Ed Clake retired in July
Yvonne Edwards retired in August, after 11 years at RHUL
Gill Heasman left the DL team in May
Dr Catherine Liston-Heyes left in July to spend 2 years working in Canada
Dr Christian Stadler is leaving to take up a new post at Lancaster University

Staff on sabbatical

The following staff will be on sabbatical next term: Dr Jose-Rodrigo Cordoba-Pachon, Prof. Jane Davison, Dr Rachel Doern, Dr Eivor Oborn and Dr Leonardo Rinaldi.

Research news

New research grant awards

Prof. Michael Gold and Dr Chris Rees were awarded €28,504 in June to conduct the UK part of a EU-funded project entitled ‘The role of information and consultation of employees and workers at national and European levels’.

Emeritus Professor Raj Brown recently secured a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship to study Islamic philanthropy. The 12-month study starting August 2011 is entitled 'Networks of Islamic philanthropy as a corollary to state-led economic development among Muslim communities in Thailand, Bahrain, and Lebanon, 1826-2006' and is worth £12,680.
» Read more

Dr Ashok Jashapara has been awarded £8,928 for the project entitled: ‘Research utilisation and knowledge mobilisation in NHS organisation: synthesising evidence and theory using perspectives of organisational form, resource based view of the firm and critical theory.’

Dr Romano Dyerson and co-investigator Dr Robert Fitzgerald have been awarded £1,441 from E’sam Co Ltd, Japan for the project entitled: ‘Small and Medium Enterprises, looking at their techniques and studying those in Japan and comparatively.

Ricardo-Abad Barros-Castro & José-Rodrigo Córdoba-Pachón (SoMWP1008)
From computer supported collaborative learning to deep learning: A systems approach
Alice Lam (SoMWP1009)
What Motivates Academic Scientists to Engage in Research Commercialization: ‘Gold’, ‘Ribbon’ or ‘Puzzle’?
Donna Brown (SoMWP1007)
Absenteeism in a Low-wage Setting

Staff news

Moore Building

Dr Rachel Doern Rachel Doern was recently invited by The Russian Society at Royal Holloway to give a talk on ‘The experience of Russian entrepreneurs: small business survival and growth’. » Read more

Professor Ed Clarke Fiona Moore, Hui Tan and Ed Clark all have chapters in a new handbook called Rethinking the Case Study in International Business and Management Research, published recently by Edward Elgar. » Read more

Dr Mark Exworthy An article in The Guardian about public sector budgets quoted Mark Exworthy on spending by healthcare organizations.

Professor Jos Gamble Jos Gamble had a new book published in June by Palgrave Macmillan: Multinational Retailers and Consumers in China. » Read more

Professor Michael Gold Congratulations to Michael Gold, who has been promoted to Professor of Comparative Employment Relations. In July he was elected onto the Executive Committee of the British Universities' Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA) at its AGM. One of Michael's first tasks is to draft a response to the Government's White Paper on Higher Education on behalf of BUIRA. A letter he wrote about employee representation in the boardroom was published by The Guardian in March.

Professor Chris Hackley Chris Hackley was interviewed on alcohol advertising, branding and marketing, and UK alcohol policy for ITV’s Tonight programme, broadcast in April.

Dr G. Harindranath conference Hari Harindranath was the Programme Co-Chair of a conference on ICT and development in Kathmandu in May. (IFIP WG9.4 International Conference on the Social Implications of ICT in Developing Countries). » Read more

Professor Ashok Jashapara Ashok Jashapara's recent research on critical care paramedics has been published. » Read more He has a new UoL YouTube video here: Knowledge Management: Lessons learned from around the world.

Sukhdev Johal A CRESC research briefing co-authored by Sukhdev Johal on the recent Thameslink rail contract received a lot of media interest last month. A working paper co-authored by him was mentioned in The Guardian. » See our media coverage page for full listings.

Professor Alice Lam Alice Lam gave a keynote address on ‘Organization and innovativeness’ to the DIME Final Conference Maastricht in April. » Read more She organized the eighth BAM HRM special interest group conference in May on ‘HRM in the Knowledge Economy’. The event was attended by about 40 leading HR researchers from across the UK and some from continental Europe.

Ailson Moraes Ailson Moraes attended an Accelerate Brazil forum in Brazil in May which he found very helpful for international and strategy classes (and recommends it to staff and PhDs). In June he spoke to school kids in a poor area of the country. » Read more (in Portuguese). Ailson was interviewed by a local paper in March about his charity fundraising talk on campus for a Shepperton boy with cerebral palsy. » Stainesnews.co.uk

Dr Fiona Moore Congratulations to Fiona Moore who has been promoted to Senior Lecturer. She has written a chapter in a new handbook called Rethinking the Case Study in International Business and Management Research, published recently by Edward Elgar. » Read more

Professor Christopher Napier Christopher Napier gave the keynote address at the 15th Financial Reporting and Business Communication Conference in Bristol in July. He spoke on “Accounting, Cartography and Representation”. In February 2011, he visited RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, as a member of the University’s International Professorial Advisory Group, in May he participated in the second European Accounting Association Early Career Academic Development Programme in Istanbul, Turkey, and in July he contributed to the second Accounting History International Emerging Scholars Colloquium in Vallendar, Germany.

Dr Gül Berna Özcan Gül Berna Özcan was invited to take part in a workshop on governance and long-term growth in April at Bogazici University, Istanbul. The workshop series is part of a project funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) and coordinated by the Department of Economics at Bogazici University, a leading economics department in Turkey. She was also invited to give a research seminar: on “The new institutions of capitalism in Central Asia” at Plymouth University's Business School in April.

Dr Alan Pilkington IEEE Senior Member Alan Pilkington was promoted to Senior Member status by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in April. IEEE is the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology and only 8% of members achieve Senior Member status. This honour is in recognition of Alan's service both in business and academia, including serving as Chair of the IEEE’s UK and Republic of Ireland Technology Management Chapter.

Professor Chris Smith Acting Dean Congratulations to Chris Smith, who has been promoted to Acting Dean of Management and Economics. He will be Acting Dean of the new faculty until the new dean is in place from about January 2012.

Yasaman Soltan-Zadeh Yasaman Soltan-Zadeh was awarded Royal Holloway's Excellence Teaching Prize for 2010-2011 in a ceremony on 15th June.

Dr Laura J. Spence Laura Spence was interviewed by Professor of Classics, Edith Hall as part of the recent Women in Research Lecture Series. The lecture series is available to watch online. » Read more Research co-authored by Laura J. Spence was mentioned in an Ethical Corporation article on 'Competitive intelligence: The dark arts' published 03/04/11.

Dr Hui Tan Hui Tan has a chapter in a new handbook called Rethinking the Case Study in International Business and Management Research, published recently by Edward Elgar. » Read more

PhD News

Endrit Kromidha awarded teaching prize
Congratulations to Endrit Kromidha who was awarded a College Postgraduate Teaching Commendation at the Graduation Ceremony on Tuesday 12th July.

Mark (Cheng-Yun) Yang
Congratulations to Chen-Yun Yang who successfully defended his PhD thesis and passed subject to some corrections. His thesis explored web EDI adoption in the shipping industry using social exchange theory.