Portrait of Professor David Sims

Professor David Sims

Emeritus Professor of Organisational Behaviour

Bayes Business School, Faculty of Management

Contact

Visit David Sims

Bunhill Row

Postal address

Bayes Business School
106 Bunhill Row
London
EC1Y 8TZ
United Kingdom

About

Overview

David started his working life 400 yards from Bayes in what was then Britannic House, headquarters of BP (now City Point), working on simulation and data retrieval projects. He became fascinated by the way in which political factors dominated the technical factors with which these projects purported to deal. He followed this interest with an MA in Organization Studies at Leeds, and a PhD at Bath on problem construction in teams. For the next 20 years at Bath he developed research, teaching and consulting interests on the organizational implications of problem construction, managing complex situations, cognitive mapping, mental rehearsal, management learning and finally agenda reformation. He was Editor for five years of Management Learning, one of the most highly cited of all non-American management journals. He had one year's remission from Bath for good behaviour, as Senior Visiting Fellow at the National University of Singapore.

He has been a consultant in organizations in the oil, power, computer, publishing, airline, hotel, public relations, aircraft manufacturing and engineering industries, as well as to public sector organizations in the UK and abroad. He moved to Brunel University in 1995 as Professor of Management, and became founding Head of the School of Business and Management there in 1996. His recent research interests have been in management as storytelling, on understanding the identity and learning of managers as storytellers, and on developing the implications of this for leadership in organizations.

In Bayes Business School he has been Associate Dean for the MBA Programmes and was then for three years Head of the Faculty of Management as well as Director of the Centre for Leadership, Learning and Change. He was for seven years a member of the Executive Committee of Bayes Business School, during which time the School gained triple accreditation and was often ranked within the top 10 in the world for Executive MBA programmes, on which he regularly taught. He took early retirement at the end of 2010 to expand his horizons, and is now Emeritus Professor.

Qualifications

BA (CNAA), MA (Leeds) and PhD (Bath).

Memberships of professional organisations

  • Fellow, The Windsor Leadership Trust, Mar 2009 – present

Award

  • The Ignobel Prize Committee (2008) Ignobel prize for Literature
    Awarded the Ignobel prize for Literature, for the paper, 'You Bastard: a study of indignation in organizations'.

Expertise

Primary topics

  • Change Management
  • Critical Management Studies
  • Leadership
  • Management
  • Organizational Behaviour

Additional topics

  • Gender & Diversity Management
  • Management Development

Industries

  • financial services
  • non-profit & voluntary sector
  • professional services

Research

Leadership by AHPs in the Health Service
Improvisation in music and organizations

Research topics

Improvisation in music and organizations

Research collaboration with colleagues at St. Andrew's University

Narrative understandings of leadership

Position paper currently being written for MCC, Budapest

Research students

Kaustav Bhattacharyya

Attendance: Sep 2009 – present, full-time

Thesis title: Communities of Practice in the IASCommunities of Practice in the IAS

Role: 2nd Supervisor

Imogen Cleaver

Attendance: Sep 2008 – present, part-time

Thesis title: Leadership in professional service firms

Role: 2nd Supervisor

Yijun Xing

Attendance: Oct 2004 – May 2009, full-time

Thesis title: Narrative Management and Organisational Behaviour

Role: 1st Supervisor

Nune Gharibyan-Kefalloniti

Attendance: Oct 2003 – Jul 2008, full-time

Thesis title: Relational aesthetics and emotional relations: ledership on board merchant marine ships

Role: 1st Supervisor

Publications

Books (6)

  1. Roberts, V.S. and Sims, D. (2017). Leading by Story Rethinking Church Leadership. SCM Press. ISBN 978-0-334-05547-1.
  2. Fineman, S., Gabriel, Y. and Sims, D. (2010). Organizing and organizations. London: SAGE. ISBN 978-1-84860-086-7.
  3. Sims, D., Pullen, A. and Beech, N. (2007). Exploring identity: concepts and methods. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-8983-3.
  4. Fineman, S., Sims, D. and Gabriel, Y. (2005). Organizing and Organizations. SAGE. ISBN 978-1-4129-0130-7.
  5. Gabriel, Y., Fineman, S. and Sims, D. (2000). Organizing and organizations: an introduction. Sage. ISBN 978-0-7619-6280-9.
  6. Sims, D., Fineman, S. and Gabriel, Y. (1993). Organizing and organizations: an introduction. Sage Publications Ltd. ISBN 978-0-8039-8702-9.

