Professor Nic Beech
B.Sc. (Sociology with Philosophy), M.A. (Philosophy), M.Sc. (Personnel Management), Ph.D. (HRM and Change), MCIPD (Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development)
Professor of Management
Dean of Arts
Contact details
Tel: +44 (0)1334 467300
Fax: +44 (0)1334 462812
Teaching 2012/2013
- MN4241 Knowledge Work: Practice and Context
- MN5511 Leadership in Organisations
- SS5101 Being a Social Scientist
Research Specialisms
My current research is focused on the study of identity. I adopt a social construction perspective and my aim is to extend the current understanding of processes and outcomes of 'identity work'. The research entails tracing talk, text and activities which impact on how people construct themselves and others. The approach is dynamic, tracing changes over time, and typically uses narrative analysis. I am also interested in the more general area of organisational change.
In 2009, I was appointed Lead Fellow by The Advanced Institute of Management (AIM) for its initiative to increase the impact of management research on practice. This research focuses on the study of management practice and music, as well as the more general area of organisational change.
Publications
Recent and Selected Papers Published in Peer Reviewed Journals
Beech, N (forthcoming) 'Liminality and the practices of identity reconstruction'. Human Relations.
Beech, N., MacIntosh, R. & MacLean, D. (forthcoming) 'Dialogues Between Academics and Practitioners: the role of generative dialogic encounters'. Organization Studies.
MacIntosh, R. and Beech, N. (forthcoming) 'Strategy, Strategists and Fantasy: a dialogic constructionist perspective'. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal.
Townley, B., Beech, N. & McKinlay, A. (2009) 'Managing in the Creative Industries: Managing the motley crew'. Human Relations 62(7): 939-962.
Beech, N., Coupland, C. & MacPhail, S. (2009) 'Anti-dialogic positioning in change stories: Bank robbers, saviours and peons', Organization 16(3): 335-352.
Sims, D., Huxham, C. & Beech, N. (2009) 'On Telling Stories but Hearing Snippets: Sense-taking from Presentations of Practice', Organization 16(3): 371-388.
Beech, N., MacIntosh, R. & McInnes, P. (2008) 'Identity Work: Processes and Dynamics of Identity Formations.' International Journal of Public Administration, 31(9): 957-970.
Beech, N. (2008) On the Nature of Dialogic Identity Work. Organization, 15(1): 51-74.
Hibbert, P., McInnes, P., Beech, N. and Huxham, C. (2008) 'Characters in Stories of Collaboration.' International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. 28, (1-2): 59-69.
MacIntosh, R., Beech, N., McQueen, J. and Reid, I. (2007) 'Overcoming Change Fatigue'. Journal of Business Strategy, 28(6): 18-24.
McInnes, P., Hibbert, P. & Beech, N. (2007) 'Exploring the complexities of validity claims in Action Research'. Management Research News, 30(5): 381-390.
McInnes, P., Beech, N., de Caestecker, L., MacIntosh, R. & Ross, M. (2006) 'Identity Dynamics as a Barrier to Organizational Change'. The International Journal of Public Administration, 29(12): 1109-1124.
Beech, N. (2006) 'Intense, Vigorous, Soft and Fun: Identity work and the International MBA.' Critical Perspectives on International Business, 2(1): 41-57.
Beech, N. & Johnson, P. (2005) 'Discourses of disrupted identities in the practice of strategic change: The mayor, the street-fighter and the insider-out'. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 18(1): 31-47.
McInnes, P. and Beech, N. (2005). 'Time, fear and suffering in post-dualist modes of being'. Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization, 5(1): 53-67.
Beech, N., Burns, H., de Caestecker, L., MacIntosh, R. & MacLean, D. (2004) 'Paradox as an invitation to act in problematic change situations'. Human Relations, 57(10): 1313-1332.
Beech, N. & Huxham, C. (2003) 'Cycles of Identity Formation in Inter-Organizational Collaborations'. International Studies of Management and Organization, 33(2): 7-21.
Cairns , G. & Beech, N. (2003) 'Un-entwining monological narratives of change through dramaturgical and narrative analyses'. Culture and Organization, 9 (3): 177-193.
