Professor Andy Adcroft
About
Biography
I am the Deputy Dean of Surrey Business School where my prime responsibility is supporting my academic colleagues in building a world-class student experience. I am lucky to work with incredibly talented academics and so my job is to create a learning environment in which they can interact with our students to facilitate and support them in reaching their potential.
I have been an academic for over 20 years. Before joining the University of Surrey in 2002 I worked at the University of East London and the London School of Economics.
I am also involved with two journals. I am the Editor-in-Chief of Business and Management Education in HE (BMHE). This is a new journal published by the Higher Education Academy that aims to publish cutting-edge and evidence based research into the theories and practices of education in business and management schools internationally.
Along with Professor Patrick Murphy from De Paul University in Chicago, I am the co-editor of Management Decision. Founded over 40 years ago, Management Decision publishes some of the best research into the theory and practice of management across a range of disciplines and serves a variety of constituencies from management scholars through to business and thought leaders.
One of my personal missions is to open up universities and the work of academics to the wider world and in this area I do stand-up comedy and made my Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2013. My comedy is derived from my academic research and asks penetrating and thought provoking questions such as whether physicists are more attractive than chemists, when it is appropriate to use emoticons and why Gary Neville should be the hero of every 18 year old. Since taking up stand-up in 2011, as well as Edinburgh, I have played to sell out audiences at the Electric Theatre in Guildford and I am a regular on the south London comedy circuit. My latest show uses comedy and academic research to explain the relationship between disruptive technology, Twitter and start-up businesses. It is more interesting and funnier than it sounds.
Affiliations and memberships
ResearchResearch interests
I am fascinated by excellence and how people develop expertise. This research covers a range of activities such as:• Excellence in learning. Over the past few years I have published a variety of papers on issues such as differing conceptions of feedback between academics and students, the relationship between feedback and performance, how motivations to learn influence an individual's choice of learning strategy and the development of a scholarship of teaching and learning through organic interventions;• Excellence in sports teams. Through examination of the relationship between performance and competitiveness, I have published papers on team dynamics in international rugby union and test match cricket.
I am currently supervising one doctoral student. Cassie Jones is carrying out ground-breaking work on co-creation and how disabled people engage with arts exhibitions. Over the past three years I have supervised a range of doctoral students to completion in issues as varied as strategy making in German foundries (Heiko Braukhoff), segmentation in the pet food market (Michael Struck), corruption and occupational fraud in El Salvador (Gregor Sommer) and joint venture performance in the oil industry (Wole Kupoloken). Potential doctoral students with interesting and original research questions are more than welcome to get in touch.
I have a variety of projects in the pipeline. I am currently collecting data for a year-long study into how motivations to learn and learning strategies change over time in relation to academic performance. I am also collecting data around performance and competitiveness to try to establish who is the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. I am also looking, with Robert Willis from Anglia Ruskin University, at the different business models which underpin competition in the UK higher education sector.
Research collaborations
For the past decade I have worked closely with Dr Robert Willis from Ashcroft International Business School on issues surrounding public sector management, globalisation and the use of political models in the development of management theory. My research on competitiveness in sport is carried out in collaboration with Jon Teckman from Surrey Business School.
Research interests
I am fascinated by excellence and how people develop expertise. This research covers a range of activities such as:• Excellence in learning. Over the past few years I have published a variety of papers on issues such as differing conceptions of feedback between academics and students, the relationship between feedback and performance, how motivations to learn influence an individual's choice of learning strategy and the development of a scholarship of teaching and learning through organic interventions;• Excellence in sports teams. Through examination of the relationship between performance and competitiveness, I have published papers on team dynamics in international rugby union and test match cricket.
I am currently supervising one doctoral student. Cassie Jones is carrying out ground-breaking work on co-creation and how disabled people engage with arts exhibitions. Over the past three years I have supervised a range of doctoral students to completion in issues as varied as strategy making in German foundries (Heiko Braukhoff), segmentation in the pet food market (Michael Struck), corruption and occupational fraud in El Salvador (Gregor Sommer) and joint venture performance in the oil industry (Wole Kupoloken). Potential doctoral students with interesting and original research questions are more than welcome to get in touch.