Chapters (18)

  1. Sims, D. (2017). Re-Integrating the Professional Learner: The Complementarity of Teaching and Research in Academic Life. The Future of University Education (pp. 227–241). Springer International Publishing. ISBN 978-3-319-46893-8.
  2. Sims, D. (2015). Organising and storytelling. In Beech, N. and Gilmore, C. (Eds.), Organising Music Theory, Practice, Performance (pp. 39–51). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-24003-8.
  3. Sims, D. (2014). Storying as the Meaning, and the Evasion, of Life: Reflections on When Stories Might Be Better Left Untold. In Izak, M., Hitchin, L. and Anderson, D. (Eds.), Untold Stories in Organizations (pp. 13–23). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-65445-2.
  4. Sims, D. (2014). Writing as reflexive knowledge production and as self-production. Producing Management Knowledge: Research as practice (pp. 38–49). ISBN 978-0-203-75910-3.
  5. Sims, D. (2008). Merging the Myths: A Study of the Effect of Organizational Mythmaking in an Organizational Merger. In Kostera, M. (Ed.), Organizational Epics and Sagas: Tales of Organizations (pp. 118–130). London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-349-35414-6.
  6. Sims, D. and Beech, N. (2007). Narrative methods for identity research. In Pullen, A., Beech, N. and Sims, D. (Eds.), Exploring identity: concepts and methods London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-8983-3.
  7. Sims, D. (2005). Living a story and storying a life: a narrative understanding of the distributed self. In Pullen, A. and Linstead, S. (Eds.), Organization and identity (pp. 86–104). Routledge. ISBN 0-415-32231-6.
  8. Sims, D. (2004). Management learning as a critical process: the practice of storying. In Jeffcutt, P. (Ed.), The foundations of management knowledge (pp. 152–166). Routledge.
  9. Sims, D. (2004). The Velveteen Rabbit and passionate feelings for organizations. In Gabriel, Y. (Ed.), Myths, Stories, and Organizations: Premodern Narratives for our Times (pp. 209–222). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926448-1.
  10. Sims, D. and Doyle, J. (2002). Enabling strategic metaphor in conversation: a technique of cognitive sculpting for explicating knowledge. In Huff, A. and Jenkins, M. (Eds.), Mapping strategic knowledge. (pp. 63–85). London: Sage..
  11. Sims, D. (2001). Thinking in organizations to Management in the thought-full enterprise: an historical projection. In Hellgren, B. and Lowestedt, J. (Eds.), Management in the thought-full enterprise European ideas on organizing. (pp. 281–293). Oslo: Fagbokforlaget.
  12. Sims, D., Dowds, N., McAulay, L. and Pitt, M. (2001). Understanding agenda formation as organizational cognition: a reversible butterfly model. In Hellgren, B. and Lowestedt, J. (Eds.), Management in the thought-full enterprise: European ideas on organizing. (pp. 179–194). Oslo: Fagbokforlaget..
  13. Sims, D. and Eden, C. (1999). Futures Research - Working with Management Teams. In Bryson, J.M. (Ed.), Strategic Management in Public and Voluntary Services: A Reader. (pp. 173–186). Oxford: Pergamon.
  14. Sims, D. and Galpin, S. (1999). Narratives and identity in flexible working and teleworking organizations. In Jackson, P. (Ed.), Virtual Working: social and organizational dynamics (pp. 76–94). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-20088-2.
  15. Sims, D. (1999). Organizational learning as the development of stories: canons, apocryphas and pious myths. In Easterby Smith, M., Burgoyne, J. and Araujo, L. (Eds.), Organizational Learning and the Learning Organization (pp. 44–58). London: Sage.
  16. Sims, D. and Wallemacq, A. (1998). The struggle with sense. In Grant, D., Keenoy, T. and Oswick, C. (Eds.), Discourse and Organization (pp. 119–133).
  17. Sims, D., Fineman, S. and Gabriel, Y. (1996). Sex. In Billsberry, J. (Ed.), The effective manager: perspectives and illustrations. (pp. 295–304). London: Sage.
  18. In Black, K., Warhurst, R. and Corlett, S. (Eds.), Identity as a Foundation for Human Resource Development. In Routledge.

