Professor Barbara Simpson

Work, Employment and Organisation

Personal statement

I joined Strathclyde Business School in 2004, a move that saw me relocating to Scotland from the University of Auckland Business School in my native New Zealand. My research activities at that stage were focussed primarily on the processes of technological learning in small manufacturing businesses, but I also maintained an interest in scientific and hi-tech innovation and the management of professionals, especially scientists.

My move to Scotland was just one of many major turning points in my career, which originally started out in geothermal hydrology, and then proceeded through international consultancy and the management of large multi-national science projects, before finally turning to my current academic focus. Along the way, I also started up two small companies, one in London and the other in Auckland, and I was appointed as a non-executive Director on the boards of two New Zealand science companies. This prior experience continues to inform my interests in organisational practice, whether this be in business, science or the arts. It has also been helpful in my empirical work, giving me the vocabulary to engage effectively across disciplines.

 

Expertise

Has expertise in:

    • Processes of creativity, innovation and change in organisations
    • Leadership-as-Practice and the performativity of leadership
    • Methods of inquiry for process research
    • Pragmatist philosophies in process research

Prizes and awards

Fellow of the RSA
Recipient
2018
George and Ann Cameron Fellowship
Recipient
2016
Santander Mobility Fund
Recipient
2016
Best Paper Award
Recipient
12/8/2013

More prizes and awards

Qualifications

1998 PhD in Management & Employment Relations (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
1992 Certificate in Company Direction (Institute of Directors of New Zealand and Victoria University Wellington)
1981 PGDip in Groundwater Hydrology (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel)
1978 MSc (Hons) in Physics (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
1975 BSc in Physics (University of Auckland, New Zealand)

Publications

The metaphysical club re-imag(in)ed : a pragmatist–feminist action inquiry
Augustine Anne, Beavan Katie, Morlacchi Piera, Simpson Barbara
2nd Colloquium on Philosophy and Organization Studies (2022)
The integrative potential of process in a changing world : introduction to a special issue on power, performativity and process
Simpson Barbara, Harding Nancy, Fleming Peter, Sergi Viviane, Hussenot Anthony
Organization Studies Vol 42, pp. 1775-1794 (2021)
https://doi.org/10.1177/01708406211057224
Diffractive inquiring, or noticing an ethos of caring
Augustine Anne, Simpson Barbara
37th European Group for Organizational Studies Colloquium 2021 (2021)
The contemporary resonances of classical Pragmatism for studying organization and organizing
Simpson Barbara, den Hond Frank
Organization Studies Vol 43, pp. 127-146 (2021)
https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840621991689
The duality of design(ing) in the organising of projects
Rylander Eklund Anna, Simpson Barbara
Project Management Journal Vol 51, pp. 11-23 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1177/8756972819888117
Projects-as-practice : a Deweyan perspective
Buchan Linda, Simpson Barbara
Project Management Journal Vol 51, pp. 38-48 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1177/8756972819891277

More publications

Teaching

My teaching experience encompasses undergraduate, postgraduate, and post-experience levels of student learning, as well as executive education and coaching. I also have extensive experience teaching across disciplines, especially between science/engineering, the performing arts, and business. The common goal of all of my teaching practice is to encourage students to see their world in new and challenging ways.  My aim is always to develop independent and reflexive critical thinkers who, above all else, have learned how to learn for themselves. I see the two-way exchange between teacher and student as a fertile ground for the development of creative and innovative ideas.  While I endeavour to incorporate my research activities into my teaching at all times, I also recognise the importance of grounding my teaching in the practical realities of my own experience as a manager, an entrepreneur, and a company director. I have been the recipient of a Universitas 21 Teaching Fellowship and an Outstanding Teaching Excellence Award.

In 2019/20 I am teaching and coordinating the following classes:

  • Strategy & Leadership (BA Hons in Management)
  • Contemporary Issues in Management (BA Hons in Management)
  • Leadership for change and innovation (MBM, PMI, MEL, iMPI, MDMM and MBA)

Research interests

I belong to a vibrant group of academic and postgraduate researchers in the Department of Strategy & Organisation who share a fascination with new perspectives on Leadership - find out more about us at http://www.strath.ac.uk/research/subjects/strategyorganisation/leadership/. My own particular research interests revolve around the social practices that shape creativity, innovation, and change in organisations, where these practices are continuously emerging from, and reproduced in, complex intersubjective engagements. I conceive Leadership then, not as a quality or attribute of talented individuals, but rather as a dynamic movement that is generated in the processes of organising. My work is deeply informed by the Pragmatist Philosophers, especially George Herbert Mead, who brings a richly processual perspective to bear upon the social dynamics of organisational practices. My recent publications have pursued these themes in philosophical, theoretical and empirical formats, and my current projects continue these developments.

I very much enjoy supervising postgraduate researchers and welcome inquiries from potential students who have interests that resonate with my ongoing research agenda. I am currently supervising a variety of doctoral-level projects that explore leadership work, the notion of e-leadership, and the dynamics of creativity. I am particularly interested in attracting students who wish to take a fresh look at Leadership as an emergent organisational practice.

Professional activities

2nd Colloquium on Philosophy and Organization Studies
Participant
23/6/2022
37th European Group for Organizational Studies Colloquium 2021
Participant
8/7/2021
SGSSS Event: Designing Rigorous and Reflexive Research - A Participatory Workshop
Chair
5/9/2019
34th EGOS Colloquium
Chair
4/7/2018
Organization Studies (Journal)
Guest editor
5/2018
David Boje
Host
12/4/2018

More professional activities

Projects

GCHSCP Studentship for Public Leadership
Simpson, Barbara (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2018 - 30-Jan-2021
Externally funded PhD Studentship - Public Leadership as robust collaborative action
Simpson, Barbara (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2018 - 30-Jan-2021
REA Studentship - Public leadership as robust collaborative action
Simpson, Barbara (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2018 - 30-Jan-2021
Developing the Mauritius Leadership Brand - Assessment of Leadership Development needs in the Mauritius public service
Simpson, Barbara (Principal Investigator)
A preliminary exploration of leadership practice and development opportunities in the Mauritian public service
01-Jan-2017 - 01-Jan-2018
Review of Clinical Leadership in Pharmacy (CLIP) Programme, Pharmacy Management, Scotland 2016-17
Simpson, Barbara (Principal Investigator) Buchan, Linda (Post Grad Student)
Evaluation the the Leadership Development programme provided by Pharmacy Management in Scotland, 2016-17
01-Jan-2017 - 01-Jan-2017
The Leadership Studio: Learning together about public leadership
Simpson, Barbara (Principal Investigator) Wilson, David (Principal Investigator) McAra-McWilliam, Irene (Co-investigator)
A SUII-funded collaboration with the Glasgow School of Art
01-Jan-2017 - 28-Jan-2018

More projects

Address

Work, Employment and Organisation
Duncan Wing

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