University of Edinburgh Business School

Organisation Studies

Membership

The list of academic and research staff for the Organisation Studies group is available in the People section. You can also view a list of current PhD students within the group.

Introduction

This group comprises two main, and complementary, intellectual communities: one concerned with employment and labour market issues, the other with public policy and public management. The group demonstrates a high level of engagement with a multiplicity of stakeholders (employees, managers, trade unions, policy makers, professionals, clients, government, the third sector) and performs research that is inter-sectoral (public, private and third sector). The work of the Group is focused both upon developing cutting edge research and theory and upon making a demonstrable impact upon policy and practice.

It has four broad themes:

• Employment policy and contemporary labour market issues
• Public services reform and redesign
• The public policy process
• The Third Sector
  

Examples of recent projects include work on:

• Social gerontology (Duncan, Loretto)
• Physical appearance and recruitment practices (Duncan)
• Top executive remuneration (Main)
• Corporate social responsibility and business ethics (Hine)
• The role of the Third Sector in public policy implementation in Scotland (Osborne)
• Research utilisation and evidence-based policy and practice (Nutley)
• Public service networks (Schofield)
• The role of the Third Sector in innovation in public services (Osborne)
• Public service audit and inspection (Nutley)
  

Policy and Practice links include: Positive Ageing Futures Forum; the Scottish Government; the Improvement Service, Standard Life; National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Scottish Enterprise; HBOS; Association of British Insurers; STUC; HM Treasury; the Hungarian Government, Audit Scotland, NHS Scotland and COSLA.

The group is home to four research centres:

• Research Unit for Research Utilisation (RURU) (co-director Nutley)
  
• Centre for Public Services Research (director Osborne)
• ESRC Research Centre on Charitable Giving and Philanthropy (CGAP) (co-director Osborne)
• ESRC Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) (associate director for Scotland Osborne)
  

Staff are also active members of the University’s comprehensive Public Policy Network; the Scottish Public Management Network and the Health Policy and Practice Network. The CPSR is also leading an ESRC Seminar series on innovation in public services that draws upon research policy and practice, in conjunction with colleagues at Bath, Cardiff and Ulster.

• Visit the Public Policy Network.

Staff exhibit a high degree of collaboration with major centres of public administration and management in Japan, North America and Europe. Osborne is President of the International Research Society for Public Services Management (IRSPM) and a Board member of the Public Management Research Association (PMRA). Hine is a member of the Executive Committee of EBEN-UK the UK association of the European Business Ethics Network. Osborne is editor of the journal Public Management Review (PMR) (2011 impact factor of 1.275).

• Visit the UK Association of the European Business Ethics Network (EBEN-UK).
• Visit the IRSPM website.
• Visit the PMR website.
  

This group has received generous funding from the ESRC and other sponsors across a variety of activities:

• Osborne is a co-director of a unique partnership that is the nucleus of the ESRC Research Centre on Charitable Giving and Philanthropy along with colleagues in Cass Business School and the NCVO. The Centre is itself a partnership between the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the UK Cabinet Office for Civil Society, and the Scottish Government, who will jointly invest £2.2 million in the Centre over the next five years.

• Recent growth in the numbers of PhD students in this group have been facilitated by the successful winning of a significant number of ESRC studentships, including an enhanced collaborative studentship with the Scottish Government.

• Nutley was awarded a major grant from the Nuffield Foundation to look at the use of evidence in the audit, inspection and scrutiny of government. It built on a comparative study of public service audit and inspection regimes funded by the ESRC.

• Loretto, with colleagues from Brighton and Kent, is involved in the ESRC Seminar Series on "Rethinking Retirement" to bring together academics, practitioners and policy makers to explore the factors affecting the timing, nature and experience of retirement.

• Main commenced in September 2008 a major project funded by the ESRC on Paying for performance: Realized pay and performance in CEO careers, an examination of outcomes.