Conference papers and proceedings (71)

  1. Sims, D. and Abbey, G. (2012). This is a rehearsal: Leadership learning through supported immersion in a permanently provisional world. BAM 2012: British Academy of Management Conference 11-13 September, Cardiff, UK.
  2. Gharibyan-Kefalloniti, N. and Sims, D. (2012). Relational aesthetics and emotional relations: Leadership on board merchant marine ships. doi:10.1080/15416518.2012.708852
  3. Beech, N., Gregg, G., Patrick, H. and Sims, D. (2011). A dialogical exploration of solo improvisation in musical work. Academy of Management &1st Annual Meeting 12-18 August, San Antonio, USA.
  4. Sims, D. and Xing, Y. (2011). Poetry: the untold side of narratives in shaping managers' identity. EGOS Gothenburg.
  5. Sims, D. (2011). Taking a life for a walk. 17th Organizational storytelling seminar: some do's and dont's for researchers Bath/UK.
  6. Sims, D. (2009). Spoken stories in organizations. Spoken Word Conference Kingston.
  7. Sims, D. (2009). Will this story work over there? Suggestions on how practitioners and managers might hear each other better. Co-producing management knowledge and practice St. Andrews.
  8. Sims, D. (2008). Constructing stories and storying constructs. 9th Conference of the European Personal Construct Association London/UK.
  9. Sims, D. (2008). Looking for the key to leadership under the lamp post. Cranfield Seminar Series Cranfield/UK.
  10. Sims, D. (2008). Looking for the key to leadership under the lamp post. University of Essex Seminar Series Colcehster/UK.
  11. Sims, D. (2008). Time present, time past, and the echoes of the mind: contemplating the tense of discourse. 8th International Conference on Organizational Discourse London/UK.
  12. Sims, D. and Cohen, G. (2007). Contingency and institutional perspectives. British Academy of Management Conference Warwick/UK.
  13. Sims, D. and Xing, Y. (2007). Learning through narratives about the construction of identity in Chinese bank managers. British Academy of Management Conference Warwick/UK.
  14. Sims, D., Balogun, J., Johnson, P., Huff, A., Beech, N. and Rouleau, L. (2007). Strategists' identity and the impact on the practice of strategy. Academy of Management Philadelphia/USA.
  15. Sims, D., Gupta, S. and Bento, F. (2007). The role of leadership in embedding diversity in Higher Education. British Academy of Management Conference Warwick/UK.
  16. Sims, D. (2007). Umbrellas, surfboards and water hoses: being at home with change. Hellenic Institute of Strategic Studies 5th International Conference Athens/Greece.
  17. Gharibyan Kefallonitis, N. and Sims, D. (2006). A word in season: poetic sensemaking. Art of Management Conference Krakow.
  18. Gharibyan Kefallonitis, N. and Sims, D. (2006). Evoking a presence: leadership as an aesthetic activity. Art of Management Conference Krakow.
  19. Sims, D. (2006). Giving research legitimacy to the storytelling approach: how stories feature in the life of organizations, including those dominated by audits and statistics, and how even audits and statistics turn into narratives. 8th Organizational Storytelling Seminar Southampton/UK.
  20. Sims, D. (2006). Marrying-up the �individual� narratives to the �organisational� narratives, including aspects of identity and stories. ESRC Seminar on Organizational Storytelling Southampton.
  21. Beech, N., Huxham, C. and Sims, D. (2006). Name dropping for pleasure and profit: discourses of collaborative identity. 7th International Conference on Organizational Discourse: Amsterdam.
  22. Sims, D., Johnson, P., Beech, N., Balogun, J., Thomas, R. and Hodgkinson, G. (2006). Symposium: strategists' identity and the impact on the practice of strategy. British Academy of Management Conference Belfast/UK.
  23. Gharibyan Kefallonitis, N. and Sims, D. (2006). Walking on water: dramaturgy and aesthetics. 7th International Conference on Organizational Discourse: Amsterdam.
  24. Sims, D. and Gharibyan Kefallonitis, N. (2006). Relational aesthetics and emotional relations: leadership on baord merchant marine ships. British Academy of Management Conference Belfast/UK.
  25. Sims, D. (2005). Finding people to contribute to leadership. British Academy of Management Annual Conference Oxford.
