Portsmouth Business School
Research Informed Teaching
Portsmouth Business School is committed to exposing our students to the most contemporary theories and hypotheses on how finance, business, the public sector and the third economy function. To this end we ensure our star researchers give lectures and seminars across the whole undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes. In addition we expect our staff to write and publish in the top academic and professional journals – so that our students can see how we engage in, and shape, policy debates and business decisions. We also encourage all staff to participate actively in our Knowledge Service activities (check out our recent projects in this field here) as we believe it is essential that staff remain up to date and have ‘hands-on’ expertise given the ever-changing business environment.
We are particularly proud of the way our staff inform what is taught in many Business Schools across the country through the publication of key core textbooks in many business fields. You can check out some of these here) . We even have a research group (BERG – see their webpages by clicking here) dedicated to publishing cutting-edge research in the pedagogic field.
Academic textbooks authored by Portsmouth Business School staff
Discipline: Sociology of Work
Publisher: Polity
Author: Steve Williams
Co-author(s): Harriet Bradley, Mark Erickson, Carol Stephenson
Publication date: 2000
Synopsis: During the last two decades there have been profound changes in the organization of work. Myths at Work explores these changes, critically examining and challenging some of the central frameworks that have been used to explain them. Global economic restructuring has brought about changes in the jobs we do, our labour market opportunities, and the shape of our individual career paths. These changes have been explained through a number of potent ′myths′ (in the sense of widely–held bodies of ideas) including globalization, post–fordist production methods, and a new consumer–based form of capitalism. The authors examine these myths, explain how they have come about, and question their accuracy. While doing so they provide a more accurate picture of employment and the modern workplace. They also look at the ′myths′ of the feminisation of the labour force, the skills revolution, lean production, non–standard employment, the death of class, the end of trade unionism, and the ′economic worker′. The result is an illuminating and accessible teaching and research text that will appeal to students and academics in the sociology of work, organizational behaviour, business studies, and related areas.
Discipline: Sociology of Work
Publisher: Polity
Author: Steve Williams
Co-author(s): Harriet Bradley, Mark Erickson, Carol Stephenson
Publication date: 2009
Synopsis:
• What’s the point of studying business from a social perspective?
• How can sociology aid my understanding of the big issues facing businesses today?
• Can thinking sociologically really equip me better for a career in business?
This book provides an indispensable introduction to business and organizations from a social perspective. Using classic and contemporary ideas and evidence, the book explores the connections between people, work, organizations and society. Carefully illustrated with a range of up–to–date case studies, the book shows how sociology can shed light on current developments in the business world.
Drawing on their considerable experience of teaching sociology to a range of audiences, the authors provide a straightforward but still stimulating step–by–step guide to issues such as: discrimination and diversity in the workplace; trade unionism and industrial disputes; the need for ethics and legislation; and the changing roles of managers and employees.
Discipline: Employment Relations
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Author: Steve Williams
Co-author(s): Derek Adam-Smith
Publication date: 2010 (2nd edn)
Synopsis: Contemporary Employment Relations: A Critical Introduction offers an original, accessible, and critical approach to understanding employment relations. Based on up-to-date research studies, it considers recent developments in employment relations, defined as the way in which employment relationships are regulated, experienced, and contested. A thematic approach to the subject helps to demonstrate the contemporary relevance of employment relations, enabling students to develop an appropriate level of knowledge and understanding of this key area of economic, social, and political life. The book is packed with up-to-date case studies to show how theory applies to real-life examples, from Royal Mail to McDonalds, Kettle Chips and Ryanair.
Discipline: Human resource management
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Author: Steve Williams
Co-author(s): Sarah Gilmore
Publication date: 2013 (2nd edn)
Synopsis: This book provides a concise, engaging, and accessible introduction to human resource management which is academically rigorous and appropriate for students taking courses in HRM, business studies and related areas. In addition to covering the core issues relating to human resource management, such as recruitment and selection, training and development, and reward, the book also includes material devoted to new and emerging issues, like talent management and the effective management of staff on international assignments. It features a wide range of pedagogic features designed to enhance your knowledge of human resource management issues, including boxed skills exercises and learning activities, section summaries, suggestions for further reading, assignment and discussion questions, and a guide to key concepts. Written by a team of experts who have extensive experience of teaching, researching, and consultancy activity, the book is an essential companion when it comes to helping you to develop your understanding of human resource management topics.
