The Department of Management covers the areas of Business and Management, Human Resource Management and Public Policy. A wide range of courses are delivered, with the majority being accredited or recognised by their professional bodies.

The Department has an established reputation for the delivery of quality courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and also has a strong background in consultancy and training designed for corporate clients.

Courses  A wide range of courses are taught in Business Management, Human Resource Management, and Public Policy. Subjects provide current knowledge and theory and practice in the field of management providing students with the skills and knowledge expected from an international business management education programme.

Staff  Our academic staff provide a wide range of knowledge and expertise in combination with established practical and professional experience. Therefore, our courses and subjects offer knowledge of current theory and practice in the field of management.

Research  The Department of Management is active in research across the subject areas. Research output feeds into our courses and informs the development, currency and design of all the undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

The Department delivers a wide variety of programmes at both undergraduate and at postgraduate level. Most of the postgraduate courses have flexible study - full-time, part-time or online distance learning.

All the programmes within the Management Department have some element of management, public policies or economics. 

Undergraduate Courses

• Business Management BA/BA (Hons) (Part-time)
• International Business Management BA/BA (Hons)
• Management BA/BA (Hons)
• Management Studies (Graduate Certificate)
• Management with Human Resource Management BA/BA (Hons)
• Project Management (Graduate Certificate)

Postgraduate Courses

• Doctor of Business Administration - DBA
• Energy Management - MSc
• Health Safety and Risk Management - MSc
• Human Resource Management - MSc
• International Business - MSc
• Management - MSc
• Master of Business Administration Degree (MBA) (AMBA Accredited)
• MBA Oil and Gas Management Degree (AMBA Accredited)
• Master of Public Administration (MPA)
• Project Management - MSc (APM Accredited)
• Purchasing and Supply Chain Management - MSc (CIPS Accredited)
• Quality Management - MSc (CQI Recognised)

The Department of Management is active in research in the areas of Business Management, Human Resource Management, Economics and Public Policy.

The Department has a strong reputation in research in several fields of business and management including leadership development, knowledge intensive organisations, social capital and comparative employee relations. We have obtained grant funds, published journal articles and books and supervise research in these areas.

Management Research

Research in the area of Business Management covers different aspects in the field of general management. Our PhD and DBA research students have studied topic areas such as leadership in the development of CSR policies; transformational leadership; training in small and medium size firms; women's narratives of career transition and development; and employee resource flows in IT companies.

Business and Management
The following subject fields in the area of Business Management show the research interests of academic staff and research students:

• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Business Ethics
• Business Strategy
• Environmental Management and Policy
• Psychological Contracts
• Operations and logistics management
• Quality Management

Entrepreneurship
In relation to entrepreneurship research, The Charles P. Skene Centre for Entrepreneurship has an enthusiastic research active group with a variety of interests and expertise in the topic of entrepreneurship. They undertake both qualitative and quantitative approaches to entrepreneurship and have research interests in two broad areas.  Entrepreneurship research is under the directorship of Professor Alistair Anderson.

An area of specialisation is Small Business and SMEs. Particular aspects of this include such topics as training, knowledge management, governance or innovation. The focus is on the smaller business, as being different from larger businesses, but nonetheless playing a key role in enterprise and business nationally.

Human Resource Management Research

We have a growing reputation in a number of other applied research topics such as professional development (e.g. portfolio tools), women's career development (notably social networks and mentoring), corporate social responsibility, change in faith-based organisations and employee assistance programmes. We have been engaged in consultancy work in these areas for private, public and not-for-profit sector organisations.

Expertise and PhD research supervision
Our supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate research extends to related topics within the disciplines of human resource management, strategic human resource management, international human resource management and employee relations. HRM modules contribute to many of the undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The postgraduate course in Human Resource Management is recognised by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

In addition to this broad range of research subjects, we are always interested in discussing other topics. In particular, we are interested in applications for doctoral study in the area of The Relationship between Organisational Aesthetics, Organisational Emotions, Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility, within a university/business school context.

Economics and Finance Research

Economics staff in the Department have published papers and refereed articles in a range of journals and made contributions/written chapters in several books. They also regularly present papers at national and international conferences and have undertaken research in the areas of:

• Finance and Financial Economics: Governance issues and the market for corporate control
• Finance and Financial Economics: Corporate Failure
• Finance and Financial Economics: Financial Markets
• Economics: Labour Market Skills

Finance and Financial Economics
Governance issues and the market for corporate control with areas of interest including:

• corporate governance and performance (Charlie Weir);
• the market for corporate control and the importance of governance characteristics (Charlie Weir);
• factors affecting public to private transaction (Charlie Weir);
• firm undervaluation and going private (Charlie Weir);
• the extent to which take-over targets are heterogeneous (Charlie Weir);
• the importance of private equity in going private transactions (Charlie Weir);
• private information and the market for corporate control (Charlie Weir):
• shareholder gains and LBOs (Charlie Weir) and the impact of going private (Charlie Weir and Peter Jones).

