Andrew Pettigrew
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Andrew Marshall Pettigrew (born 11 June 1944) is Professor of Strategy and Organisation at the
Saïd Business School Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd or SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford. The school is a provider of management education. Business and management classes started at Oxford in 1965 when the Centre of Management Studies, ...
at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
. A British professor, he was formerly dean of the
University of Bath School of Management The University of Bath School of Management in Bath, England, is the international business school of the University of Bath. It was established in 1966. The School offers a range of courses including undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD, as w ...
. He received his training in
Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
and
Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
at
Liverpool University The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University, it received Royal Charter by King Edward VII in 1903 attaining the de ...
and received his
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
from
Manchester Business School Alliance Manchester Business School (Alliance MBS) is the business school of the University of Manchester in Manchester, England. It is one of the oldest business schools in the UK, and provides education to undergraduates, postgraduates and e ...
in 1970. He has held academic appointments at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
,
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
,
London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...
and
Warwick Business School Warwick Business School (WBS) is the business school of the University of Warwick and an academic department within the Faculty of Social Sciences. It was established in 1967 as the School of Industrial and Business Studies. The business school ...
. Pettigrew has published many academic papers and books that consider the human, political, and social aspects of organisations and their strategies in contrast to the purely economic view in which the main unit of analysis is the firm or industry as typified by
Michael Porter Michael Eugene Porter (born May 23, 1947) is an American businessman and professor at Harvard Business School. He was one of the founders of the consulting firm The Monitor Group (now part of Deloitte) and FSG, a social impact consultancy. ...
. This is known as the
strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...
process school as opposed to the strategy content school. He was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(OBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.


Early life

Just before leaving
Corby Corby is a town and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, northeast of Northampton. In 2021 it had a population of 68,164. From 1974 to 2021, it was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...
Grammar School, he joined a Brathay Exploration Group funded by the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and the
Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
to
Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
, where he and 12 other boys worked with local
archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
and
social anthropologists Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...
. His own tasks were to survey the distribution of flat houses, particular to the northern slopes of
Mount Elgon Mount Elgon is an extinct shield volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya, north of Kisumu and west of Kitale. The mountain's highest point, named "Wagagai", is located entirely within Uganda.
, and then to survey the spread of conical-roofed houses, as an indicator of the break-up or continuity of the existing culture. He later said of this trip that the "themes can be seen to resonate throughout much of my academic work". He followed this work with a degree in Sociology at
Liverpool University The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University, it received Royal Charter by King Edward VII in 1903 attaining the de ...
and a Ph.D in industry sociology supervised by
Enid Mumford Enid Mumford (6 March 1924 – 7 April 2006) was a British social scientist, computer scientist and Professor Emerita of Manchester University and a visiting fellow at Manchester Business School, largely known for her work on human factors and ...
at
Manchester Business School Alliance Manchester Business School (Alliance MBS) is the business school of the University of Manchester in Manchester, England. It is one of the oldest business schools in the UK, and provides education to undergraduates, postgraduates and e ...
followed by two years at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
at their Administrative Science Department. He established and directed the Centre for Corporate Strategy and Change at
Warwick Business School Warwick Business School (WBS) is the business school of the University of Warwick and an academic department within the Faculty of Social Sciences. It was established in 1967 as the School of Industrial and Business Studies. The business school ...
from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. In 2002 he became the first non North American scholar to receive the Distinguished Scholar of the US Academy of Management award.


Key ideas

Writing about his 1985 book ''The Awakening Giant'', which examines how best to explain the success and failings of
ICI #REDIRECT ICI {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
, Fairfield-Sonn (1987) says:
"Given the scope of the task Pettigrew sets out to accomplish the likelihood of success seems remote. Yet, the author artfully manages to combine the skills of business historian, methodological critic, and pragmatic counselor to produce a cutting-edge work that should be read by everyone who has an interest in organizational development."
Pettigrew's background in anthropology and sociology seemed to predispose his view that "an organisation's strategy is the result of a process embedded in a context" (2003b). He recalls how when he made his "way across then what was a fairly rickety (and in places non-existent) bridge from sociology by way of organisation strategy" such a view was "an unusual thing" since at the time "those with backgrounds in industrial economics ruled the roost" complete with their "overuse of simple distinctions such as 'strategy formulation' and 'strategy implementation' and 'strategy content' and 'strategy process' research. Despite his intellectual preference for fewer distinctions between content, process, and context, he still tends to be viewed as a researcher in the process tradition simply because it, as he, is interested in more than static decisions. He argues (2003b) that: * The link between formulation and implementation is not unilinear but interrelated ''time'' * Understanding the change associated with strategy requires understanding of continuity over ''time'' * Strategy, and its impact on future outcomes, are shaped by power and politics This view of strategy requires the strategy researcher to be
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
,
anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
, and
political analyst Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and law ...
.


Views on methodology

Pettigrew considers his work to have been "to catch reality in flight" (2003b) such that human behaviour is studied in context and by locating present behaviour "in its historical antecedents" (2003b:306). He determines three benefits of such a
longitudinal study A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of observationa ...
: # Length of time enables appreciation of decision-making in context # Each individual 'drama' provides a clear point of data collection # Mechanisms that lead to, accentuate, and regulate, each drama can be deduced # Comparison and contrast is possible allowing continuity and change to be examined He claims that "most social scientists do not appear to give much time to time" and that, as a result, much of their work is an "exercise in comparative statics" and therefore recommends strategy researchers follow the approach of historians to "reconstruct past contexts, processes, and decisions" in order to discover patterns, find underlying mechanisms and triggers, and combine inductive search with deductive reason.


Bibliography

* Pettigrew, A. M. (1985), ''The Awakening Giant'', Oxford, Blackwell * Pettigrew, A. M. (1990), "Longitudinal Field Research on Change, Theory, & Practise, '' Organization Science'', 1:267:92 * Pettigrew, A. M. (1992), "The Character and Significance of Strategy Process Research",
Strategic Management Journal The Strategic Management Society (SMS) is a professional society for the advancement of strategic management. The society consists of nearly 3,000 members representing various backgrounds and perspectives from more than eighty different countries ...
, 13:5-16 * Pettigrew, A. M (1997), "What is a processual analysis",
Scandinavian Journal of Management A Scandinavian is a resident of Scandinavia or maybe something associated with the region, including: Culture * Scandinavianism, political and cultural movement * Scandinavian design, a design movement of the 1950s * Scandinavian folklore * Scan ...
, 13:337-48 * Pettigrew, A. M. Woodman, RW, & Cameron, KS, (2001), "Studying Organizational Change and Development: Challenges for Future Research",
The Academy of Management Journal The ''Academy of Management Journal'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of management. It is published by the Academy of Management and was established in 1958 as the ''Journal of the Academy of Management'', obtain ...
, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Aug. 2001), pp. 697–713 * Pettigrew, A. M. "Strategy as Process, Power, and Change", in Cummings, S, & Wilson, D, (2003b), ''Images of Strategy, Blackwell Publishing'', pp. 301–330


Footnotes


References

* Fairfield-Sonn, JW, (1987), The Awakening Giant: Continuity and Change in ICI, Industrial and Labor Relations Review © 1987 Cornell University, School of Industrial & Labor Relations


External links


University of Bath ProfileBuresund ProfileProfile at OxfordCatalogue of Pettigrew's business research papers
held at the
Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collect ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pettigrew, Andrew Academics of London Business School Academics of the University of Bath Yale University faculty Harvard University faculty Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Corby 1944 births Alumni of the Manchester Business School