Best UK MBA Podcasts (2024)

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115: Problems of Field Work -- Robert K. Merton (Part 2) 40:30

14d ago40:30

40:30

We conclude our episode on Robert K. Merton by examining contemporary challenges of conducting field work and the implications for the continued pursuit of rigorous science. How has field work changed or what new barriers have emerged? How must the academic community adapt to the present challenges of being able to conduct quality research?…

1
The Bottom Line (unofficial) Business Awards 37:12

1M ago37:12

37:12

Every year has its business highs and lows which we don't often get an opportunity to chew over on The Bottom Line. This year is different. To mark our end of term, we thought we’d reflect on the business year and look at some of the highs and lows across the business landscape, creating our very own (and very unofficial) Bottom Line Business Award…

1
115: Problems of Field Work -- Robert K. Merton (Part 1) 51:04

21d ago51:04

51:04

Robert K. Merton was a sociologist who founded the study of the sociology of science, how acts of research influence and are influenced by the contexts being studied. Two of his early essays exemplify this body of work whereby he and his research teams reflect on the challenges and difficulties of performing field work. Inthis episode, we examine t…

1
115: Problems of Field Work -- Robert K. Merton (Summary of Episode) 3:53

21d ago3:53

3:53

We will explore two of the early works of renowned sociologist Robert K. Merton whose interests included studying the processes of field work in order to improve the quality and rigor of field studies. What are the challenges and difficulties of doing research in environments rife with conflict and tension?…

1
The business of private schools 34:06

1M ago34:06

34:06

Private schools in the UK are mostly registered as charities – but they are also businesses – businesses in the sense that they sell a service to paying customers. They’ve recently been in the news because the new government has said it will remove their exemption from VAT. In this episode we take a look at the business of private education: how it…

1
Being the new broom 30:29

1M ago30:29

30:29

All eyes have been on the new prime minister as he, and his team of ministers, settle into their jobs running the country. In this episode we consider the management challenge of taking over and starting a new role, maybe changing the direction of an organisation. Three leaders from the world of business and the charity sector share their experienc…

1
The Business of Dying 33:53

2M ago33:53

33:53

Managing the rituals of a loved one's death can be both bewildering and expensive. And although no-one wants to think about it being like buying a holiday or car, it is a business with a supply chain involving funerals, burials and cremation. A couple of years ago the Competition and Markets Authority - which protects people from unfair trading pra…

1
Is copyright going wrong? 32:17

2M ago32:17

32:17

Copyright law has been around since 1710. Back then it only applied to books. Now, it covers music, sport, film, television, video games, anything really. It was also much easier to enforce in the days when people couldn't reproduce things all the time. That all started to change with the introduction of the humble music cassette tape. Now, we can …

1
Is work getting more intense? 28:33

2M ago28:33

28:33

Millions of employees in the UK are now able to work flexibly – fitting their job around their home life. Many in office jobs, can finish early on a Friday, and are allowed, even encouraged, to routinely work from home. But, at the same time, we’re told that the levels of overwork, stress, and burnout in this country are on the rise. More than 17 m…

1
Hype 33:34

2M ago33:34

33:34

Every brand wants attention, to be seen as a must-have, but how do some manage stratospheric levels of popularity? It might happen organically, perhaps even by accident, but it’s also true that many brands engineer it. Evan Davis and guest discuss the tricks of the trade, from social media influencers to artificial scarcity, and the potential pitfa…

1
Electric Cars: Made in China? 32:40

3M ago32:40

32:40

China produces more than half the world's electric vehicles and is scaling up exports, but there are concerns its manufacturers would have an unfair advantage in the UK, which could spell disaster for domestic firms. Evan Davis and guests discuss the UK's dilemma around Chinese EVs - do we open our doors to the competition, which might mean cheaper…

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114: A Conversation about Trist & Sociotechnical Systems 26:25

3M ago26:25

26:25

In Episode 114, we re-examine one of our earlier episodes that covered Trist & Bamforth’s study on the longwall method of coal-getting (Episode 34) is the most referenced of any episode we have released. In this introductory segment, Pedro & Tom take a retrospective look at the episode, why it was included in the program back in 2017, and why it co…

1
114: Using Trist & Bamforth's Study for Teaching Change 10:10

3M ago10:10

10:10

In this bonus release, Tom talks about using Trist & Bamforth's study as a way of teaching professionals (student-practitioners) about managing organizational change. By telling the story in a way that does not require mastery of the coal-getting terminology, Tom shows how to bring the case study to life for a contemporary audience and help them se…

