PhD Strategy, Operations and Leadership

Key information

Funding: Self-funded
School: Edinburgh Business School
Location: Edinburgh
Award: PhD
Delivery type: Full-time, Part-time
Start date: September

This group comprises seven academics including experts in Quality Management, Business Performance, Project Management, Strategic Management, Management, Management and Business History, and International Management. Collectively, they are some of the most highly cited global leaders in their fields. The group represents a diverse range of research interests that include Policy and strategy development and organizational change with a particular interest in what people do in the development of strategy:

Measuring and managing business performance with a view to understanding what makes high performing organisations different and how organisational controls could be optimised to underpin sustainable long term business performance
Business process management and the use of Lean Six Sigma, quality management and wider business improvement approaches in a wide range of sectors and industries
Management of strategic projects and strategic management and organisational controls in temporary organisations
The international political economy of infrastructure systems
Internet portals, website quality, social networks and the market reach of rural small firms
Strategic and performance management of SMEs
Origins, history and cultural practices of hospitality; and philosophical, ethical and cultural underpinnings of contemporary management practices.

Strategy, Operations and Leadership Group research project 1

There is a distinct relationship between how managers conceptualise their organisations and how they manage performance. The purpose of this line of research would be to investigate: How to capture the managers' mental models? How to compare these conceptualisations? How differences in mental models management reflect organisational performance?

Umit Bititci
Susan Cowan

Strategy, Operations and Leadership Group research project 2

Collaboration between organisations through joint-venture projects (eg. multi-organisation product development or social case-teams) is increasing. Person-centred leadership is effective in professional and projects contexts, but it is unclear how this works in multi-agency project contexts. The research would explore this, and include investigation of related factors such as accountability.

Potential supervisors:

Project supervisor

Research of the group is informed by significant industry engagement across public and private sector organisations. The Strategy, Operation and Leadership group includes the following academics:

Entry requirements

Candidate criteria

Academic degree

To apply to study a PhD in Strategy, Operations and Leadership, please select 'PhD Management' in the application form's drop-down menu.

All applications will be reviewed within the relevant department with a shortlisting decision made based on qualifications, the research proposal and the availability of a supervisory team. Shortlisted applicants must have the equivalent of a 1st class honours undergraduate degree, or a Masters degree with an average mark of 65% or higher and a dissertation mark of 65% or higher. Applicants who are unsure if their qualifications meet the minimum criteria should contact c.a.murray@hw.ac.uk. Please note that possession of the minimum qualifications does not guarantee shortlisting for interview.

English Language requirements

If you have not already studied a degree programme that was taught and examined in the medium of English we require evidence of language proficiency. For IELTS: the minimum overall IELTS score is 6.5 with no score lower than 6.0 in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening.

Further information can be found on the UK Government's Knowledge of English page.

Research proposal

The research proposal should contain as much as possible of the following: an introduction or outline of the proposed topic; a statement of objectives and/or specific research questions; a summary of some of the relevant literature which supports the research objective(s); an indication of the intended research methodology; an indication of the theoretical structure and/or conceptual outline; a provisional timetable of the major phases of the research process; results expected from the research e.g. practical value of the research or possible contributions to knowledge or policy or methodology. At this stage we are not looking for a definitive document but merely an indication that you have thought through most of the above issues. Please note that work submitted may be subject to screening via plagiarism software.

References

If you have references available these should be submitted with your application. If they are not currently available please ensure that you provide the names and contact details, including email addresses, of two academic referees on the application form.

Candidates may also submit a Curriculum Vitae.

Queries may be directed to c.a.murray@hw.ac.uk

Funding information

Status	Full Time	Part Time
Scotland	£5,006	£2,503
England / Wales / N Ireland	£5,006	£2,503
International	£19,816	£9,908

Status: Your residency status is usually defined as the country where you have been ordinarily resident for the three years before the start of your course.
International: 'International' includes applicants from European Union countries who do not hold Pre-Settled or Settled status in UK. (This does not include students from the Republic of Ireland - see above).

Additional information

Self-funded

We welcome self-funded PhD research candidates from around the world. The majority of academic supervisors are open to applications from self-funding students and potential candidates should match their application to the research expertise and interests of the Business Management department. If you are interested in research areas that are not advertised here then please look at our research web pages and contact staff working in your area of interest. We also welcome good quality self-funded research projects from industry. For self-funded research from industry, we may be able to cover a percentage of the fee via a scholarship. Queries may be directed to Dr. Babak Taheri b.taheri@hw.ac.uk

We offer a number of competitive funded scholarships for research degrees. Full or partial support may be available for well-qualified candidates from UK research councils, research pools, charities or industry.

View our full range of scholarships.

Why Heriot-Watt

We're the top university in Scotland for graduate outcomes which means that more of our graduates are employed or in postgraduate education than any other institution in the country and we ranked 5th in the UK.

We're also rated number one in the UK for CEO or MD roles, meaning more of our graduates go on to become CEOs or MDs than any other university in the whole of the UK. On top of that, we have beautiful campuses, across the globe, so you'll get a truly international education. Our Edinburgh Campus is home to Oriam, Scotland's National Sports Performance Centre combined with plenty of wellbeing resources, prioritising fitness and mental health for all students. Our Global Research Institutes look at solving real world issues such as climate change and saving our oceans as well as working on the next medical technological breakthrough and the future of AI and robots.