Organisation, work, leadership and society (OWLS)
Organisations across the private, public and third sectors face unprecedented grand challenges arising from increasing inequality, climate change, sustainability and digital innovations. Their actions in these areas have wide-ranging implications for equality, diversity and inclusion, fairness, opportunity, social justice and wellbeing. In this cluster, we examine how these challenges impact and transform the way we organise, work, lead and strategise.
At the heart of the cluster is an interest in the sociological and psychological nature of organisational behaviour. We use a range of mainstream and critical theoretical perspectives, at both the micro-level of behaviour and inter-personal relations, and the macro-level of institutions and societies.
Members of the group also work with the Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy (CRISP), the Centre for the Study of Philanthropy and Public Good (CSPPG) and the Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences (IBANS).
The group is convened by David Dowell and Daniel Semper
Affiliated research centers
CRISP’s research focuses on the political, legal, economic and social dimensions of the surveillance society in a collaborative initiative between Stirling, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Southampton and Manchester Metropolitan Universities.
The Centre provides an intellectual and organisational home for individuals and groups across the University of St Andrews whose research focuses on equality, diversity and inclusion issues.
The Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences is an interdisciplinary community of researchers who study the behaviour of human beings and other animals from cellular, neural, cognitive and evolutionary perspectives. The Institute brings together faculty members, research staff and students from the Schools of Biology, Psychology & Neuroscience, Medicine, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics and Physics & Astronomy, with the aim of fostering progress at interfaces of the behavioural and neural sciences.
Sustainable development goals
Research in OWLS examines how organizations across sectors are adapting to social, environmental, and economic grand challenges. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals provide a shared blueprint for countries, organizations, and individuals to create a more sustainable and equitable world.
Our research advances these goals in the priority areas illustrated below.
