An introduction to the Business School's Organisation Studies research group, including a list of academic staff members, group research, and research centres.

Research in Organisation Studies

Part of impactful and interrelated strands of research in Organisation Studies, Wendy Loretto, Belinda Steffan and Jakov Jandric undertake research that addresses age discrimination and creating age-inclusive work environments.

Tom Calvard discusses his research into work interpretation, identity formation, and guiding actions, investigating contextual variations influenced by diversity, technology, and changing work conditions to enhance cooperation and adaptability within organizations.

Kristina Potočnik discusses her research into dilemmas in individual and team creativity, and healthy aging, work-life balance, and post-pandemic work arrangements, aiming to develop organizational resilience and effective crisis response strategies.

Organisation Studies, as an area of teaching and research, draws together many specific disciplines and schools of thought. The membership of the group reflects that interdisciplinarity.

Research within the group provides insight into major challenges in human resources and public policy in the fields of leadership, governance, and diversity. Group members are at the forefront of developments in their specialised fields, and through their research they seek to make a demonstrable impact on policy and practice.

The group prioritises a high level of engagement with a multiplicity of stakeholders (employees, managers, trade unions, policy makers, professionals, government), and encourages research that is inter-sectoral.

Much of the group's research can be categorised according to four key themes:

Ethics, social responsibility, and governance

Areas include executive remuneration, responsibility and sustainability, and executive moral agency.

Ethics, social responsibility, and governance
Global work and organisations

Areas include international careers, expatriates, psychological contracts, and power and legitimacy in multinational corporations.

Global work and organisations
Organisational effectiveness

Areas include team working, leadership and coaching, performance appraisal and management, and organisational performance.

Organisational effectiveness
Identities and inequalities

Areas considered within this theme include age, gender, discourses of diversity, employee wellbeing, diversity, and career development.

Identities and inequalities

Research labs

Neurodiversity, Organisations, Work and Intersectionality Lab

NOWI Lab is an interdisciplinary space for research, training, and action on neurodiversity and intersectionality in organisational life. Through collaborative projects and partnerships, the Lab contributes new evidence, practical tools, and inclusive practices that challenge narrow definitions of “normal” at work.

NOWI Lab

Research projects

Project Fair

Project Fair focuses on the psychological impact of dual salaries in the INGO sector. Their work, based on over a decade of research, explores how organisational policies affect employee motivation, performance, and social justice.

Additional projects

Details of past and present research projects involving organisation studies are detailed on the Edinburgh Research Explorer, an online hub for research publications.