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CBS Faculty

photograph of rick delbridge

Professor Rick Delbridge
Chair in Organizational Analysis and Senior Fellow of the ESRC/EPSRC Advanced Institute of Management Research
Office: F42, Cardiff Business School
Aberconway Building
Colum Drive
Cardiff    CF10 3EU

Tel: + 44 (0) 29 2087 6644
Fax: + 44 (0)29 2087 4419
Email: delbridger@cf.ac.uk

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Organization in theory and practice; managing innovation and change; workplace employment relations

teaching profile

Undergraduate organization analysis and change; MBA managing change; PhD programme Managing research design

academic positions

Associate Dean (Research) and Professor of Organizational Analysis, Cardiff Business School, Senior Fellow, ESRC/EPSRC Advanced Institute of Management Research (2003-), Fellow of the Sunningdale
Institute (2005-), Associate Research Fellow of SKOPE (ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (2007-)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books

Delbridge, R.  Life on the Line in Contemporary Manufacturing, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998 (hardback).
Reprinted in paperback in 2000.

Delbridge, R., Gratton, L., Johnson, G. et al  The Exceptional Manager, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006 (hardback).    Reprinted in paperback in 2007.

Articles in journals

Heery, E., Simms, M., Delbridge, R., Salmon, J. and Simpson, D. 'Union Organizing in Britain: A Survey of Policy and Practice', in International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 11, No. 5, pp 986-1007, 2000.

Delbridge, R., Lowe, J. and Oliver, N. 'Shopfloor Responsibilities under Lean Teamworking', in Human Relations, Vol. 53, No. 11, pp 1459-79, 2000.

Heery, E., Simms, M., Simpson, D., Delbridge, R. and Salmon, J. 'Organizing Unionism comes to Britain', in Employee Relations, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp 38-53, 2000.

Heery, E., Simms, M., Delbridge, R., Salmon, J. and Simpson, D.  'The TUC's Organising Academy:  An assessment', in Industrial Relations Journal, Vol., 31, No. 5, 400-15, 2000.

Delbridge, R. and Whitfield, K. 'Employee Perceptions of Job Influence and Organizational Participation', in Industrial Relations, Vol.  40, No. 3, 472-89, 2001.

Barton, H. and Delbridge, R. ‘Development in the Learning Factory: Training Human Capital’ in Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 25, No. 9,  465-72, 2001.

Oliver, N. and Delbridge, R. 'The Characteristics of High Performing Supply Chains', in International Journal of Technology Management, Vol 23, 60-73, 2002.

Delbridge, R. and Barton, H. 'Organizing for continuous improvement: Structures and roles in auto components plants', in International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 22, No. 6, 680-92 , 2002.

Heery, E. , Delbridge, R., Simms, M., Salmon, J. and Simpson, D.  ‘Organizing for Renewal: A Case Study of the UK’s Organizing Academy’, in Research in the Sociology of Work, Vol. 11: 79-110, 2003. 

Delbridge, R. ‘Knowledge, innovation and institutional change’, in Work, Employment and Society, Vol. 17, No. 1, 187-96, 2003. 

Biggart, N. and Delbridge, R. ‘Systems of exchange’, in Academy of Management Review, Vol. 29, No. 1, 28-49, 2004.
(Awarded the 2005 Best Paper Prize)

Barton, H. and Delbridge, R. ‘HRM in support of the learning factory: Evidence from the US and UK automotive components industries’, in International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 15, No. 2, 331-345, 2004.

Heery, E., Conley, H., Delbridge, R. and Stewart, P.  ‘Beyond the enterprise: Trade union representation of freelances in the UK’, in Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 14, No. 2, 20-35, 2004. 

Edwards, T., Delbridge, R. and Munday, M. ‘Understanding innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises: a process manifest’, in Technovation, Vol. 25, No. 10, 1119-1127, 2004.

Bessant, J., Birkinshaw, J. and Delbridge, R.  ‘Innovation as unusual’, in Business Strategy Review, Vol. 15, pp. 32-35, September 2004.

Delbridge, R. and Ezzamel, M. ‘The strength of difference: Contemporary conceptions of control’, in Organization, Vol. 12, No. 5, 603-618, 2005. 

Mutch, A., Delbridge, R. and Ventresca, M.  ‘Situating organizational action: the relational sociology of organization’, in Organization, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp. 607-625, 2006. 

Barton, H. and Delbridge, R. ‘Delivering the ‘Learning Factory’?  Evidence on HR roles in contemporary manufacturing’, in Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol 30, No. 5, pp. 385-395, 2006.

Delbridge, R. ‘The vitality of labour process analysis’, in Organization Studies, Vol. 27, No. 8, pp. 1209-1219, 2006. 

Birkinshaw, J., Bessant, J. and Delbridge, R. ‘Finding, forming, and performing: Creating networks for discontinuous innovation’, in California Management Review, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp 67-84, 2007. 

Delbridge, R. and Edwards, T. ‘Reflections on developments in institutional theory’, in Scandinavian Journal of Management, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp 191-205, 2007. 

Delbridge, R. ‘Explaining conflicted collaboration: A critical realist approach to hegemony’, in Organization Studies, Vol. 28, No. 9, pp 1347-1357, 2007. 

Edwards, T., Delbridge, R. and Munday, M. 'A critical assessment of the evaluation of EU interventions for innovation in the SME sector in Wales' in Urban Studies, Vol. 44, No.12, 2429-2447, 2007.

Delbridge, R. and Whitfield, K. ‘More than mere fragments? The use of Workplace Employment Relations Survey data in HRM research’, in International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 18, No. 12, 2007.

