Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

All Outputs (36)

Fifty years of fighting sex discrimination: undermining entrenched misogynies through recognition and everyday resistance (2024)
Journal Article
Gilmore, S., Harding, N., & Ford, J. (online). Fifty years of fighting sex discrimination: undermining entrenched misogynies through recognition and everyday resistance. Human Relations, https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267241279216

This paper marks the 50 th anniversary of the passing of the UK's Sex Discrimination Act (1975). The UK offers an important historical case study of how such laws are, or are not, translated into practice. The success of the Act is mixed: there has b... Read More about Fifty years of fighting sex discrimination: undermining entrenched misogynies through recognition and everyday resistance.

If philosophers went on a leadership course: A (serious) farce in three Acts (2022)
Journal Article
Wilson, S., Lee, H., Ford, J., & Harding, N. (2022). If philosophers went on a leadership course: A (serious) farce in three Acts. Leadership, 18(4), 471–497. https://doi.org/10.1177/17427150221083428

Leadership development is big business, with business schools and private providers offering leadership development programmes claimed to help turn managers into wise, good and able leaders. Leadership development originated in philosophy and, in the... Read More about If philosophers went on a leadership course: A (serious) farce in three Acts.

Intersectional identities and career progression in retail: The experiences of minority‐ethnic women (2022)
Journal Article
Kele, J. E., Cassell, C., Ford, J., & Watson, K. (2022). Intersectional identities and career progression in retail: The experiences of minority‐ethnic women. Gender, Work and Organization, 29(4), 1178-1198. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12830

Contributing to scholarship on diversity and inclusion (D&I) and careers within UK retailing, this paper documents the lived experiences of minority-ethnic women working in retail. Given the extensive research on both the career obstacles faced by wo... Read More about Intersectional identities and career progression in retail: The experiences of minority‐ethnic women.

Re/searching leadership: A critique in Two Agonies and Nine Fits (2022)
Journal Article
Ford, J., Harding, N., & Gilmore, S. (2023). Re/searching leadership: A critique in Two Agonies and Nine Fits. Human Relations, 76(6), 809-832. https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267221079167

Since the nineteenth century much academic effort has been expended researching leadership. Bodies of theory have risen to dominance, proved unsatisfactory, and been replaced by another generation of ultimately-disappointing leadership thought. This... Read More about Re/searching leadership: A critique in Two Agonies and Nine Fits.

Understanding inclusion in the retail industry: incorporating the majority perspective (2021)
Journal Article
Cassell, C., Watson, K., Ford, J., & Kele, J. (2022). Understanding inclusion in the retail industry: incorporating the majority perspective. Personnel Review, 51(1), 230-250. https://doi.org/10.1108/pr-02-2020-0083

Purpose The aim of this paper is to move away from the focus upon the drivers of diversity to consider the drivers of inclusion in the workplace. The research outlined addresses this by considering the views of all employees, not just those who would... Read More about Understanding inclusion in the retail industry: incorporating the majority perspective.

Matter that embodies: Agentive flesh and working body/selves (2021)
Journal Article
Harding, N., Gilmore, S., & Ford, J. (2022). Matter that embodies: Agentive flesh and working body/selves. Organization Studies, 43(5), 649-668. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840621993235

The post-Cartesian ‘material turn’ in management and organization studies understands that bodies are far more than vehicles that enable work to be undertaken, but are agentive actors in the constitution of work and working selves. This leads to the... Read More about Matter that embodies: Agentive flesh and working body/selves.

Performative seduction: How management consultants influence practices of leadership (2020)
Journal Article
Ford, J., & Harding, N. (2021). Performative seduction: How management consultants influence practices of leadership. International Journal of Public Leadership, 17(3), 222-235. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijpl-07-2020-0062

Purpose This paper tracks how a policy recommended by management consultants becomes embedded as an integral part of leadership practice. It explores the launch of the concept of “talent management” by McKinsey & Company and how it becomes adopted as... Read More about Performative seduction: How management consultants influence practices of leadership.

'You just had to get on with it': Exploring the persistence of gender inequality through women’s career histories (2020)
Journal Article
Ford, J., Atkinson, C., Harding, N., & Collinson, D. (2021). 'You just had to get on with it': Exploring the persistence of gender inequality through women’s career histories. Work, Employment and Society, 35(1), 78-96. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017020910354

This article examines the career histories of the first generation of UK women to enter professional employment in the 1970s and 1980s in comparatively large numbers. In so doing, it contributes to the sparse literature on older women’s working life... Read More about 'You just had to get on with it': Exploring the persistence of gender inequality through women’s career histories.

On the Ethics of Psychometric Instruments Used in Leadership Development Programmes (2020)
Journal Article
Wilson, S., Lee, H., Ford, J., & Harding, N. (2021). On the Ethics of Psychometric Instruments Used in Leadership Development Programmes. Journal of Business Ethics, 172(2), 211-227. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04519-z

The leadership development industry regularly claims to aid in developing effective, ethical leaders, using 360-degree psychometric assessments as key tools for so doing. This paper analyses the effects of such tools on those subjected to and subject... Read More about On the Ethics of Psychometric Instruments Used in Leadership Development Programmes.