  26. Sims, D. (2005). Knowing what you want to be, but not what it means. British Academy of Management Annual Conference Oxford.
  27. Sims, D. (2005). Learning to do a responsible identity. EURAM 2005 Munich.
  28. Sims, D. (2005). The leader behind the leader: the place of low visibility leaders in enabling leadership to happen. Hellenic Institute of Strategic Studies 4th International Conference "Strategy 2005" Athens, Greece.
  29. Murakami, K., Murray, L., Chedzey, K. and Sims, D. (2004). 'Faking it'?: relevant things to talk about the life of students on work placement. Narrative and Memory Research Group 4th Annual Conference Huddersfield.
  30. Sims, D. (2004). Intellectual work: writing as reflexive knowledge production. International workshop on Knowledge Production in Management Research Stockholm.
  31. Chedzey, K., Murray, L., Murakami, K. and Sims, D. (2004). Narrating a self: learning and 'doing' a professional identity. British Academy of Management Annual Conference St. Andrews.
  32. Sims, D. (2004). Sensations from narrative. Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism Halifax, Nova Scotia.
  33. Murray, L., Murakami, K., Cortazzi, M., Chedzey, K. and Sims, D. (2003). Can narrative analysis reveal the nature of undergraduate student learning on work placements? Can it constitute learning? British Educational Research Association Manchester.
  34. Pitt, M., McAulay, L. and Sims, D. (2003). Leadership, responsibility and agenda formation. International Conference for the Study of Leadership Lancaster.
  35. Sims, D. (2003). Learning about the self: exploring emotion and identity through cognitive sculpting. ESRC Seminar Series on Emotional Learning: Reparative forms of emotional learning Brunel University.
  36. Sims, D. (2003). Living a story and storying a life; what happens if you get life-narrative writer�s block? The Construction of Identity in Organizations Workshop University of Strathclyde.
  37. Murray, L., Murakami, K., Cortazzi, M., Chedzey, K. and Sims, D. (2003). Work Placements as Narrative Learning: Stories for Learning and for Counterpoint. British Academy of Management Harrogate.
  38. Sims, D. (2002). Between the millstones: who cares about the subaltern�s storying? Subaltern Storytelling Seminar University College Cork.
  39. Sims, D. (2002). Careers as Prospective Story Telling: a narrative understanding. European Groupon Organization Studies (EGOS) Sub-theme 14. Barcelona.
  40. Raimond, P. and Sims, D. (2002). Passion as a Prime Determinant of Organizational Success. Strategic Management Society Conference Paris.
  41. Sims, D. (2002). Pursued by narrative: understanding management through retrospective and prospective narratives. Research Seminar University of Luton.
  42. Sims, D. (2002). Understanding the Narration of the Managerial Self by inverting Weick: Sequence as the source of sense or vice versa? 5th International Conference on Organizational discourse. King�s College, London..
  43. Merril, C. and Sims, D. (2002). Where two paradigms meet: an exploration of economic analysis, stakeholder analysis and agenda shaping as applied to treatment of myocardial infarction. 4th International Conference on Organizational Behaviour in Health Oxford.
  44. Sims, D. (2001). Death by Chocolate: Comfort thinking and sublimated passion in organizations. 9th International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition Paris.
  45. Sims, D. (2001). Knowing, Loving, and the Velveteen Rabbit. European Group on Organization Studies (EGOS) Lyon.
  46. Sims, D. (2001). Moral indignation and passion in organizations; the case of the �bastard�. Research Seminar Strathclyde Business School.
  47. Sims, D. (2000). You bastard: a study of moral indignation in organizations. 4th International Conference on Organizational discourse. King�s College, London..
  48. Sims, D. (1999). Rewriting the contents page: a narrative view of organizational learning and knowledge management in a merging organization. Organizational learning: 3rd International Conference. Lancaster University.