I have a variety of projects in the pipeline. I am currently collecting data for a year-long study into how motivations to learn and learning strategies change over time in relation to academic performance. I am also collecting data around performance and competitiveness to try to establish who is the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. I am also looking, with Robert Willis from Anglia Ruskin University, at the different business models which underpin competition in the UK higher education sector.
Research collaborations
For the past decade I have worked closely with Dr Robert Willis from Ashcroft International Business School on issues surrounding public sector management, globalisation and the use of political models in the development of management theory. My research on competitiveness in sport is carried out in collaboration with Jon Teckman from Surrey Business School.
Teaching
I lead the Business School's final year undergraduate International Business Strategy module which is taken by around 500 students from across the University. I also teach on the MBA.
People learning best when they work things out for themselves. If I had something so grand as a philosophy of teaching that would be it. I believe in people taking responsibility for their learning, that University is a place where people come to learn rather than just to be taught and, most important of all, that learning only happens when you participate. Spectators don't learn half as well as participants.
Publications
Books
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Johal, S. with Adcroft, A. (1994) Cars: Analysis, History, Cases, Berghahn Books, Oxford, UK.
Contributions to Books
Adcroft, A. (2013) Enquiry Based Feedback in Doyle, E., Buckley, P. and Carroll, C. in Innovative Business School Teaching: Engaging the Millennial Generation, Routledge, UK. (forthcoming)
Adcroft, A. (2013) Strategy in Sport in Beech, J. and Chadwick, S. The Business of Sport Management, Prentice Hall, UK. (forthcoming)
Adcroft, A. (2008) Foreword in Dhaliwal, S. Making a Fortune: Learning from the Asian Phenomenon, Wiley, UK
Dhaliwal, S. and Adcroft, A. (2007) Accurate Portrayal or Lazy Stereotype? The changing nature of the Asian Business Sector in the UK in Dowling, M and Schmude, J. (eds) Empirical Entrepreneurship in Europe: New Perspectives, Edward Elgar, UK.
Williams, K., Cutler, T., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (2006) Against Lean Production in Bennett, D. (ed) Operations Management I, Sage, UK.
Williams, K., Cutler, T., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (2003) Against Lean Production in Lewis, M. A. and Slack, N. (eds) Operations Management: critical perspectives on business and management, Routledge, UK.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A., Johal, S. and Willis, R. (2002) Management Practice or Structural Factors: The Case of America versus Japan in the Car Industry in Tolliday, S. (ed) Economic Development of Modern Japan 1945-1995: From Occupation to the Bubble Economy, Edward Elgar Publishing, UK.
Adcroft, A. and Willis, R. (2000) Innovation or Optimisation: Facing up to the challenge of the global economy in Barry, J., Chandler, J., Clark, H., Johnston, R. and Needle, D. (eds) Organisation and Management: A critical text, International Thomson Business Press, Reading, UK.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (1997) The Myth of the Line: Ford's production of the model T at Highland Park 1909-1916 in Fitzgerald, R. and Rowley, C. (eds) Human Resources and the Firm in International Perspective, Edward Elgar Publishing, London, UK.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (1996) The Limits of Management: Problems of the average car company in Glover, I. And Hughes, M. (eds) The Professional Managerial Class: Contemporary British management in the pursuer mode, Avebury, Aldershot, UK.
Haslam, C., Williams, K., Adcroft, A., Johal, S. and Williams, J. (1996) Learning from Japan: The yeast for Britain's manufacturing regeneration in Darby, J. (ed) Japan and the European Periphery, Palgrave Macmillan, UK.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (1995) Beyond Management: Problems of the average car company in Babson, S. (ed) Lean Work: Empowerment and exploitation in the global auto industry, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, USA.
