Dr Dermot Breslin
Management School
Senior Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour
+44 114 222 3386
Full contact details
Management School
Room B043
Sheffield University Management School
Conduit Road
Sheffield
S10 1FL
- Profile
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Dermot is a Senior Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour and joined Sheffield University Management School in 2008.
As a chartered engineer, Dermot has over 14 years commercial experience in the steel, aluminium and paper industries, and has worked across the globe in a variety of roles including engineering design, operations and sales management.
Between 1996 and 2004, he worked for the Sheffield-based engineering company Siemens VAI UK, and his involvement in a number of key sales activities contributed to the company being awarded the Chamber of Commerce Export Excellence Award in 2003.
Dermot has a B.Eng. degree in mechanical engineering (University College Dublin, Ireland), an MBA with distinction (Warwick University, UK), and a PhD in Organisational Behaviour (Lincoln University, UK). Dermot is also an adjunct professor at Saarlandes University, Germany, and visiting professor at Tor Vergata University Rome, Italy.
He has acted as guest editor for the International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Journal of Management & Governance, Associate Editor with the International Journal of Management Reviews (IJMR), and Co-Editor-in-Chief with IJMR from Jan 2017.
Dermot is also on the editorial boards for the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, and the Journal of Management Studies, and is currently a member of the BAM Council.
He has acted as guest editor for the International Journal of Organizational Analysis, and Journal of Management & Governance, is currently an associate editor with the International Journal of Management Reviews.
He has also co-organized a number of international conference tracks and research workshops. Dermot’s research interests are in small business growth, organizational routines and changing behaviour in organizations.
- Research interests
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Dermot's research focuses on the development of an evolutionary approach to study changing behaviour in organisations.
This approach promotes longitudinal, multi-level studies of change., and to date he has published and reviewed papers in a number of international peer-reviewed journals and conferences.
Dermot is also a co-founder of the standing evolutionary track at the EURAM annual conference. Dermot remains closely engaged with practice through consulting/research projects.
These projects focus on the emergence and evolution of key competences and routines within organizations.
In this ongoing research Dermot is working on a variety of approaches including longitudinal ethnographical studies, experimental methods and agent-based simulation modelling techniques.
He is currently developing an impact case study with the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue (SYFR) service.
In this Premonition project, Dermot and colleagues have created an agent-based model which is being used by SYFR as a decision support tool to plan community fire prevention activities.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Theorizing through literature reviews : the miner-prospector continuum. Organizational Research Methods. View this article in WRRO
- Expanding the conversation through ‘Debate Essays’ and ‘Review Methodology’ papers. International Journal of Management Reviews, 22(3), 219-221. View this article in WRRO
- Do organizations really co-evolve? Problematizing co-evolutionary change in management and organization studies. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 155. View this article in WRRO
- Developing insights through reviews: Reflecting on the 20th anniversary of the International Journal of Management Reviews.. International Journal of Management Reviews, 22(1), 3-9. View this article in WRRO
- Finding collective strength in collective despair; exploring the link between generic critical feedback and student performance. Studies in Higher Education. View this article in WRRO
- Entrepreneurial learning; intuiting, scanning, internalizing and routinizing. The Learning Organization. View this article in WRRO
- Group creativity and the time of the day. Studies in Higher Education, 44(7), 1103-1118. View this article in WRRO
- Improving the Effectiveness of Fire Prevention using the ‘Premonition’ Agent-Based Model of Domestic Fire Risk Behaviours. International Journal of Emergency Services. View this article in WRRO
- Nurturing Novelty: Toulmin's Greenhouse, Journal Rankings and Knowledge Evolution. European Management Review, 16(1), 167-178. View this article in WRRO
- Development of a multi-level learning framework. The Learning Organization. View this article in WRRO
- Off-Task Social Breaks and Group Creativity. The Journal of creative behavior. View this article in WRRO
- Editors’ Statement. International Journal of Management Reviews, 19(1), 1-3. View this article in WRRO
- Rule breaking in Social Care: the Case of a Small British Provider.. Work, Employment and Society, 30(5), 750-765. View this article in WRRO
- What evolves in organizational co-evolution?. Journal of Management & Governance, 20(1), 45-67.
- Darwinism, organizational evolution and survival: key challenges for future research. Journal of Management & Governance, 20(1), 1-17.
- Calm in the storm: Simulating the management of organizational co-evolution. Futures.
- Developing an evolutionary/ecological approach in enterprise education. International Journal of Management Education.
- An evolutionary perspective on managing the ephemeral architecture of organisational creativity. International Journal of Business Environment, 5(4), 413-429.
- The evolution of entrepreneurial learning. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 20(3), 294-308.
- The Evolution of Entrepreneurial Learning. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 3(20).
- Interpreting futures through the multi-level co-evolution of organizational practices. Futures, 43(9), 1020-1028.
