The Nature, Social Organization and Promotion of Management Research: Towards Policy
| Date | 01 December 1998 |
| Author | Ken Starkey,David Tranfield |
| Published date | 01 December 1998 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.00103 |
Foreword by David C. Wilson,
Chairman, British Academy
of Management
The paper which follows this short foreword is
intended to demarcate many of the intellectual
and practical challenges facing all of us who
engage in management research. As such, the
paper ends with a series of propositions which,
in the tradition of social science, are ‘testable’ by
further analysis and research. This is the intention
for future substantial research activity within
the British Academy of Management (BAM).
The Academy represents the interests of scholars
in management research. To do this effectively,
there is a need for BAM to lead, to engage and to
examine the emerging and future nature of man-
agement research. As a practical forward step,
it is proposed to try and establish a Fellowship
for a fixed period to examine and refine the
propositions for mode 2 research laid out in the
paper which follows. It is hoped that this Fellow-
ship will be funded jointly between the Economic
and Social Research Council (ESRC) and BAM.
It is high time BAM entered the policy debates
over the nature of management research and, in
that spirit, the following paper is intended to be a
beginning of that journey. It should not be read as
British Journal of Management, Vol. 9, 341–353 (1998)
The Nature, Social Organization and
Promotion of Management Research:
Towards Policy1
David Tranfield and Ken Starkey*
Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedford MK43 0AL, UK and
*School of Management and Finance, University of Nottingham, Portland Building, University Park,
Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
This paper argues for the distinctiveness of management research and develops a
perspective concerning management research policy. It argues that the key defining
characteristic of management research is its applied nature, and that its central concern
should be ‘the general (engineering) problem of design’. Because a key goal of manage-
ment research is to improve the relationship between theory and practice, a fundamental
concern lies with its diverse nature and the consequential difficulty of integration of
sub-disciplines, as well as with the issue of the relevance and the application of findings.
As a policy paper, it aims to introduce a limited number of analytical frameworks in
order to develop a policy position, thus helping frame the debate concerning the role
of management research. Specifically, it achieves this, first by exploring the ontology of
management research, examining its form, features, peculiarities and idiosyncrasies
using Becher’s conceptual schema for exploring the nature of disciplines; second by
identifying a requisite form of social organization to support management research
activity using the Gibbons et al. taxonomy of knowledge production systems; and
finally, by identifying some conclusions, research policy implications, and suggesting a
set of policy propositions concerning the conduct of management research.
© 1998 British Academy of Management
1The authors thank members of the British Academy
of Management Policy Committee, particularly Pro-
fessors Elizabeth Chell, Paul Jeffcutt, Gerry Johnson,
David Sims and Richard Whipp for their comments,
critique and support in the development of this paper
through various draftings, and also Professor Bob
Berry for his comments.
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