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114: Sociotechnical Systems -- Trist & Bamforth (revisited) (Part 2) 37:04

3M ago37:04

37:04

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114: Sociotechnical Systems -- Trist & Bamforth (revisited) (Part 1) 43:48

3M ago43:48

43:48

With over 110 episodes in our catalogue, we decided it was time to take a step back and revisit one of our earlier episodes that continues to come up time and again. Episode 34, covering Trist & Bamforth’s study on the longwall method of coal-getting, was referenced in sixteen (16) episodes since its release. That is more than any other episode! Th…

1
114: Sociotechnical Systems -- Trist & Bamforth (Summary of Episode) 3:56

3M ago3:56

3:56

Coming soon! We will re-examine one of our earlier episodes which deserves another look. Trist & Bamforth’s study on the longwall method of coal-getting (Episode 34) is the most referenced of any episode we have released. Here we go back and look at the study with fresh eyes, bringing the conversation forward to the present day.…

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113: Sports & Gender -- "A League of Their Own" (Part 2) 48:46

3M ago48:46

48:46

We conclude our discussion about the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own” by peeling back the fictionalized aspects of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and talk about what happened with the league following World War II. What allowed it to continue for nine more years, and why did it cease? We bring the story to contempora…

1
The Decisions That Made Me A Leader: I Started My Business From Mum's Spare Bedroom 40:45

3M ago40:45

40:45

Krisi Smith started Bird and Blend Tea company with business partner Mike knowing very little about tea or running a business. She drew up their mission statement in the pub whilst working as a ski instructor in Canada. They started up working in her mums back bedroom to now running 20 retail stores across the UK. Before starting the company she ha…

1
The Decisions That Made Me A Leader: The Depop Story 44:40

3M ago44:40

44:40

Simon Beckerman is the founder of Depop, a platform where people can buy and sell pre-loved fashion, it currently has around 35 million registered users. He sold the company to Etsy for £1.25 billion in 2021. Simon grew up in Italy to British and Italian parents who he describes as rebels in their own way and even as a teenager he knew he had to bu…

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The Decisions That Made Me A Leader: Lastminute.com's Martha Lane Fox 46:22

3M ago46:22

46:22

Martha Lane Fox was first catapulted into the public eye during the dot.com boom as co-founder of lastminute.com the online agency she set up with Brent Hoberman in the late 1990s. It was valued at three quarters of a billion pounds when it floated on the London stock exchange in 2000. She then experienced a life change road accident while on holid…

1
The Decisions That Made Me A Leader: How Ice Saved My Life 38:42

3M ago38:42

38:42

Evan Davis sits down with Richard Walker the Executive Chairman of Iceland foods a company founded by his father. Richard started at Iceland Foods in 2012 from the bottom up working as a shelf stacker at the start. A qualified chartered surveyor he is an entrepreneur in his own right having set-up a property business, Bywater Properties, of which h…

1
The Decisions That Made Me A Leader: How To Retire Before 30 39:34

3M ago39:34

39:34

Evan Davis sits down with Timo Armoo, the founder of social media advertising business Fanbytes, which he set up when he was 21 with two friends. Aged 27 he sold the company, which connects social media influencers with brands, for an eight-figure sum, saying he can now retire a multi-millionaire. Timo was born in Hackney in London but moved to Gha…

1
The Decisions That Made Me A Leader: Dragon's Den's Duncan Bannatyne 43:10

3M ago43:10

43:10

With the entrepreneur, philanthropist and author. The Decisions That Made Me A Leader is a mini-series from The Bottom Line. It features one-on-one interviews with entrepreneurs and business leaders, including Duncan Bannatyne, Martha Lane Fox, and the boss of Depop, Simon Beckerman. All of these episodes are available on BBC Sounds and you can als…

1
113: Sports & Gender -- "A League of Their Own" (Part 1) 42:25

3M ago42:25

42:25

The rapid growth of women’s professional team sports has a far-reaching history, and many contemporary women’s athletes have honored the legacy of pioneers as their inspiration. Included in this legacy is the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) that existed from 1943 through 1954 in the U.S. and popularized through the 1992 fil…

1
113: Sports & Gender -- "A League of Their Own" (Summary of Episode) 3:45

3M ago3:45

3:45

We will examine, through an organizational lens, one of the great sports comedies of the late 20th century, A League of Their Own, directed by Penny Marshall. The movie tells the story of how the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League formed through a fictionalized account of the lived experiences of the players. The movie helped inspire t…

