The Sage Dictionary of Qualitative Management Research

Richard Thorpe is Professor of Management Development and Pro Dean for Research at Leeds University Business School. His research interests have included: performance, entrepreneurship, knowledge and leadership as well as research methods in management research. His early career as a management trainee on a Clarks programme informed the way his ethos has developed. Following a period in industry his first academic appointment was as a researcher at Strathclyde University in the Pay and Reward Research Centre. There, as a consequence of the research conducted he developed close links with practitioners, intermediaries and policy makers, something he has strived to maintain as his career progressed. Common themes in his work are: a strong commitment to conducting research in collaboration with practitioners; a focus on action and change; an interest in and commitment to the development of doctoral students and the development of capacity within the sector. Richard has been past president and chair of the British Academy of Management and member of the ESRC Training and Development Board. He is currently chair of the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies. have enjoyed a serpentine academic career, working in departments of politics and philosophy as well as business and management, and at a number of UK universities, including Southampton, Bath, Manchester Met. and Leeds. Throughout I have been interested in basic questions of meaning associated with words like: value, production, good and wealth, and continue to be curious about these, currently through research work on ethics, on entrepreneurial activity, and on strategic practices. Approaches from anyone wishing to study for a Phd in sympathy with, or on a line of flight from, the above more than welcome.