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All Outputs (14)

‘Leadership’ as a Project: Neoliberalism and the Proliferation of ‘Leaders’ (2021)
Journal Article
Learmonth, M., & Morrell, K. (2021). ‘Leadership’ as a Project: Neoliberalism and the Proliferation of ‘Leaders’. Organization Theory, 2(4), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/26317877211036708

It is increasingly common for anyone with formal, hierarchical status at work to be called a ‘leader’. Though widespread, this relatively recent change in day-to-day discourse is largely passing by unnoticed. We argue that using ‘leader’ in this way... Read More about ‘Leadership’ as a Project: Neoliberalism and the Proliferation of ‘Leaders’.

How Does the State Restore Order During Crisis? Lessons from the UK’s Response to the “Riots” Of August 2011 (2020)
Journal Article
Morrell, K., Heracleous, L., Fuller, C., & Bradford, B. (2021). How Does the State Restore Order During Crisis? Lessons from the UK’s Response to the “Riots” Of August 2011. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 57(1), 80-103. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886320953848

We use speech act theory to study the U.K. state’s response to large-scale public disorder across English cities in August 2011. This historical case has practical implications for understanding how nation states address other crises—because we expla... Read More about How Does the State Restore Order During Crisis? Lessons from the UK’s Response to the “Riots” Of August 2011.

What does it mean when we ask the public if they are “confident” in policing? The Trust, Fairness, Presence model of “public confidence” (2019)
Journal Article
Morrell, K., Bradford, B., & Javid, B. (2020). What does it mean when we ask the public if they are “confident” in policing? The Trust, Fairness, Presence model of “public confidence”. International Journal of Police Science and Management, 22(2), 111-122. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461355719891197

‘Confidence’ is widely taken to be a crucial measure of the relationship between citizens and public services such as policing. It is acknowledged that confidence is multifaceted and hard to measure, but often discussions are based on one ‘headline’... Read More about What does it mean when we ask the public if they are “confident” in policing? The Trust, Fairness, Presence model of “public confidence”.

From events to personal histories: narrating change in health-care organizations (2019)
Journal Article
Morrell, K., Hewison, A., & Heracleous, L. (2020). From events to personal histories: narrating change in health-care organizations. Public Management Review, 22(6), 908-926. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2019.1619814

To cope with large-scale change managers must understand complex events, but representations of change are never objective and factual, they reflect choices. They are not simply chronicles but personal histories. We apply this perspective to analyze... Read More about From events to personal histories: narrating change in health-care organizations.

Corporate actors, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Earth System Governance: A research agenda (2019)
Journal Article
Dahlmann, F., Stubbs, W., Griggs, D., & Morrell, K. (2019). Corporate actors, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Earth System Governance: A research agenda. Anthropocene Review, 6(1-2), 167-176. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019619848217

The Anthropocene requires significant shifts and innovation in policy as well as human action and behavior. While much research attention has focused on society and policy makers, we know significantly less about how businesses exercise agency as par... Read More about Corporate actors, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Earth System Governance: A research agenda.

Ambidexterity penetration across multiple organizational levels in an aerospace and defense organization (2018)
Journal Article
Kassotaki, O., Paroutis, S., & Morrell, K. (2019). Ambidexterity penetration across multiple organizational levels in an aerospace and defense organization. Long Range Planning, 52(3), 366-385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2018.06.002

The ambidexterity framework, which comprises two contradictory, yet interrelated processes of exploration and exploitation, has been researched using a variety of perspectives. Few studies, however, provide insight into the question: how is ambidexte... Read More about Ambidexterity penetration across multiple organizational levels in an aerospace and defense organization.

Is Critical Leadership Studies ‘Critical’? (2016)
Journal Article
Learmonth, M., & Morrell, K. (2016). Is Critical Leadership Studies ‘Critical’?. Leadership, 13(3), 257-271. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715016649722

‘Leader’ and ‘follower’ are increasingly replacing ‘manager’ and ‘worker’ to become the routine way to frame hierarchy within organizations; a practice that obfuscates, even denies, structural antagonisms. Furthermore, given that many workers are ind... Read More about Is Critical Leadership Studies ‘Critical’?.

Signposts or weathervanes? The curious case of corporate social responsibility and conflict minerals (2015)
Journal Article
Arikan, O., Reinecke, J., Spence, C., & Morrell, K. (2017). Signposts or weathervanes? The curious case of corporate social responsibility and conflict minerals. Journal of Business Ethics, 146(3), 469-484. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2935-3

Corporate social responsibility is often framed in terms of opposing constructions of the firm. These reflect, respectively, different accounts of its obligations: either to shareholders or to stakeholders (who include shareholders). Although these o... Read More about Signposts or weathervanes? The curious case of corporate social responsibility and conflict minerals.

How hybrid managers act as “canny customers” to accelerate policy reform: A case study of regulator-regulatee relationships in the UK’s tax agency (2015)
Journal Article
Currie, G., Tuck, P., & Morrell, K. (2015). How hybrid managers act as “canny customers” to accelerate policy reform: A case study of regulator-regulatee relationships in the UK’s tax agency. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 28(8), 1291-1309. https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-12-2014-1889

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse role transition for professionals moving towards hybrid managerial roles. Specifically, the authors examine reforms to the national tax agency in the UK, focusing on attempts to shift hybrid managers... Read More about How hybrid managers act as “canny customers” to accelerate policy reform: A case study of regulator-regulatee relationships in the UK’s tax agency.

Against evidence-based management, for management learning (2015)
Journal Article
Morrell, K., & Learmonth, M. (2015). Against evidence-based management, for management learning. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 14(4), 520-533. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2014.0346

Evidence-based management has been widely advocated in management studies. It has great ambition: all manner of organizational problems are held to be amenable to an evidence-based approach. With such ambition, however, has come a certain narrowness... Read More about Against evidence-based management, for management learning.

An Archaeological Critique of 'Evidence-Based Management': one digression after another (2015)
Journal Article
Morrell, K., Learmonth, M., & Heracleous, L. (2015). An Archaeological Critique of 'Evidence-Based Management': one digression after another. British Journal of Management, 26(3), 529-543. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12109

Fundamental problems remain with evidence-based management. We argue that, rather than being addressed, these problems are treated as digressions. One explanation for this is an ongoing incoherence: the evidence-based approach relegates narrative to... Read More about An Archaeological Critique of 'Evidence-Based Management': one digression after another.

Impossible jobs or impossible tasks? Client volatility and frontline policing practice in urban riots (2015)
Journal Article
Morrell, K., & Currie, G. (2015). Impossible jobs or impossible tasks? Client volatility and frontline policing practice in urban riots. Public Administration Review, 75(2), 264-275. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12311

Various public administration jobs are described as “impossible,” meaning that they have an unpopular or illegitimate client base, stakeholders have conflicting values, and leaders and their agency's mission are continually questioned. Although this... Read More about Impossible jobs or impossible tasks? Client volatility and frontline policing practice in urban riots.

Governance, tax and folk tales. (2014)
Journal Article
Morrell, K., & Tuck, P. (2014). Governance, tax and folk tales. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 39(2), 134-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2013.12.003

This paper develops a particular narratological approach to analyse a common category of narratives: individuals’ accounts of their organization’s context and purpose. In two phases of interview research with 45 senior UK accounting professionals (ta... Read More about Governance, tax and folk tales..