BUSINESS SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES

A video filmed as part of the WBS Inaugral lecture series

Professor Martin Parker delivers the second in the series of Inaugral Lectures by WBS. Professor Martin Parker asks us to think about how Institutions shape our thinking. Do the organisational structures, the standard working practices and even the language promote the creation of certain types of knowledge that answers a certain set of problems?

It is an long-standing criticism of academics that they concern themselves with esoteric issues, focusing in so much on the minutia that they fail to relate to the bigger picture. Although not always a fair criticism, can this stereotype also be understood as a product of the institutional set-up?

Calling for all to 'transcend the corridors', Professor Martin suggests that there is great value in academics seeking to move beyond their discipline, making connections outside of their particular knowledge-base and finding ways to encourage their students to do the same.

Professor Martin Parker joined Warwick in 2010 having worked previously at Staffordshire, Keele and Leicester universities. His training is mostly in sociology, with some anthropology and cultural studies, and he has a particular interest in various meanings of the word 'culture'.

He is Editor-in-Chief of the Sage journal Organization. He has worked on social and organizational theory, market managerialism and higher education, culture and popular culture, utopianism, conspiracy theory, the Apollo space programme, business ethics, critical management studies, and alternative organizations.