  49. Sims, D. (1999). Storing the Stories: How organizations refashion their narrative worlds and reshape their agendas. Sixth International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition University of Essex.
  50. Sims, D. (1998). Agenda formation in organizations: approaches from social cognition, narrative and both. 4th Symposium on Cognition and Creativity in organizational settings. Paris Graduate School of Management..
  51. McCarthy, A. and Sims, D. (1998). Practitioners and academics on the floor of the intellectual capital exchange: beyond knowledge management and organizational learning. British Academy of Management annual conference symposium University of Nottingham.
  52. Sims, D. (1997). Power, agendas and stories. Seminar Keele University, Department of Health Studies.
  53. Sims, D. (1997). The everyday practice of narrative research. Doctoral Seminar University of Glamorgan..
  54. Stjernberg, T., Stymne, B. and Sims, D. (1997). The importance of being intellectual: on the nature of intellectual work. Fifth International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition Namur.
  55. Sims, D. (1997). The narrative nature of organizational learning. British Academy of Management Annual Conference London..
  56. Sims, D. (1997). The process and principles of narrative research. Staff and research student seminar Stockholm School of Economics.
  57. Sims, D. (1996). From �Thinking in organizations� to �Management in the thought-full enterprise�. Fourth International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition Stockholm.
  58. Sims, D. (1996). Gendered agendas and Tory stories. Faculty seminar Faculty of Social Sciences, Brunel University.
  59. Pitt, M., McAulay, L., Dowds, N. and Sims, D. (1996). Horse races, governance and the chance to fight: on the formation of organizational agendas. British Academy of Management Annual Conference Aston.
  60. Sims, D. (1996). Organizational learning as the development of a canon of stories. Organizationl Learning and the Learning Organization: Theoretical and Research Developments. Lancaster.
  61. Dowds, N., McAulay, L., Pitt, M. and Sims, D. (1996). Researching the unresearchable: agendas, narratives, protocols and the entertainer. British Academy of Management Annual Conference Aston.
  62. Dowds, N., McAulay, L., Pitt, M. and Sims, D. (1996). The author, the actor, the teller and their listeners: understanding agenda formation as organizational cognition. Fourth International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition Stockholm,.
  63. Wallemacq, A. and Sims, D. (1996). The struggle with sense: a dialogue between two approaches. Second International Conference on Organizational Discourse: talk, text and tropes. King�s College, London.
  64. Pitt, M., Dowds, N., McAulay, L. and Sims, D. (1995). Agenda formation in organizations: collective revitalisation through the expression of individual role identities. British Academy of Management Sheffield.
  65. Sims, D. (1995). Building individual agendas in organizations: a participatory action research project? European Group of Organization Studies (EGOS) Colloquium, theme: 'Thinking in Organizations' Istanbul.
  66. Sims, D. (1995). Four readings and a funeral: the uneasy relationship between management education and management learning. ESRC Seminar on Critique in Management Education Leeds.
  67. Sims, D. (1995). A narrative approach to agenda shaping. Third International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition Strathclyde University.
  68. Sims, D. (1995). Thinking new thoughts in management: a case study of going beyond discipline. New Perspectives in Management Education University of Leeds.
  69. Doyle, J. and Sims, D. (1994). Cognitive sculpting as a means of discovering managers' metaphors. 2nd International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition EIASM, Brussels.
  70. Doyle, J. and Sims, D. (1994). Enabling metaphors in conversation: a technique of cognitive sculpting. Metaphors in Organisational Theory and Behaviour. King's College, London.
  71. Pitt, M. and Sims, D. (1994). Invoking metaphors of managerial role-identity. British Academy of Management Annual Conference Lancaster.