1
Please buy us a coffee! 2:38

4M ago2:38

2:38

Talking About Organizations has always been a free resource, available to students and scholars of organizations and management for almost 10 years now! Unfortunately, it is not free to produce, so we are turning to you, our listeners, to please help us keep the show on air, ad free, and without any paywalls! If you value the work that we do, pleas…

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112: Hierarchies & Promotion -- The "Peter Principle" (Part 2) 46:28

4M ago46:28

46:28

We conclude our look at Lawrence Peter’s The Peter Principle by discussing why the Principle is timeless is its quality. Our contemporary experiences with hierarchies may have changed due to greater mobility of workers, but the Principle itself provokes our thinking about management. We also discuss how Peter used satire to present his points and w…

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112: Hierarchies & Promotion -- The "Peter Principle" (Part 1) 47:32

4M ago47:32

47:32

The diligent administrative assistant moves up to supervisor but fails. The assembly line worker is promoted to foreman but cannot do the job. A teacher earns a deputy principal position in a school but falls flat on their face. Why is that? Why does this seem to happen across organizations? In The Peter Principle, Lawrence J. Peter and Raymond Hul…

1
112: Hierarchies & Promotion -- The "Peter Principle" (Summary of Episode) 4:04

4M ago4:04

4:04

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111: Visible & Invisible Work -- Susan Leigh Star (Part 2) 41:46

5M ago41:46

41:46

We conclude the episode by looking to the present day and how the negotiations over work visibility has evolved since the turn of the 21st century. Have the emergence of social media, emergence of general computing platforms over the proprietary systems from the 1990s, and increased competitive pressures driving quests for efficiency challenged or …

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111: Visible & Invisible Work -- Susan Leigh Star (Part 1) 47:23

5M ago47:23

47:23

In this episode, we focus on the emerging discourse from the 1990s on how automated systems would potentially change the very meaning of work. The discussion is on a seminal work of Susan Leigh Star and co-author Anselm Strauss, “Layers of Silence, Arenas of Voice: The Ecology of Visible and Invisible Work,” published in CSCW’s flagship journal, Co…

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111: Visible & Invisible Work -- Susan Leigh Star (Summary of Epiosode) 3:05

6M ago3:05

3:05

We will discuss Susan Leigh Star’s “Layers of Silence, Arenas of Voice: The Ecology of Visible and Invisible Work,” published in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work in 1999. The article deals with the challenges and risks of automating work processes without due consideration of all the invisible work done in an organization that systems designers …

1
In the eye of a crisis 41:33

6M ago41:33

41:33

Evan Davis makes up crisis management scenarios to see how three CEOs handle a business emergency. To make it more realistic none of the guests know what the predicaments are before speaking to Evan. Guests:Kathryn Jacob, CEO of Pearl and DeanDame Inga Beale, former CEO of Lloyd's of LondonJustin King, former CEO of Sainsbury's Production Team:Pres…

1
Rethinking retirement 33:11

6M ago33:11

33:11

A typical career, for many, involves some kind of progression, or at least the expectation of it, until we stop and retire. But is there a better model? Evan Davis and guests discuss whether more of us should think about easing into retirement by taking more junior roles, going part time, or switching profession altogether, instead of stepping off …

1
Where's the life in nightlife? 35:21

6M ago35:21

35:21

The UK’s biggest nightclub operator recently announced the closure of around half of its venues, and with them almost 500 jobs. REKOM UK, which owns the Atik and Pryzm brands, blamed the cost of living crisis hurting its customers, along with increased operating costs. But is there something else going on? According to the industry association the …

1
110: Organizations and Law -- Lauren Edelman (Part 2) 43:47

6M ago43:47

43:47

Since Edelman’s two articles were published, a lot of research has followed into the ever-evolving environment engulfing organizations and the legal systems they operate under. It is more important to comply with the letter of the law or its intent? Why do organizations expend so much energy trying to avoid legal liability rather than pursue the in…

1
Navigating the Say-Do Gap 41:13

6M ago41:13

41:13

It’s easy for people to say they want to buy a particular product, perhaps in the name of sustainability. But how often do individuals actually follow through with these well-meaning intentions? Academics regularly observe a difference between what consumers say they want to do and what they actually do.The gap can cause problems for businesses whe…

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110: Organizations and Law -- Lauren Edelman (Part 1) 46:46