Title: Innovation Management and New Product Development, 5th edition.
Discipline: Management
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Author: Paul Trott
Publication date: 2011
Synopsis: The purpose of innovation is to create new business. In industry, methods and tools are developed on how to organize and manage innovation processes with the objective to better control added-value, cost and risk. Employees, suppliers and customers are principal actors in the process. In academia, information from observations and case studies is transformed into scientific knowledge with the objective to better understand the successes and failures in innovation and, ultimately to improve the chance of success.
Innovation requires a change, i.e. change in the way we think and change in the way we act. These changes may be small or big. In life cycle management, the ambition is to make continuous improvements on existing products and services. In this way the life cycle can be extended for many extra years. In innovation management, the ambition is to come up with new concepts. This means moving away from existing solutions. As a consequence, innovation shortens the life cycle of existing products and services. Schumpeter calls this property ‘creative destruction’: life cycle management and innovation management are in competition with each other. This may cause major dilemma’s in business development. This is explored in this new edition.
Title: Commercial Law
Discipline: Commercial Law
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Author: Lee Roach
Co-author(s): Greg Osborne, Eric Baskind
Publication date: 2013
Synopsis: Commercial Law offers a fresh, modern, and stimulating account of the subject, thereby helping students better understand this important area of law. The text provides thorough coverage of all key aspects of the syllabus, including the law of agency, the sale of goods, international trade, and methods of payment, finance, and security. A range of learning features are employed throughout the book to encourage understanding of the law and to demonstrate how the principles behind it play out in practical domestic and international commercial transactions.
Web-link: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199664238.do#.USYPxtvKfC0
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Title: Company Law Concentrate (2nd edition)
Discipline: Company Law
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Author: Lee Roach
Publication date: 2013
Synopsis: Company Law Concentrate is a high quality revision guide which covers the main topics found on undergraduate company law courses. The clear, succinct coverage of key legal points within a specific topic area, including key cases, enables students to quickly grasp the fundamental principles of this fast-moving area. The book focuses on the needs of students to succeed in their exams, showing how all the legal rules fit together and the approach that should be adopted when answering questions. A range of pedagogical features help with preparation for exams and suggest numerous ways to improve marks.
Web-link: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199654246.do#.USYPitvKfC0
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Title: Card & James' Business Law for Business, Accounting & Finance Students (2nd edition)
Discipline: Business Law
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Author: Lee Roach
Publication date: 2012
Synopsis: With faultless accuracy, this text is the most detailed and analytical account of law for those new to the subject. It provides commanding analysis of the English legal system, contract law, the law of torts, company law, and employment law, as well as covering relevant aspects of the law of agency and environmental law. Online chapters provide further discussion relating to the economic torts, corporate governance, the sale of goods, consumer credit, and the law relating to unfair and illegal commercial practices. All of this is discussed using relevant examples from the business environment, and the key legal cases to help develop a greater understanding of the interconnections between the law and corporate setting.
Web-link: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199698059.do#.USYOZtvKfC0
Title: Human Resource ManagementDiscipline: Human Resource Management (2nd edition)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Author: Sarah Gilmore and Steve Williams
Publication date: 2013
Synopsis:This new edition of Human Resource Management is designed to serve as an introduction to HRM and is suitable for undergraduate students studying HMR modules as part of a degree in business or a business-related subject. It is also suitable for Master's-level students who are studying HRM for the first time. The book is divided into five parts. Part one studies the nature of HRM in contemporary organizations: the origins of the phenomenon and its relationship to business strategy. The second part is concerned with the contexts in which HRM operates - such as the business environment, the wider political economy - as well as the implications of the internal organizational context, such as the structure and design of organizations and organizational change, on HRM. Part three focuses on the core issues of HRM: recruitment and selection, employee development, pay and reward, talent management, health and safety as well as redundancy. Part four highlights controversies in HRM such as issues of diversity and dignity at work. There is also a focus on managing performance, employment relations, workplace conflict as well as grievances, disciplinaries and their resolution. the Final part of the book looks at ethics and the increasingly international component of effective people management.