- Interpreting futures through the multi-level co-evolution of organizational practices. Futures.
- Reviewing a Generalized Darwinist Approach to Studying Socio-economic Change. International Journal of Management Reviews, 13(2), 218-235.
- Generalising Darwinism to study socio‐cultural change. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 30(7/8), 427-439.
- Generalising Darwinism to study Socio-Cultural Change. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 7/8(30).
- Broadening the management team: An evolutionary approach. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, 16(2), 130-148.
- A review of the evolutionary approach to the study of entrepreneurship. INT J MANAG REV, 10(4), 399-423.
- The Nascent Small Business: An Evolutionary Approach.. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 3(9), 177-186.
- The product-first approach to continuous casting design. MATER WORLD, 7(6), 347-349.
- The COVID-19 Pandemic: What can we learn from past research in organizations and management?. International Journal of Management Reviews. View this article in WRRO
- Small Firm Growth and Innovation: an Evolutionary Approach.. International Journal of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, 14(2), 69-80.
Chapters
- Learning to Evolve: Increasing Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Putting the Market First, Entrepreneurship Education (pp. 17-45). Emerald Publishing Limited View this article in WRRO
- Conceptualizing and Modeling Multi-Level Organizational Co-evolution, Agent-Based Simulation of Organizational Behavior (pp. 137-157). Springer International Publishing
- Towards a Generalised Darwinist view of Sustainability In Scholz C & Zentes J (Ed.), Beyond Sustainability (pp. 13-35). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft Mbh & Company
- Spaces and the Co-evolution of Practices within a UK Metallurgical Equipment Supplier In Alexander K & Price I (Ed.), Managing Organizational Ecologies Space, Management, and Organizations (pp. 234-245). Routledge
- Spaces and the Co-evolution of Practices within a UK Metallurgical Equipment Supplier In Alexander K & Price I (Ed.), Managing Organizational Ecologies: Space, Management and Organizations (pp. 234-245). New York: Routledge.
- Evolution and Entrepreneurship In Mole K & Ram M (Ed.), Perspectives in Entrepreneurship: A Course Text (pp. 107-119). London: Palgrave.
- The Evolving Organizational Routine In Belussi F & Staber U (Ed.), Managing Networks of Creativity (pp. 46-62). Routledge
- Breaking the Mould: A Study of Donegal China In Stokes D, wilson N & Mador M (Ed.), Entrepreneurship (pp. 374-376). Cengage Learning EMEA
- Entrepreneurial Learning Routledge
- Enhancing and Managing Individual and Group Creativity through Off-Task Breaks In Kapranos P (Ed.), The Interdisciplinary Future of Engineering Education: Breaking Through Boundaries in Teaching and Learning Routledge View this article in WRRO
Conference proceedings papers
- Discussing Co-Evolutionary Research in Management Studies: A Critical Account of the New Millennium. European Academy of Management Conference
- A Longitudinal Study of Change and Relationship Development in Home Care. British Academy of Management Conference
- Innovation through Evolution: Operational interaction patterns in emergency incident response handling. British Academy of Management Conference
- Teaching Graduate Entrepreneurs to Evolve; From Increased Self-Efficacy to Start-Up. 17th European Academy of Management Conference
- Group Creativity and the Time of the Day. British Academy of Management 2016 conference
- Enhancing and Managing Group Creativity through Off-Task Breaks. 6th International Symposium of Engineering Education View this article in WRRO
- Enhancing and Managing Group Creativity through Off-Task Breaks. 6th International Symposium of Engineering Education
- Small Firm Growth, Group Selection and the Struggle of Competing Identities. 16th European Academy of Management Conference
- Modelling Connectivity and Co-evolution: A Study of Domestic Fire Risk Behaviours. 16th Annual European Academy of Management Conference
- Developing an ABM-driven Decision Support System in the Emergency Services. 18th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems
- Developing an ABM-driven Decision Support System in the Emergency Services. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, 25 April 2016 - 28 April 2016.
- Emerging Group Routines and Creativity. 31st European Group for Organizational Studies. Athens
- Nurturing Novelty: Toulmin's greenhouse, journal rankings and the evolution of knowledge. 15th European Academy of Management Conference
- Operational routines in emergency incident response handling. 15th European Academy of Management Conference
- ‘Premonition’ – modelling fire risk behaviours and attitudes in the South Yorkshire region to improve the identification of areas at risk of fire in the community. Local Government Association Annual Fire Conference and Exhibition
- Opportunity Discovery through the Routine. 37th Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship Conference
- What Evolves in Organizational Co-Evolution?. 1st World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research Conference
- The Routinization of Group Behavior and the Evolution of Ideas. 14th European Academy of Management Conference
- Unpacking the Evolving Organisational Routine. 13th European Academy of Management Conference
- Multi-Level Co-Evolution and Organizational Adaptation. 13th European Academy of Management Conference
- The Emergence and Evolution of Routines: A Study of a fast growing domiciliary care provider.. 12th European Academy of Management Conference
- Evolving innovation through office knowledge networks: Mapping the ephemeral architecture of organizational creativity.. 12th European Academy of Management Conference
- Entrepreneurship: Learning to Evolve. 34th Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship Conference
- Unpacking Behavior within Entrepreneurial Teams. 34th Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship Conference
- Building better homes: Developing a multi-level learning framework for UK house builders. Organisational Learning, Knowledge and Capabilities Conference, Liverpool
- Learning to improve: An investigation of quality management routines in UK housing development. International Conference for Sustainable Design of the Built Environment SDBE 2017 Proceedings, 20 December 2017 - 21 December 2017.