Female Entrepreneurship and the Metanarrative of Economic Growth: A Critical Review of Underlying Assumptions (2017)
Journal Article
Dean, H., Larsen, G., Ford, J., & Akram, M. (2019). Female Entrepreneurship and the Metanarrative of Economic Growth: A Critical Review of Underlying Assumptions. International Journal of Management Reviews, 21(1), 24-49. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12173

This critical review of the literature on female entrepreneurship problematizes the metanarrative of economic growth and the mechanisms through which it both operates and is maintained. Central to this is the axiomatic ‘underperformance hypothesis’,... Read More about Female Entrepreneurship and the Metanarrative of Economic Growth: A Critical Review of Underlying Assumptions.

Discourses of entrepreneurial leadership: Exposing myths and exploring new approaches (2017)
Journal Article
Dean, H., & Ford, J. (2017). Discourses of entrepreneurial leadership: Exposing myths and exploring new approaches. International Small Business Journal, 35(2), 178-196. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242616668389

This article explores gender and entrepreneurial leadership, notably the meanings female entrepreneurs ascribe to notions of entrepreneurial leadership. Drawing from interviews with female business owners, the article questions the dominant hegemonic... Read More about Discourses of entrepreneurial leadership: Exposing myths and exploring new approaches.

Towards a performative theory of resistance: Senior managers and revolting subject(ivitie)s (2017)
Journal Article
Harding, N., Ford, J., & Lee, H. (2017). Towards a performative theory of resistance: Senior managers and revolting subject(ivitie)s. Organization Studies, 38(9), 1209-1232. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840616685360

This article develops a performative theory of resistance. It uses Judith Butler’s and Karen Barad’s theories of performativity to explore how resistance (to organizational strategies and policies) and resistants (those who resist such strategies and... Read More about Towards a performative theory of resistance: Senior managers and revolting subject(ivitie)s.

Becoming the leader: Leadership as material presence (2017)
Journal Article
Ford, J., Harding, N., Gilmore, S., & Richardson, S. (2017). Becoming the leader: Leadership as material presence. Organization Studies, 38(11), 1553-1571. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840616677633

This paper seeks to understand leaders as material presences. Leadership theory has traditionally explored leaders as sites of disembodied traits, characteristics and abilities. Our qualitative, mixed method study suggests that managers charged with... Read More about Becoming the leader: Leadership as material presence.

The social construction of leadership studies: Representations of rigour and relevance in textbooks (2016)
Journal Article
Carroll, B., Firth, J., Ford, J., & Taylor, S. (2018). The social construction of leadership studies: Representations of rigour and relevance in textbooks. Leadership, 14(2), 159-178. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715016668688

Considerations of rigour and relevance rarely acknowledge students, learning or the textbooks many of the academic community use to frame education. Here we explore the construction of meaning around rigour and relevance in four leadership studies te... Read More about The social construction of leadership studies: Representations of rigour and relevance in textbooks.

Followers in Leadership Theory: Fiction, Fantasy and Illusion. (2015)
Journal Article
Ford, J., & Harding, N. (2018). Followers in Leadership Theory: Fiction, Fantasy and Illusion. Leadership, 14(1), 3 - 24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715015621372

This article introduces a critical approach to follower/ship studies through exploring the unarticulated but highly influential implicit academic theory of follower/ship that informs dominant paradigms of leadership. Research into follower/ship is de... Read More about Followers in Leadership Theory: Fiction, Fantasy and Illusion..

The expectations and aspirations of a late-career professional woman. (2015)
Journal Article
Atkinson, C., Ford, J., & Harding, N. (2015). The expectations and aspirations of a late-career professional woman. Work, Employment and Society, 29(6), 1019-1028. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017015581987

This article presents a powerful account of one late-career woman’s lived experiences. Little is known about women who continue professional careers into their 50s and beyond. Here insights are offered into her aspirations and expectations, as she re... Read More about The expectations and aspirations of a late-career professional woman..

Going beyond the hero in leadership development: the place of healthcare context, complexity and relationships; Comment on "Leadership and leadership development in healthcare settings – a simplistic solution to complex problems?" (2015)
Journal Article
Ford, J. (2015). Going beyond the hero in leadership development: the place of healthcare context, complexity and relationships; Comment on "Leadership and leadership development in healthcare settings – a simplistic solution to complex problems?". International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 4(4), 261-263. https://doi.org/10.15171/ijhpm.2015.43

There remains a conviction that the torrent of publications and the financial outlay on leadership development will create managers with the skills and characters of perfect leaders, capable of guiding healthcare organisations through the challenges... Read More about Going beyond the hero in leadership development: the place of healthcare context, complexity and relationships; Comment on "Leadership and leadership development in healthcare settings – a simplistic solution to complex problems?".