Huxham, C. & Beech, N. (2003) 'Contrary Prescriptions: Recognising good practice tensions in management'. Organization Studies, 24(1): 67-91.
Beech , N., MacIntosh, R., MacLean, D., Shepherd, J. & Stokes, J. (2002) 'Exploring Constraints on Developing Knowledge: on the need for conflict'. Management Learning, 33 (4): 459-475.
Beech, N. & Cairns, G. (2001) 'Coping with Change: The contribution of postdichotomous ontologies'. Human Relations, 54(10): 1303-1324.
Journal Special Issues Edited
Townley, B., Beech, McKinlay, A. Fairhurst, G. (eds) (2009) Managing in the Creative Industries. Human Relations 62(7).
McInnes, P., Beech, N. & MacIntosh, R. (eds) (2008) Exploring the Impacts and Processes of Identity Change. International Journal of Public Administration, 31(9).
Books
Townley, B. & Beech, N. (eds) (2010) Managing Creativity: Exploring the Paradox. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McKenna, E. & Beech, N. (2008) Human Resource Management: A concise analysis (2nd edition). Harlow: Prentice Hall Pearson.
Pullen, A., Beech, N. & Sims, D. (eds) (2007) Exploring Identity: Concepts and Methods. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Brockbank, A. McGill, I. & Beech, N. (2002) Reflective Learning in Practice. London: Gower.
McKenna, E. & Beech, N. (2002) Human Resource Management: A concise analysis. Harlow: Prentice Hall Pearson.
McKenna, E. & Beech, N. (1995) The Essence of Human Resource Management Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall.
Book Chapters
Townley, B. and Beech, N. (2010) 'The discipline of creativity'. In B. Townley and N. Beech (eds) Managing Creativity: Exploring the paradox. Cambridge University Press.
Donald, J., Mitchell, L. and Beech, N. (2010) 'Organising creativity in a music festival'. In B. Townley and N. Beech (eds) Managing Creativity: Exploring the paradox. Cambridge University Press.
Beech, N., Hibbert, P., MacIntosh, R. & McInnes, P. (2009) 'But I thought we were friends? Life cycles and research relationships', in Ybema, S., Yanow, D., Wels, H. & Kamsteeg, F. (eds) Organizational Ethnography: Studying the Complexities of Everyday Life. London: Sage.
Huxham, C. & Beech, N. (2008) 'Power in Collaborative Settings', in Cropper, S., Ebers, M., Huxham, C. & Smith Ring, P. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Inter-organizational Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Beech, N. & MacIntosh, R. (2008) 'Managing Complex Change', in Klewes, J. & Langen, R. (ed) Change 2.0: Beyond Organisational Transformation. New York: Springer.
Beech, N. & Sims, D. (2007) 'Narrative methods for identity research' in Pullen, A., Beech, N. & Sims, D. (eds) Exploring Identity: Concepts and Methods. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Beech, N. & Huxham, C. (2007) 'Prescriptive Theory', in Clegg, S. & Bailey, G. (eds) The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Studies, London: Sage.
Beech, N., Dowling, M. & Donnelly, M. (2007) 'Against Simplistic Theory, For Sophisticated Practice', in Dowling, M., Beech, N., Donnelly, M. & Littler, C. (2007) Spanning the Two Towers: The Interplay of Knowledge and Practice in HRM. CIPD Scotland.
McInnes, P., Beech, N. & MacIntosh, R. 'Managing Transition and Change' (2006) Jolly, A. (ed) The Growing Business Handbook. London: Kogan Page.
Oswick, C., Gale, J. & Beech, N. (2006). Relationships, discourse and identity work: from multiple interpretation to mutual implication. In Kornberger, M. & Gudergan, S. (Eds), Only Connect: Neat Words, Networks and Identities. Copenhagen Business School Press: Universitetforlaget.
Beech, N. & McInnes, P. (2005) 'Now where was I? Questioning assumptions of consistent identity' in Pullen, A. & Linstead, S. (eds) Organization and Identity, London: Routledge.
Selected Other Information
I am chair of the British Academy of Management Special Interest Group on Identity and have been a senior editor of Organization Studies.