Professor Rachael Finn

Management School

Chair in Organisation Studies

Professor Rachael Finn
Profile picture of Professor Rachael Finn
r.l.finn@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 3484

Full contact details

Professor Rachael Finn
Management School
Room F009
Sheffield University Management School
Conduit Road
Sheffield
S10 1FL
Profile

Professor Rachael Finn is Dean of the Management School. Rachael joined the Management School in 2011 as Professor of Organisation Studies and was appointed Interim Dean of the school in July 2019.

Prior to her appointment as Dean, Rachael served as Head of the Work, Employment, People and Organisations Division within the School and previously as Director for Postgraduate Research.

Her research lies within the field of Organisation Studies, with a particular focus on the realities of health and social care organisation. She has a particular interest in critical management and qualitative methodologies, including discursive perspectives on organisational life.

Rachael studied at the University of Nottingham for both her undergraduate degree (BA joint honours in Psychology and Sociology) and her PhD in Sociology.

Rachael is currently an External Examiner for the EMBA in Healthcare at the University of Nottingham Business School.

Research interests

Professor Finn’s research takes an organisation studies perspective, with a particular focus on policies and processes or organising in the health and social care context.

She has published extensively in the field of health care organisation, worked closely with external partners (including NHS and third sector), receiving grant funding from a range of funders (e.g. NIHR, ESRC, NHS and The Health Foundation) and taking an interdisciplinary approach (e.g. collaborating with colleagues from ScHARR, School of Nursing and Medical School). Current and recent research has included:

  • Evaluation of the Flow Coaching Academy Quality Improvement programme (The Health Foundation)
  • Retention of Mental Health Staff in the NHS (The Health Foundation)
  • System Leadership role of Health and Wellbeing Boards in improving population health (National Institute for Health Research)
  • The Role of Lived Experience in the Training and Education of Mental Health Professionals (Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust)
Publications

Journal articles

Chapters

  • Finn R () Teamwork (pp. 2429-2434). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd RIS download Bibtex download

Reports

  • Finn R, Birdi K, Wolstenholme D, Kapadi A, Bonham C, Campbell F, Fletcher R, Crimlisk H, Smith R, McCulloch G , Di Bona L et al (2019) Exploring the role of lived experience in mental health training: A scoping project RIS download Bibtex download
  • Finn R, Hunter D, Visram S, Perkins N, Adams L, Forrest A & Gosling J (2018) EVALUATING THE LEADERSHIP ROLE OF HEALTH AND WELLBEING BOARDS AS DRIVERS OF HEALTH IMPROVEMENT AND INTEGRATED CARE ACROSS ENGLAND View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
Research group

Organizational Studies

Grants
  • Factors affecting the Retention of Mental Health Staff (RoMHS) The Health Foundation 2019-2022
  • Improving flow: Developing the capability to improve patient flow The Health Foundation, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2018-2019 £19,904
  • Lived Experience in Mental Health Training Sheffield Health & Social Care NHS Foundation Trust 2017-2018 £9,973
  • Evaluating the leadership role of Health and Wellbeing Boards as drivers of health mprovement and integrated care across England Department of Health 2016
  • Translating Knowledge into Action The Health Foundation, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2016-2017 £6,201
  • For whose benefit? Mobilising service-user involvement for the co-design of public services: The case of quality improvement in the NHS Sheffield Microsystem Coaching Academy 2016
Teaching activities

Rachael has a broad range of teaching experience across undergraduate, postgraduate and professional education, having taught across the fields of organisation studies, organisational behaviour and research methods.

Most recently, she has led and delivered MGT364 Language and Organisation, bringing her research expertise on discourse and micro-political organisational practices and into the classroom, encouraging critical thinking, reflexivity and awareness of organising as a socio-political process among students as future employees and managers.

Professional activities and memberships

Areas of PhD supervision:

  • Health and Social Care Organisation Studies
  • Patent and public involvement
  • Discourse and Organisation
  • Critical Management Studies