Corporate Failure
Areas of interest include:

• the analysis and prediction of company failure with particular reference to the forecasting of aggregate company liquidations Peter Jones);
• the prediction of individual company failures (Peter Jones)
• the efficiency of the stock market in foreseeing corporate failure (Peter Jones).

Financial Markets
Areas of interest include:

• testing the operational and informational efficiency of financial markets fixed income securities, debt markets, interest rates and yield curve estimation (Farooq Ahmad);
• the UK Gilt market and the impact of reforms and innovations on gilt market efficiency (Farooq Ahmad).

Labour Market Skills
In addition to the research interest in financial economics outlined above, the department undertakes research in the areas of labour market economics, with particular reference to labour training and labour migration. Within the department is the Centre for International Labour Market Studies which had received funding from The Scottish Office, Scottish Executive, Scottish Enterprise, DTI, The European Social Fund and various TECs/LECs and NTOs.  Areas of interest include:

• employment, training, skills and skills shortages, workforce development and lifelong learning (David Gibbons Wood);
• labour market information and the role of the internet (David Gibbons Wood).

Public Policy Research

Public Policy Research recognised in 2008 RAE with 100% of our submissions rated as 'internationally excellent' - one of the strongest results in Scotland. Public policy staff have published work in the British Journal of Political Science, Journal of Public Policy, Political Studies, Public Administration and the European Journal of Political Research.

Research Contact

Management Research Co-ordinator

Professor Heather Fulford
Email: h.fulford@rgu.ac.uk

Departmental staff teach in a range of subjects covering Management, Human Resource Management and Public Policy. Staff roles and responsibilites, research interests and publications can be found on their staff profile page.

Head of Department

Alex Russell

Professor Russell is the Head of Department of Management and a Professor of Petroleum Accounting at Aberdeen Business School. His research includes issues relating to Oil and Gas Accounting and Regulation. He is Chair of the Oil Industry Finance Association.  

Research Co-ordinator

Heather Fulford

Professor Heather Fulford is the Academic Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Research and Research Degrees Coordinator for the Department of Management. Her research interests include: enterprise education; business start up resources; social enterprise; ICT in SMEs.  

Academic Staff

Allison Abbott

Allison Abbott is a Lecturer in the Department of Management.  

Abhishek Agarwal

Dr. Abhishek Agarwal is a Senior Lecturer in Aberdeen Business School, Department of Management and Deputy Course Leader for the MSc Energy Management Programme. His research interests are focused on strategy, planning and policy approaches shaping the energy sector, and the development and management of industrial symbiosis networks.  

Carol Air

Carol Air is a lecturer in Management and the Course Leader for the MSc Purchasing and Supply Chain Management course.  

Alistair Anderson

Professor Anderson is the Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and theme leader for the business and enterprise research group. His research interests are in Social aspects of Entrepreneurship and SMEs.  

Peter Atorough

My research focuses on fundamental traits affecting shopping behaviour online, and therefore provides a basis for segmenting as well as predicting online consumer behaviours and actions.  

Moira Bailey

Moira Bailey is a lecturer in the Department of Management. Her particular research interests are professional development and non-formal Learning, The Psychological Contract.  

Colin Bell

Colin Bell is a Lecturer in the Department of Management. His research interest is in the field of change management in the oil and gas industry, such as Application of Lean/ Sigma6 solutions to O&G problems .  

Norman Bonney

Dr Norman Bonney is an Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Management. His research interests are devolution, active citizenship and ideas of representative and participatory democracy, particularly in relation to the Scottish Parliament.  

Erica Cargill

Erica Cargill is a lecturer in the Department of Management and course leader for MSc Human Resource Management.  

Kirsteen Close

Kirsteen Close is Lecturer in the Department of Management and Programme Director for the Masters in Public Administration .  

Kirstine Collins

Kirstine is a lecturer in the Department of Management teaching Human Resource Management.  

Doug Cruickshank

Dr Doug Cruickshank is Subject Leader for the Management Department. He has a strong commercial track record in marketing, with a technical background in IT and project management, comprising over 25 years commercial experience.  

Liam Duddy

Liam Duddy is a Lecturer in the Department of Management.  

Simon Fraser

Dr Simon Fraser is a lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the Centre for Entrepreneurship.  

Heather Fulford

Professor Heather Fulford is the Academic Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Research and Research Degrees Coordinator for the Department of Management. Her research interests include: enterprise education; business start up resources; social enterprise; ICT in SMEs.  

David Gibbons-Wood

David Gibbons-Wood is a lecturer and Director of the Centre for International Labour Market Studies. His research interests are in employment, education and local, national and international labour market policy.  

Pia Glen

Pia is a lecturer in the Department of Management teaching Human Resource Management.  

