Professor Robyn Thomas

Teaching profile

Designing and Managing Change (Masters in Public Administration)
Organisational Analysis and Change (Year 3, UG)

Research interests

Identities and Organisations
Managerial identity
Organisational Theory
Organisational Change
Discourse and Organisations

Selected publications

Journal Articles

Thomas, R., Hardy, C. and Sargent, L. (2011) Managing Change: Negotiating Meaning and Power-Resistance Relations, Organization Science, 22, 1: 22-41

Thomas, R. and Hardy, C. (2011) Reframing Resistance to Organizational Change, Scandinavian Journal of Management, 27, 3 (in press).

Thomas, R., Tienari, J., Davies, A. and Meriläinen, S. (2009) ‘Let’s Talk about ‘Us’. A Reflexive Account of a Cross-Cultural Research Collaboration’, Journal of Management Inquiry, 18, 4, 313-24.

Alvesson, M., Ashcraft, A. and Thomas, R. (2008) ‘Identity Matters: Reflections of the Construction of Identity Scholarship in Organization Studies’, Organization, 15, 1, 5-28.

Davies, A. and Thomas, R. (2008) ‘Dixon of Dock Green Got Shot! Policing Identity Work and Organizational Change’, Public Administration, 86, 3, 627-42

Tienari, J., Merilainen, S., Thomas, R. and Davies, A. (2008) ‘Hegemonic Academic Practices: Experiences of Publishing From The Periphery’, Organization, 15, 4, 584-597.

Tienari, J. and Thomas, R. (2006) ‘Penetrating the Academic Publishing Machine: A Rough Guide’, The Finnish Journal of Business Economics, 55, 3, 369-80 [Best paper prize awarded].

Thomas, R. and Davies, A. (2005) 'Theorising the Micro-politics of Resistance: Discourses of Change and Professional Identities in the UK Public Services', Organization Studies, 26,5, 683-706.

Thomas, R. and Davies, A. (2005) ‘What Have the Feminists Done For Us? Feminist Theory and Organizational Resistance’, Organization, 12, 5, 711-740.

Merilianen, S., Tienari, J., Thomas, R. and Davies, A. (2004) 'Management Consultant Talk: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Normalising Discourse and Resistance', Organization, 11, 2, 539-64.

Davies, A. and Thomas, R. (2003) ‘Talking COP: Discourses of Change and Policing Identities’, Public Administration, 81, 4, 681-99.

Thomas, R. and Linstead, A. (2002) 'Losing the Plot? Middle Managers and Identity', Organization, 9, 1, 71-93.

Linstead, A. and Thomas, R. (2002) 'What Do You Want From Me? A Poststructuralist Feminist Reading of Middle Managers' Identities', Culture and Organization, 8,1, 1-21.

Davies, A. and Thomas, R. (2002) 'The Costs to Academic Service: Managerialism, Accountability and Women Academics', Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 13, 2, 179-203.

Thomas, R. and Davies, A. (2002) 'Gender and New Public Management: Reconstituting Academic Subjectivities', Gender, Work and Organization, 9, 4, 372-96.

Davies, A. and Thomas, R. (2002) 'Gendering and Gender in Public Service Organizations', Public Management Review, 4, 4, 461-484.

Thomas, R. and Davies, A. (2002) 'Restructuring the 'Old Bill': Policing Identities and Commitment’, Women in Management Review, 17, 3-4, 180-89.

Davies, A. and Thomas, R (2000) ‘Gender and Human Resource Management: A Critical Review’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 11, 6, 1125-36.

Davies, A. and Thomas, R. (2000) 'Researching Public Sector Change: The Argument for a Gender Inclusive Framework', Public Management Review, 2, 4, 548-54.

Thomas, R. and Pullen, A. (2000) ‘Middle Management Identities in Modern Organizations’, International Journal of Applied Management, 1, 1, 19-36.

Thomas, R. and Dunkerley, D. (1999) 'Careering Downwards? Middle Management in the Downsized Organization', British Journal of Management, 10, 2, 157-69.

Thomas, R. and Dunkerley, D. (1999) 'Janus and the Bureaucrats: Middle Management in the Public Sector', Public Policy and Administration, 14, 1, 28-41.

Thomas, R. (1996) 'Gendered Cultures and Performance Appraisal: The Experience of Women Academics', Gender, Work and Organization, 3, 3,143-55.

Books

Thomas, R, Mills, A. and Helms Mills, J. (Eds.) (2004)

Identity Politics at Work

. Routledge: London.

Book Chapters

Thomas, R. and Davies, A. (2010) Theorizing the Micro-Politics of Resistance: New Public Management and Managerial Identities in the UK Public Services. In G. Boyne and R. Ashworth (Eds.) Organizing Government. SAGE Publications, London. ISBN: 978-1-84860-121-5

Thomas, R. and Davies, A (2009) Theorizing the Micro-Politics of Resistance: New Public Management and Managerial Identities in the UK Public Services. In S. Clegg (Ed.) SAGE Directions in Organization Studies, SAGE Publications, London. ISBN: 978-1-84860-868-9

Thomas, R. (2009) 'Critical Management Studies on Identity: Mapping the Terrain'. In Alvesson, M., Willmott, H. and Bridgman, T. (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Critical Management Studies. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

Davies, A. and Thomas, R. (2004) 'Gender and Restructuring: Changing professional identities under New Public Management'. In Stewart, P. (Ed.) Organizational Change and Emerging Patterns of Work and Employment. Macmillan-Palgrave: London.

Davies, A. and Thomas, R. (2004) 'Gendered Identities and Resistance in Public Service Organisations'. In Thomas, R, Mills, A. and Helms Mills, J. (Eds) Identity Politics at Work. Routledge: London

Thomas, R. (1998) ‘Opting in and Losing Out: Resisting the Gendered Discourses of Academic Appraisal’. In Malina, D. and Maslin-Prothero, S. (Eds.) Surviving the Academy: Feminist Perspectives. Taylor and Frances: London.

Activities

Co-Director of the International member of the International Centre for Research on Organizational Discourse, Strategy and Change (ICRODSC)

Member of editorial board for: Organization Studies, Organization, Human Relations; Associate Editor for the Scandinavian Journal of Management.

Ghoshal Fellow of the Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM/ESRC)