Journal articles (56)

  1. Sims, D. (2018). Book Review: Stephen Fineman Revenge: A Short Enquiry into Retribution. Organization Studies, 39(2-3), pp. 420–422. doi:10.1177/0170840617748872.

    [publisher’s website]

  2. MacIntosh, R., Beech, N., Antonacopoulou, E. and Sims, D. (2012). Practising and knowing management: A dialogic perspective. Management Learning, 43(4), pp. 373–383. doi:10.1177/1350507612452521.

    [publisher’s website]

  3. Xing, Y. and Sims, D. (2012). Leadership, Daoist Wu Wei and reflexivity: Flow, self-protection and excuse in Chinese bank managers' leadership practice. MANAGEMENT LEARNING, 43(1), pp. 97–112. doi:10.1177/1350507611409659.
  4. Xing, Y. and Sims, D. (2011). How different Chinese cultural traditions affect leadership. Leadership.
  5. Xing, Y. and Sims, D. (2011). The Varieties of Guanxi for Chinese Banking Managers. International Business Review.
  6. Sims, D. (2010). Looking for the key to leadership under the lamp post. European Management Journal, 28(4), pp. 253–259. doi:10.1016/j.emj.2010.05.004.
  7. McAulay, L. and Sims, D. (2009). A celebration: Reflections on management learning and the humanities. Management Learning, 40(4), pp. 357–362. doi:10.1177/1350507609335842.
  8. Sims, D., Huxham, C. and Beech, N. (2009). On telling stories but hearing snippets: Sense-taking from presentations of practice. Organization, 16(3), pp. 371–388. doi:10.1177/1350508409102301.
  9. Murakami, K., Murray, L., Sims, D. and Chedzey, K. (2009). Learning on work placement: The narrative development of social competence. Journal of Adult Development, 16(1), pp. 13–24. doi:10.1007/s10804-008-9044-9.
  10. Sims, D. (2008). Managerial identity formation in a public sector professional: An autobiographical account. International Journal of Public Administration, 31(9), pp. 988–1002. doi:10.1080/01900690801920825.
  11. Sims, D., Murray, L., Murakami, K. and Chedzey, K. (2006). Work placements as narrative learning: Stories for learning and for counterpoint. International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 3(5), pp. 468–487. doi:10.1504/IJIL.2006.010484.
  12. Sims, D. (2005). You bastard: A narrative exploration of the experience of indignation within organizations. Organization Studies, 26(11), pp. 1625–1640. doi:10.1177/0170840605054625.
  13. Sims, D. and Newman, D. (2005). Encouraging low visibility leadership. Critical Eye Review, 38596(September - November), pp. 30–33.
  14. Sims, D. (2003). Between the millstones: A narrative account of the vulnerability of middle managers' storying. Human Relations, 56(10), pp. 1195–1211. doi:10.1177/00187267035610002.
  15. Sims, D. (2003). The organization of hypocrisy: Talk, decisions, actions in organizations, 2nd edition. ORGANIZATION STUDIES, 24(6), pp. 995–998. doi:10.1177/0170840603024006010.
  16. Sims, D. (2002). Reviews. Management Learning, 33(2), pp. 285–288. doi:10.1177/1350507602332016.

    [publisher’s website]

  17. Pitt, M., McAulay, L. and Sims, D. (2002). Promoting strategic change: ‘playmaker’ roles in organizational agenda formation. Strategic Change, 11(3), pp. 155–172. doi:10.1002/jsc.586.

    [publisher’s website]

  18. Sims, D. (2000). Reviews Section. Management Learning, 31(3), pp. 375–376. doi:10.1177/1350507600313006.

    [publisher’s website]

  19. Pitt, M. and Sims, D. (1998). Preparing for Novel Situations: Evoking Managerial Role Identities. Journal of Management Education, 22(6), pp. 682–706. doi:10.1177/105256299802200602.

    [publisher’s website]

  20. Sims, D. (1998). Changes at Management Learning. Management Learning, 29(4), pp. 403–403. doi:10.1177/1350507698294001.

    [publisher’s website]

  21. Pitt, M., McAulay, L., Dowds, N. and Sims, D. (1997). Horse Races, Governance and the Chance to Fight: On the Formation of Organizational Agendas. British Journal of Management, 8(s1), pp. 19–30. doi:10.1111/1467-8551.8.s1.3.
  22. Birts, A., McAulay, L., Pitt, M., Saren, M. and Sims, D. (1997). The Expertise of Finance and Accountancy: an Interdisciplinary Study. British Journal of Management, 8(1), pp. 75–83. doi:10.1111/1467-8551.00041.

    [publisher’s website]

  23. Sims, D.B.P. and Doyle, J.R. (1995). Cognitive sculpting as a means of working with managers' metaphors. Omega, 23(2), pp. 117–124. doi:10.1016/0305-0483(94)00066-j.

    [publisher’s website]

  24. Nicholls, J., Harris, J., Morgan, E., Clarke, K. and Sims, D. (1995). Marketing higher education: the MBA experience. International Journal of Educational Management, 9(2), pp. 31–38. doi:10.1108/09513549510082369.