Refereed Papers
Adcroft, A. and Willis, R. (2013) Do those who benefit the most need it the least? An experiment in Enquiry Based Feedback in Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education (forthcoming)
Adcroft A. and Taylor, D. (2013) Support for new career academics: an integrated model for research intensive university business and management schools in Studies in High Education (forthcoming)
Adcroft, A. and Teckman, J. (2011) Team Dynamics in International Test Match Cricket in Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, volume 1, number 1.
Adcroft, A. (2011) Developing a conceptual model for career support for new academics in International Journal of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, volume 22, number 1.
Adcroft, A. (2010) Speaking the Same Language? Perceptions of feedback amongst academic staff and students in a School of Law in The Law Teacher volume 44, number 3.
Adcroft, A. (2010) The motivations to study and expectations of studying of undergraduate students in business and management in Journal of Further and Higher Education volume 35, number 4.
Adcroft, A. (2010) The Mythology of Feedback in Higher Education Research and Development volume 30, number 4.
Adcroft, A. (2010) The motivations to study of undergraduate students in management: The impact of degree programme and level of study in International Journal of Management Education, volume 9, issue 1.
Adcroft, A. and Lockwood, A. (2010) Enhancing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: An organic approach in Teaching in Higher Education, volume 15, number 5.
Adcroft, A., Teckman, J. and Willis, J. (2010) Is higher education in the UK becoming more competitive? in International Journal of Public Sector Management, volume 23, issue 6.
Adcroft, A. and Teckman, J. (2009) Taking Sport Seriously in Management Decision, Volume 47, Number 1.
Adcroft, A. and Dhaliwal, S. (2009) Disconnections in management theory and practice in Journal of Management Philosophy, Volume 7, Number 3.
Adcroft, A. and Willis, R. (2008) A snapshot of strategy research 2002-2006 in Journal of Management History, Volume 14, Number 4.
Adcroft, A. and Teckman, J. (2008) A new look at the sports paradigm for business: performing isn't enough in Journal of Business Strategy, Volume 29, Number 5.
Adcroft, A. and Teckman, J. (2008) Theories, Concepts and the Rugby World Cup: Using management to understand sport in Management Decision, Volume 46, Issue 4.
Adcroft, A., Willis, R. and Hurst, J. (2008) A new model for managing change: the holistic view in Journal of Business Strategy, Volume 29, Number 1.
Adcroft, A., Dhaliwal, S., Miller, G. and Walsh, P. (2007) Theory and Practice, Strategy and Sustainability in Management Decision, Volume 45, Number 1.
Willis, R. and Adcroft, A. (2006) Post-Modernism, Deprofessionalisation and Commodification: The Outcomes of Performance Measurement in Higher Education in The Journal of Finance and Management in the Public Services, Volume 6, Number 1.
Dhaliwal, S. and Adcroft, A., (2005) Sustainability And Ethnic Minority Businesses: An examination of the Asian Business Sector in the UK in The Journal of Asia Entrepreneurship and Sustainability, Volume 1, Number 1.
Adcroft, A., Dhaliwal, S. and Willis, R. (2005) Insatiable Demand or Academic Supply? Is there really a value in entrepreneurship education? in European Business Review, Volume 17, Issue 6.
Adcroft, A. and Willis, R. (2005) The (un)Intended Outcome of Performance Measurement in the Public Sector in The International Journal of Public Sector Management Volume 18, Number 5.
Chaharbaghi, K., Adcroft, A. and Willis, R. (2005) Organisations, Transformability and the Dynamics of Strategy in Management Decision Volume 43, Number 1.
Adcroft, A. and Willis, R. (2005) Commodification or Transformation? Measuring performance in the public sector in International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management, Volume 4.
Adcroft, A., Willis, R. and Clarke-Hill, C. (2004) A European Perspective on the Revolutionary School of Management in European Business Review, Issue 3.
Adcroft, A., Willis, R. and Dhaliwal, S. (2004) Missing the Point? Management education and entrepreneurship in Management Decision, Volume 42, Number 3-4.
Adcroft, A. and Willis, R. (Autumn 2002) Looking in the Wrong Direction in Critical Quarterly (Tate Modern) Volume 44, No.3.