Web-link: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199605484.do
Title: Multi-criteria Decision Analysis: Methods and Software
Discipline: Mathematics & Statistics
Publisher: Wiley
Author: Alessio Ishizaka
Co-author(s): Philippe Nemery
Publication date: 2013
Synopsis:
This book provides a broad coverage of the different MCDA methods and software available. It presents the underlying philosophy and theory of each of the principal methods whilst avoiding deep mathematical explanations to aid students, industry practitioners and researchers in the selection and use of appropriate MCDA methods.
Case studies, worked examples and the software featured in the book is also available on an accompanying website.
Web-link: http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1119974070.html
Title: Hospitality Management and Organisational Behaviour
Discipline: Management and Organisational Behaviour
Publisher: Pearsons
Authors:Laurie J. Mullins and Penny Dossor
Publication date: May 2013
Synopsis:However the nature of the hospitality industry is viewed, it is an inescapable fact that an overriding determinant of successful organisational performance is the actions and behaviour of its members of staff. The concepts and ideas presented in this book provide a basis for the critical analysis of the structure and management of hospitality organisations, and interactions among people who work in them.
The central theme is improved organisational performance through the effective management of the people resource. This involves an understanding of individual and group behaviour, and factors influencing the effective management of people. There are many aspects to management but the one essential ingredient of any successful manager is the ability to handle people effectively.
This book provides a foundation for the critical appraisal of organisational and managerial processes. Managers within the hospitality industry, today, are faced with managing an increasingly diverse and multicultural workforce and the nature of the economic realities facing the industry. These and other contemporary issues in modern hospitality management are addressed by this text.
Title: Employment Law
Discipline: Law
Author: Roger Welch
Co-author: Caroline Strevens
Publisher: Pearson
Publication Date March 2013
Synopsis: As part of Pearson’s Living Law Series this book is intended to provide a comprehensive and accessible explanation of employment law and to bring the law alive by demonstrating the practical role that the law plays in the world of work. To these ends, the book combines elements of traditional academic contextual and critical analysis with the use of key statistical data and news reports of cases and/or events where employment law issues have attracted significant media interest. To make discussion of the law less abstract the book includes realistic documents which are of importance to the key players – employees/workers, employers, human resource managers and trade unions – as well as to employment lawyers. Similarly, each chapter contains interviews with lawyers and others who engage with employment law in their working lives. As is the case with all the books in the Living Law series, each chapter contains a number of pedagogic features including writing and drafting activities and self-tests to enable readers to use the law in practical contexts and to confirm their understanding of some of the key issues and cases covered in the chapters. The final chapter of the book, Lawyer’s Brief, replicates real life by putting readers in the position of a lawyer instructed to represent a client who has been dismissed by his employer. The book is aimed at students studying employment law as part of an LLB programme, but it is hoped that the practical approach taken by the book will prove of interest and value to students on other degree or professional programmes and indeed trade union courses which include employment law on their syllabi.
Web link: http://catalogue.pearsoned.co.uk/educator/product/Employment-Law/9781408272329.page
Title: Study Skills: a handbook of essentials for Business and Marketing students
Discipline: Study Skills/Academic Skills
Publisher: Pearson
Editor: Emma Winter
Publication date: 2012
Synopsis: There are a wealth of study skills books available to students. Many of which devote time to helping students deal with the emotional adjustments required from being away from home for the first time. This aim of this book was to be an affordable collection of essentials, concentrating purely on the academic skills required for students to succeed: groupwork, presentation skills, critical thinking and writing and referencing; as well as advice on university methods of teaching and assessment. The book has brought together the best advice and learning practice from a number of authors and has been developed to offer PBS students a handbook that is designed specifically for their needs.
Web link: http://eprints.port.ac.uk/9747/
Title: Rethinking Sales Management
Discipline: Sales Management
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Author: Beth Rogers
Publication date: 2007
Synopsis: This book explores the essentials of resource prioritisation in the sales function, and discusses the approaches to maximising productivity from different customer types. The book begins by positioning sales strategy within business strategy frameworks and types. There is a discussion of the dynamics between suppliers’ sales strategy and customers’ purchasing strategy, and how this should inform and refine sales strategy. Using customer portfolio management as a core analytical tool, the book moves on to detailed reviews of research and best practice in key account management, customer acquisition and new business development, and the management of tactical sales, adversarial relationships and failing relationships. In addition, the book explores the means of optimising the working relationship between sales and marketing, the relevance of leadership to sales management, and the importance of robust sales processes.
Weblink: http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470513055.html