6M ago46:46

46:46

In this episode, we explore two articles from Lauren Edelman, “Legal Ambiguity and Symbolic Structures: Organizational Mediation of Civil Rights Law” from 1992 and “The Endogeneity of Legal Regulation: Grievance Procedures as Rational Myth” from 1999. These studies showed a wide variety of organizational responses to the enactment of civil rights l…

1
Feedback 34:36

7M ago34:36

34:36

It's useful to know how you're doing at work, but feedback from managers and colleagues can often be unhelpful, upsetting, or even non-existent. So what's the best way to give and receive it? Evan Davis and guests discuss some top techniques, particularly in the tricky area of negative feedback, and the importance of training managers in how to hav…

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110: Organizations and Law -- Lauren Edelman (Summary of Episode) 4:10

6M ago4:10

4:10

Coming soon! We examine the works of Lauren Edelman who explored organizations and their responses to new laws that impact their relationships with employees. Using civil rights laws as an illustration, she shows how ambiguities in the law and unclear enforcement mechanisms contribute to organizations having to define and measure compliance themsel…

1
Meat 33:55

7M ago33:55

33:55

UK consumers are eating less meat than at any point since records began 50 years ago, according to the latest government figures, so how are farmers, processors and retailers responding? The cost of living crisis is part of the reason for a recent drop-off in demand, but warnings about meat's impact on the planet and our health might also play a ro…

1
109: Emergence of Mental Health Professions - Abbott (Part 2) 42:41

7M ago42:41

42:41

Professional competition both within the personal problems jurisdiction and from outside it (e.g., insurance and accounting) continued to shape the availability and quality of mental health care to the present day. Yet the landscape has changed – social stigmas against those seeking mental health care seem to have waned. Yet, the cost and lack of a…

1
Many unhappy returns 36:01

7M ago36:01

36:01

Some major fashion brands have started charging for online returns, or even banning customers who routinely send products back. The companies say that growing levels of returns are hitting their profits, so just how costly is it to process an unwanted dress, and what really happens when we pop it back in the post? Evan Davis and guests take us behi…

1
109: Emergence of Mental Health Professions - Abbott (Part 1) 47:26

7M ago47:26

47:26

In this episode, we return to Andrew Abbott’s The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor from 1989 to study in depth one of his case studies that may illuminate the present-day mental health crises gripping many nations from the COVID-19 pandemic. “The Construction of the Personal Problems Jurisdiction” chronicles how socia…

1
109: Emergence of the Mental Health Professions - Abbott (Summary of Episode) 3:12

7M ago3:12

3:12

We return to Andrew Abbott’s System of Professions and examine the third of his case studies that informed his conceptual framework for understanding professional work and jurisdictional claims. “The Construction of the Personal Problems Jurisdiction” chronicled how social changes from the Industrial Revolution led to the maladjustment and isolatio…

1
Bringing your 'whole self' to work 39:57

7M ago39:57

39:57

It’s become the mantra of many employers, and the expectation of some employees, but what does bringing your whole or authentic self to work actually mean, and should companies encourage it? Evan Davis and guests discuss the pros and cons of a workplace culture in which staff share their personal beliefs, politics and vulnerabilities with colleague…

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108: Presentation of Self in Everyday Life - Goffman (Part 2) 43:43

8M ago43:43

43:43

The 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman became a seminal text for several emergent subfields such as impression management and symbolic interactionism, while also greatly influences studies of organizational behavior. But it was also a product of its time, with its many examples and explanations rooted in societal …

1
108: Presentation of Self in Everyday Life - Goffman (Part 1) 46:08

8M ago46:08

46:08

Erving Goffman’s 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life was an important attempt at explaining both apparent and hidden human behaviors across social and organizational settings. Through a comprehensive framework employing theater as a metaphor, he describes the roles of people as performers and members of an audience who try to shape …

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108: Presentation of Self in Everyday Life - Goffman (Summary of Episode) 3:58

8M ago3:58

3:58

Our next episode features Erving Goffman’s 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life that presents a comprehensive framework for understanding human interactions and impression management. Through numerous examples, he explains how humans in social settings try to read and shape the environment so they can act accordingly within it and ge…

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107: Institutionalized Rules and Formal Structures -- Meyer & Rowan (Part 2) 47:14

9M ago47:14

47:14

In the conclusion of this episode on Meyer and Rowan’s “Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony,” we review some of the studies that followed and how well the author’s arguments have stood the test of time. We explore contemporary examples that show how conformity to institutionalized rules is necessary for organizati…

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