Floyd, D., Willis, R. and Adcroft, A. (November 1999) Economic Policy Making in the UK: To what extent should it be endorsed by other EU member countries in European Business Review, Volume 99, Number 4.
Adcroft, A. (April 1998) Lessons from the recession in Management Decision, Volume 36, Number 2.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A., Johal, S. and Willis, R. (Summer 1996) A Fallen Idol: Japanese management in the 1990s in Asia Pacific Economic Review, Special Edition.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A., Johal, S. and Willis, R. (November 1995) Cyclical Recovery verses Structural Problems: The European car industry in the 1990s in Journal of Engineering Management Volume 8, Number 4.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A., Johal, S. and Willis, R. (May 1995) The crisis of cost recovery and the waste of the industrialised nations in Competition and Change: The journal of global political economy, Volume 1, Number 1.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A., Johal, S. and Willis, R. (February 1995) Management Practice or Structural Factors: The case of America verses Japan in the car industry in Journal of Economic and Industrial Democracy, Volume 16, Number 1.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (January 1995) Der Mythos des Fliessbandes: Die production des Model T 1909-1916 in Entwicklung, Number 1.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (1995) Leyland Daf: A case of negative European integration in Local Economy, Volume 4, Number 3.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (February 1994) Defend the Social Settlement: A memo for Labour in Renewal, Volume 2, Number 1.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (July 1993) The Myth of the Line: Ford's production of the model T at Highland Park 1909-1916 in Business History, Volume 5, Number 3.
Williams, K., Adcroft, A. and Haslam, C. (April 1993) The Good Deal Gone Bad in Global Labour, Volume 1, Number 1.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (February 1993) Too Much Reality in Renewal Volume 1, Number 1.
Williams, K., Cutler, T., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (August 1992) Against Lean Production in Economy and Society, Volume 21, Number 3.
Guest Editorships
Management Decision special edition entitled Taking Sport Seriously in 2008 with Teckman, J.
Management Decision special edition entitled Organisations, Transformability and the Dynamics of Strategy in 2005 with Chaharbaghi, K. and Willis, R.
Management Decision special edition entitled Theory and Practice: Strategy and Sustainability in 2006 with Dhaliwal, S., Miller, G. and Walsh, P.
Other Papers
Teckman, J. and Adcroft, A. (2008) Whose standards are they anyway? The need for competitive spirit in public sector management in 360o The Ashridge Journal, Autumn.
Adcroft, A. and Willis, R. (2007) Commodification or Transformation? Measuring performance in the public sector in The Management Journal, Institute of Productivity and Management, Volume 8
Adcroft, A., Dhaliwal, S. and Willis, R. (2006) Insatiable Demand or Academic Supply? Is there really a value in entrepreneurship education? in ICFAI Journal of Entrepreneurship Development, September.
Adcroft, A., Dhaliwal, S. and Willis, R. (2006) Insatiable Demand or Academic Supply: Does entrepreneurship education actually have a point? National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship Working Paper 008/2006.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (1994) Japanese Foreign Direct Investment: The case for regulation, University of Birmingham Occasional Papers on Business, Number 10.
Adcroft, A., Haslam, C. and Johal, S. (April 1993) The Hollowing Out of UK Manufacturing: Some suggestions for intervention in Transport and General Workers Union Conference Report.
Williams, K., Thompson, P., Haslam, C., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (1993) Leyland Daf: The good deal gone bad, University of East London Occasional Papers on Business, Economy and Society, Number 12.
Williams, K., Haslam, C., Williams, J., Adcroft, A. and Johal, S. (1992) Factories or Warehouses: Japanese foreign direct investment in the UK and USA, University of East London Occasional Papers on Business, Economy and Society, Number 6.
Adcroft, A., Cutler, T., Haslam, C., Williams, J. and Williams, K. (1991) Hanson and ICI: The consequences of financial engineering, University of East London Occasional Papers on Business, Economy and Society, Number 2.