Get 24 months FREE access to an interactive eBook when purchasing the paperback*
The
Sixth Edition continues to give students a comprehensive overview of what is needed to carry-out successful and effective research, with practical hands-on guidance on how to conduct a dissertation project or research thesis, in business and management.
New to This Edition:
- Complimentary fully integrated interactive eBook version.
- Coverage of online data collection, netnography, big data and data visualization.
- Research philosophy in chapter 3 is further supported and enhanced by an author video overview available online and a pull out at the back of the book that gives a useful visual representation of each key component of the research process using a tree as a metaphor.
- Annotated further reading recommendations.
An important new feature is the "Research in Action" textboxes, which consist of engaging accounts of real-world research experiences from academics, practitioners and students. Examples include measuring the impact of development programmes on Chinese rural communities, and qualitative data being used to measure the experiences of UK taxi drivers. Each contributor has also given a practical ‘top tip’ for doing research successfully.
The book is complemented by a FREE Interactive eBook and online resources including PowerPoint slides, datasets, multiple-choice questions, e-flashcards and links to additional online material.
Suitable reading for any student carrying out a research project, dissertation or thesis in business and management.
*Interactivity only available through the eBook included as part of paperback product (ISBN 9781526446954).
Access not guaranteed on second-hand copies (as access code may have previously been redeemed).
Mark Easterby-Smith passed away in 2020. He was an Emeritus Professor at the University of Lancaster. His field was organizational learning. He had a first degree in Engineering Science and a PhD in Organizational Behaviour from Durham University and was an active researcher for over 30 years with primary interests in methodology and learning processes. He carried out evaluation studies in many European companies, and led research projects on management development, organizational learning, dynamic capabilities and knowledge transfer across international organizations in the UK, India and China.
Mark published numerous academic papers and over ten books including: Auditing Management Development (Gower, 1980); The Challenge to Western Management Development (Routledge, 1989); Evaluation of Management Education, Training and Development (Gower, 1994); Organizational Learning and the Learning Organization (Sage, 1998); The Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management, 2nd edn (Wiley, 2011).
At Lancaster he was, variously, Director of the School’s Doctoral Programme, Director of the Graduate Management School and Head of Department. Externally he spent several years as a visiting faculty member on the International Teachers’ Programme, acting as Director when it was held at the London Business School in 1984. During the early 1990s he was national co-ordinator of the Management Teaching Fellowship Scheme funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which was responsible for training 180 new faculty members across UK management schools. He was a former member of the ESRC Post-graduate Training Board and was President of the British Academy of Management in 2006 and Dean of Fellows in 2008.
Richard Thorpe is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Leeds where he was latterly Professor of Management Development and Pro Dean for Research at Leeds University Business School. His early industrial experience informed the way his ethos has developed. Common themes are a strong commitment to process methodologies and a focus on action in all its forms; an interest in and commitment to the development of doctoral students and the development of capacity within the sector; and a commitment to collaborative working on projects of mutual interest. Following a number of years in industry, he joined Strathclyde University as a researcher studying incentive payment schemes. This led to collaboration on Payment Schemes and Productivity (Macmillan, 1986). In 1980 he joined Glasgow University where he widened his research interests to include small firm growth and development as well as making regular contributions to the Scottish Business School’s doctoral programme. In 1983 he attended the International Teachers’ Programme in Sweden where he met Mark and embarked on a PhD under Mark’s supervision. Collaboration continued through the 1990s with the ESRC Teaching Fellowship Scheme. In 1996 he was instrumental in establishing the Graduate Business School at Manchester Metropolitan University and in 2003 joined the ESRC Training and Development Board. There, he was involved in establishing the training guidelines for both doctorate and professional doctorate provision and more recently in initiatives to address capacity building in management and business. In 2003 he contributed to the ESRC’s Evolution of Business Knowledge programme. His research interests have included: performance, remuneration and entrepreneurship, management learning and development and leadership, and he has published (with others) a number of books including: Remuneration Systems (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2000); Management and Language: The Manager as Practical Author (Sage, 2003); The SAGE Dictionary of Qualitative Management Research (Sage, 2008); Performance Management: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Palgrave, 2008); Gower Handbook of Leadership and Management Development (Gower, 2010) ) and more recently, two research methods books, Management Research, in the Sage ‘A very Short, Fairly Interesting and reasonably Cheap Book About’ series and A Guide to Professional Doctorates in Business and Management (Sage, 2015). He was a past Present of the British Academy of Management in 2007, Dean of Fellows in 2012 and in 2009-2015 he was Chair of the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies. In this latter role he initiated the ESRC/SAMS/UKCES Management and Business Fellowship Scheme.
Paul R. Jackson is Professor of Corporate Communications and member of the Business Economics and Strategy group at the Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester. Over the years he has undertaken various roles including Director of Doctoral Programmes at the University of Sheffield and, at UMIST, Head of the Division of Marketing, International Business and Strategy as well as designing the doctoral training programme at MBS. He has been teaching research methods to undergraduate, Masters and doctoral students since 1975 and has contributed to books on research methods teaching as well as workshops for students and teachers on behalf of the British Academy of Management.Lena J. Jaspersen is a University Academic Fellow in Innovation Management at the University of Leeds. As an early career researcher with a multidisciplinary background in international sociology and organization studies, her research interests have focused on the collaborative research and innovation. Part of her role as an Academic Fellow is to develop a portfolio of research projects; hers relate to sustainability and health partnerships.
Lena’s background brings both an international and an interdisciplinary dimension to her research. She holds Masters’ degrees in Sociology (University of Bielefeld, Germany) and International Relations (Keele University, UK) and was awarded a PhD with Recommendation of Research Excellence from the University of Leeds (UK). Her doctoral research focused on the role of cross-sector partnerships in creating low-carbon development pathways. The results provided a critical analysis of how partnerships can facilitate but also inhibit the adoption of off-grid renewable energy technologies in Central America. Lena has a strong interest in research methods, particularly working on participatory methods and visual tools that can enhance the collection of both qualitative and quantitative network data (recent methods article in British Journal of Management). Together with colleagues, she has conducted research on global development and published an interdisciplinary volume on conducting field research in development contexts (Understanding Global Development Research, Sage, 2017). She has also published an organizational ethnography of the work of the oldest UN human rights treaty monitoring body, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (The UN-real World of Human Rights, Nomos, 2012).