- From Rule Breaking to Organizational Learning: Decoupling and Recoupling Local Actions and Rules. Academy of Management Conference, Chicago
- Discussing Co-Evolutionary Research in Management Studies: A Critical Account of the New Millennium. 18th European Academy of Management Conference
- Theorizing through literature reviews : the miner-prospector continuum. Organizational Research Methods. View this article in WRRO
- Research group
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Dermot is interested in supervising PhD students in the following broad areas:
- Evolutionary approaches in socio-economic change
- The emergence and evolution of behaviors in organizations
- Organisational adaptation and ambidexterity
- Organisational co-evolution and multi-level studies
- Grants
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Premonition: Preventative and Predictive Modelling of Community Fire Risk Behaviours
- South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority
- Nov 2014 – March 2016
- Daniela Romano, Sheffield University, and Stephen Dobson, Sheffield Hallam University
- £62,680
Advancing European Traditions of Entrepreneurship Studies
- Society for the Advancement of Management Studies
- June 2012- March 2013
- Dr Richard Tunstall, Leeds University
- £3300
A Study of a Growing University Spin Out
- Business Link
- Jan-April 2010
- Sheffield University
- £3000
- Teaching activities
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Drawing on his commercial experience and ongoing research activities, Dermot is strongly committed to the continual development of learning & teaching within our undergraduate business management programs.
In recognition of this effort, he was awarded a Senate Award for Sustained Excellence in Learning & Teaching in 2015. Dermot currently manages two undergraduate modules.
In MGT229 Enterprise and Entrepreneurship students learn about entrepreneurship as way of behaving. In this manner, they can learn to behave entrepreneurially in different settings, both as individuals and in groups. The module includes a number of guest speakers, and together with in-depth business case studies, students explore ways in which theory might inform practice and vice versa.
In MGT252 Managing Organisational Change & Learning students develop an understanding of processes of change and learning within organisations. Drawing on recent academic research, and through the use of case studies and examples, students explore key issues involved in change in organisations.
On completion of this module students will a) learn to become more effective participants in change events, and b) learn different approaches to managing this process in organisations. The module thus seeks to develop key skills of adaptation suited for the changing international workplace in the 21st century.
- Professional activities
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Recent invited papers and keynote Lectures
- “What evolves in Organisational Coevolution”. Amsterdam Business School, the Netherlands, March, 2015
- "The Evolving Organizational Routine". Max Planck Institute Doctoral Seminar, Jena, Germany, May 2012.
Editorships
- Co Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Management Reviews (2017-present)
- Associate Editor, International Journal of Management Reviews (2012-2016)
- Guest Editor (with Jones, C.), (2012). Innovative uses of Evolutionary / Ecological Approaches in the Study and Understanding of Organizations. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 20(3), Emerald Publishing
- Guest Editor (with Abatecola, G., Belussi, F., Breslin, D., and Filatotchev, I.), (2015). Darwinism, Organizational Evolution and Survival: Key Challenges for Future Research. Journal of Management & Governance
- Review Board Member, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research
- Editorial Board Member, Journal of Management Studies
Guest Professor Posts
- Adjunct Professor in Entrepreneurship (2011 to present), MBA School, Saarland University, Saarbrucken, Germany
- Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship (2015 to present), Tor Vergata University Rome, Italy
Conference Organization
- Co-Founder, Entrepreneurship Studies Special Interest Group, ISBE, 2013-present
- Co-Founder, Evolutionary Studies track, European Academy of Management, 2010-present
Awards
- Best Developmental Paper in Innovation Award (with Stephen Dobson and Gabriela Morales), BAM Conference 2017, Warwick Business School
- Senate Award for Sustained Excellence in Learning & Teaching 2015
- Nomination for Student Union Excellence in Enterprise Teaching 2014
- Awarded Emerald Literati Network Outstanding Paper of the Year 2013
- Winner of Best Paper in Entrepreneurial Learning Award, ISBE Conference 2011, Sheffield
- Winner or the Reviewer of the Year Prize, 2010, International Journal of Management Reviews