Delbridge, R. and Edwards, T. ‘Challenging conventions: Roles and processes during nonisomorphic institutional change’, in Human Relations, Vol. 61, No. 3, 299-325, 2008.

Ashworth, R., Boyne, G. and Delbridge, R. ‘Escape from the iron cage? Organizational change and isomorphic pressures in the public sect or’, in Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Vol. 19, No. 1, 165-187, 2009.

Contributions to edited collections

Delbridge, R., Lowe, J. and Oliver, N. 'Worker Autonomy in Lean Teams: Evidence from the World Automotive Components Industry', in Teamworking, Procter, S. and Mueller, F. (Eds.), pp 17, Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2000.

Delbridge, R. 'Teams in Contemporary Manufacturing: Some Recent Research Findings and Pressing Questions', in Teamworking: Some International Perspectives, Park, R., Harris, R. and Collins, E. (Eds.), pp 10, Post Pressed, Flaxton, Australia, 2000.

Delbridge, R. and Barton, H. 'Crossing boundaries in the Learning Factory: Evidence of Cross-Functional and Inter-Organizational Knowledge Transfer in the Auto Components Industry', in Operations Management Crossing Borders and Boundaries: The Changing Role of Operations, van Dierdonck, R. and Vereecke, A. (Eds.), pp 8, Academia Press, Ghent Belgium, 2000.   

Barton, H. and Delbridge, R.  ‘Feeding the Beast: Worker and Supervisor Views on their Changing Roles in First Tier Automotive Suppliers in the US and UK’, in Organisational Change and the Future of Work: The Experience of Work and Organisational Change, Stewart, P. (Ed.), pp 16, ESRC Future of Work Programme Publication, 2002.

Delbridge, R. and Whitfield, K. ‘Perceptions of Job Influence under Varying Forms of Employee Participation’, in Universal Wisdom through Globalization, Hanami, T. (Ed.), pp 17, The Japan Institute of Labour, Tokyo, 2002. 

Delbridge, R. ‘Workers Under Lean Manufacturing’, in The New Workplace: A Guide to the Human Impact of Modern Working Practices, Holman, D., Wall, T., Clegg, C. and Howard, A. (Eds.), pp 17, Wiley, Chichester, 2003. 
(Revised and reprinted as Delbridge, R. ‘Workers Under Lean Manufacturing’, in The Essentials of New Workplace: A Guide to the Human Impact of Modern Working Practices, Holman, D., Wall, T., Clegg, C. and Howard, A. (Eds.), pp 17, Wiley, Chichester, 2005.) 

Heery, E., Simms, M., Delbridge, R., Salmon, J. and Simpson, D. ‘Trade Union Recruitment Policy in Britain: Form and Effects’, in Union Organizing: Campaigning for Trade Union Recognition, Gall, G. (Ed.), pp 22, Routledge, London, 2003. 

Delbridge, R. ‘HRM in contemporary manufacturing’ in the Oxford University Press Handbook of Human Resource Management Boxall, P., Purcell, J. and Wright, P. (eds.), pp 22, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007. 

Jenkins, S and Delbridge, R. ‘Disconnected Workplaces: Interests and Identities in the “High Performance” Factory’, in Searching for the ‘H’ in HRM  Bolton, S. and Houlihan, M. (eds.), pp 23, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2007.

Reports

Heery, E., Delbridge, R., Salmon, J., Simms, M., and Simpson, D.  The Organising Academy, pp 99, Report for the Trades Union Congress, 2000. 

Heery, E., Conley, H., Delbridge, R. and Stewart, P. Beyond the Enterprise?  Trade Unions and the Representation of Contingent Workers, pp 42, ESRC Future of Work Programme Working Paper No.7, 2000. 

Heery, E., Simms, M., Conley, H., Delbridge, R. and Stewart, P.  Trade Unions and the Flexible Workforce: A Survey Analysis of Union Policy and Practice, pp 16, ESRC Future of Work Programme Working Paper No. 22, 2002. 

Edwards, T., Delbridge, R. and Munday, M.  Learning Companies: An Audit of the Innovative Potential and Performance of Welsh Manufacturing SMEs, pp 16, Cardiff University, 2003.

Heery, E., Delbridge, R. and Simms, M.  The Organizing Academy – Five Years On, pp 20, Trades Union Congress ‘Organizing the Future’ Pamphlet Series, 2003.

Mariotti, F., Delbridge, R. and Munday, M.  Networks of Learning: How Motorsport Companies Collaborate and Share Knowledge, Cardiff University, Government Motorsport Unit and AIM, 2003. 

Andriani, P., Jones, C., Perkmann, M., De Propris, L., Sena, V., Delbridge, R., Moeslein, K., and Neely, A.  Challenging Clusters: The Prospects and Pitfalls of Clustering for Innovation and Economic Development, AIM Report with the Welsh Economy Research Unit, 2005. 

Andriani, P., Jones, C., Perkmann, M., De Propris, L., Sena, V., Delbridge, R., Moeslein, K., and Neely, A.  The Cluster Effect: How Clusters Policy Can Make the UK more Competitive, AIM Executive Briefing, 2005. 

Kasabov, E. and Delbridge, R. Biotech Clusters in the UK: Challenges and Opportunities, AIM Executive Briefing, 2006. 

Delbridge, R., Edwards, P., Forth, J., Miskell, P. and Payne, J.  The Organization of Productivity: Re-thinking Skills and Work Organization, AIM Report, 2006.

Neely, A. and Delbridge, R. Effective Business Models: What do they mean for Whitehall?, Sunningdale Institute Report, 2007.

Delbridge, R. and Mariotti, F. Racing for Radical Innovation, AIM Executive Briefing, 2009.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES