Best paper award at British Academy of Management conference

Ms Natasha Winkler Titus, a PhD candidate in the Department of Human Resource Management, along with her supervisors Dr Anne Crafford and Prof Karel Stanz, won the best full paper award in the Organisational Transformation and Change track at the annual conference of the British Academy of Management (BAM), held from 4 to 6 September 2018. The conference was hosted by Bristol Business School and the University of West England and featured topics centred around the theme ‘driving productivity during uncertain and challenging times’.

 

The paper, entitled ‘The influence of identity as power mechanism in unplanned organisational change’, was based on findings of her PhD research, and explored the role of identity as a power mechanism in explaining unplanned change forced on an organisation from the socio-political and socio-economic context. Drawing on a case study in higher education, the authors used the lens of Fleming and Spicer to identity four forms of power originating in types of identities, which contributed to the unplanned change. The work makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of unplanned change in organisations, which is currently undertheorised in the change literature.

 

Reflecting on her conference experience, Natasha said: “A PhD journey is like an apprenticeship, this was a critical and special moment on my journey and I value the experience. I learned much, got to network with peers and met the gurus I reference in my writing. I am eternally grateful to my supervisors for their support and guidance.”

BAM track chair, Prof Ashley Braganza (Brunel University), Natasha Winkler Titus (University of Pretoria) and co-chair Dr John Mendy (University of Lincoln)