David Gray

David Gray is Professor of Transport Policy. His research interests include rural transport policy, Scottish transport policy and social capital.  

Justin Greenwood

Professor Greenwood is a Professor of European Public Policy and a visiting Professor at the College of Europe. His research specialism is EU interest representation.  

Sean Huff

Sean Huff is a Lecturer in the Department of Management at the Aberdeen Business School. Sean's research interests are in the international arena, specifically how foreign policy impacts domestic decision making.  

Wilson Irvine

Wilson Irvine is Lecturer in the Management department and is Course Leader for MSc Management. His research interests include Planning Frameworks, Crisis Management and European Economic and Political Integration on the Management of People.  

Lowellyne James

Lowellyne James is a lecturer in MSc Quality Management and MSc Purchasing & Supply Chain Management.  

David Jones

Dr David Jones is a lecturer and Director of the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Programme at the Aberdeen Business School.  

Mohammed Kishk

Dr Kishk is a Senior Lecturer in Project Management within the Department of Management, Aberdeen Business School.  

Labaran Lawal

Dr Labaran Lawal is a Lecturer in Oil and Gas Financial Operations in the Department of Management. He is currently coordinating a module on International Oil and Gas Accounting as well as contributing to the delivery of a number of modules at Masters and MBA level .  

Dave MacKintosh

Dave MacKintosh is Lecturer in the Department of Management and teaches modules in Learning & Development, People Resourcing, and People Management on the MSc Human Resource Management course.  

Charles Maddison

Charles Maddison is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and Course Leader for Energy Management.  

Peter McLaverty

Dr Peter McLaverty is a Reader in Public Policy. His research interests are in the areas of Theory and Practice of Democracy, Public Participation and Political Ethics.  

Bryan McNay

Bryan McNay is a Senior Lecturer in the Management department and teaches in the subject area of operations management and supply chain management.  

Susan McWhirr

Susan McWhirr is a Lecturer in the Department of Management.  

Lesley Murphy

Lesley Murphy is a Lecturer in the Department of Management.  

Amar Nayak

Amar Nayak is a Research Assistant in the Department of Management.  

Douglas Nisbet

Douglas is a Lecturer in the Department of Business and Management and experienced as a professional educator and trainer in Supply Chain Management, Logistics Management and Project Management  

Adam Ogilvie-Smith

Professor Adam Ogilvie-Smith is a visiting professor at the Aberdeen Business School.  

Emmanuelle Rey-Marmonier

Dr. Emmanuelle Rey-Marmonier is a HRM lecturer in the Aberdeen Business School Department of Management.  

Sheonagh Rowley

Sheonagh Rowley is a Lecturer in the Department of Management.  

Allan Scott

Allan Scott is MBA Director for MBA programmes at Aberdeen Business School.  

Robert Smith

Dr Robert Smith (Rob) is a Reader in Entrepreneurship at Aberdeen Business School and is the Scottish Institute for Policing (SIPR) lecturer in leadership. His research interests include social, cultural, theoretical and geographical aspects of entrepreneurship.  

Irena Spanovic

Irena Spanovic is a Lecturer in the Department of Management.  

Paul Spicker

Professor Paul Spicker lectures in management and is Director of the Centre for Public Policy and Management.  

Anne Stevenson

Anne is the Human Resource Management Group Lead. Anne's research interests include human and organisational factors impacting upon health and safety, embedding employability in the curriculum and stress in academics.  

Peter Strachan

Professor Strachan is the Strategy and Policy Group Lead in Management. His area of expertise is on the subject of energy policy and international wind power deployment, principally on areas such as the planning environment, community ownership models and the social acceptance of major energy infrastructure developments.  

Julie Strachan

Julie Strachan is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management.  

Linda Strangward

Linda Strangward is Lecturer in the Management department and Course Leader for the MSc Leadership and Management programme .  

Langes Supramaniam

Langes Supramaniam is a Lecturer in the Department of Management and Course Leader for MSc Project Management and MSc Quality Management courses.  

Bill Sutherland

Dr Bill Sutherland is a lecturer in the Management department and is Learning Enhancement Co-ordinator for corporate programmes.  

John Taylor

John Taylor is an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Management.  

Yvonne Turner

Dr Yvonne Turner is a lecturer in the Management department and her teaching interests lie in the areas of Cross-cultural and Strategic Management, International Business and Research Methods.  

Charlie Weir

Charlie Weir is a Professor of Economics. His research interests are in corporate governance and agency issues, the market for corporate control with special reference to public-to-private transactions, analyst independence and market regulation.  

Pauline Wilson

Pauline Wilson is a Lecturer in the Department of Management.  

Lin Xiong

Dr Lin Xiong is a lecturer in the Management department and teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate economics modules.  

Martin Young

Martin Young is a Lecturer in the Department of Management.  

Department of Management News