    [publisher’s website]

  25. Sims, D. and McAulay, L. (1995). Management Learning as a Learning Process: An Invitation. Management Learning, 26(1), pp. 5–20. doi:10.1177/135050769502600101.

    [publisher’s website]

  26. McAulay, L. and Sims, D. (1995). An Inquiry into Management Learning. Management Learning, 26(1), pp. 21–36. doi:10.1177/135050769502600102.

    [publisher’s website]

  27. Sims, D. (1995). Cognitive mapping for today's managers. Business North West, 28(9), pp. 8–9.
  28. Sims, D., Morgan, E., Nicholls, J., Clarke, K. and Harris, J. (1994). Between Experience and Knowledge. Management Learning, 25(2), pp. 275–287. doi:10.1177/1350507694252007.

    [publisher’s website]

  29. Sims, D. (1994). Cognitive mapping for managers. Network: the Government Training and Personnel Journal, 1994(Summer), pp. 12–13.
  30. Sims, D. and Siew‐Kim, J.L. (1993). Discovering an Alternative View of Managing: A Study with Singaporean Women Managers. Applied Psychology, 42(4), pp. 365–377. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.1993.tb00751.x.

    [publisher’s website]

  31. Sims, A. and Sims, D. (1993). Top teams. The Health service journal, 103(5358), pp. 28–30.
  32. Sims, D. and Sims, A. (1993). Managing Professionals in Multidisciplinary Teams: A Case Study from Psychiatry. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 14(6), pp. 12–16. doi:10.1108/01437739310047056.

    [publisher’s website]

  33. Sims, D. (1993). Coping with Misinformation. Management Decision, 31(5). doi:10.1108/00251749310041779.

    [publisher’s website]

  34. Sims, D.B.P. (1993). The Formation of Top Managers: a Discourse Analysis of Five Managerial Autobiographies. British Journal of Management, 4(1), pp. 57–68. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.1993.tb00162.x.

    [publisher’s website]

  35. Sims, D. and Sims, A. (1993). Clinical Management: The Case of the Consultant Psychiatrist. Health Manpower Management, 19(3), pp. 20–24.
  36. Sims, D. and Sims, A. (1993). Top teams. Health Service Journal, 103(5357), pp. 28–30.
  37. Sims, D. (1992). Information Systems and Constructing Problems. Management Decision, 30(5). doi:10.1108/00251749210015625.

    [publisher’s website]

  38. Sims, D., Harris, J., Clarke, K., Morgan, E. and Nicholls, J. (1992). MBA courses: learning from diversity and similarity. Management Education and Development (Management Learning), 23(4), pp. 335–344.
  39. Jones, S. and Sims, D. (1988). Putting Creativity on the Map. Management Decision, 26(3), pp. 5–8. doi:10.1108/eb001491.

    [publisher’s website]

  40. Sims, D. (1986). Interorganisation: Some Problems of Multi‐organisational Teams. Personnel Review, 15(4), pp. 27–31. doi:10.1108/eb055546.

    [publisher’s website]

  41. Jones, S. and Sims, D. (1985). Mapping as an Aid to Creativity. Journal of Management Development, 4(1), pp. 47–60. doi:10.1108/eb051575.

    [publisher’s website]

  42. Sims, D. and Eden, C. (1984). Futures research—Working with management teams. Long Range Planning, 17(4), pp. 51–59. doi:10.1016/0024-6301(84)90190-0.

    [publisher’s website]

  43. Smithin, T. and Sims, D. (1982). Ubi Caritas? — Modelling beliefs about charities. European Journal of Operational Research, 10(3), pp. 237–243. doi:10.1016/0377-2217(82)90222-3.

    [publisher’s website]

  44. Sims, D. and Smithin, T. (1982). Voluntary Operational Research. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 33(1), pp. 21–28. doi:10.1057/jors.1982.3.

    [publisher’s website]

  45. Sims, D. and Jones, S. (1981). Explicit Problem Modeling: An Intervention Strategy. Group & Organization Studies, 6(4), pp. 486–499. doi:10.1177/105960118100600408.

    [publisher’s website]

  46. Sims, D., Eden, C. and Jones, S. (1981). Facilitating problem definition in teams. European Journal of Operational Research, 6(4), pp. 360–366. doi:10.1016/0377-2217(81)90302-7.

    [publisher’s website]

  47. Sims, D. (1981). The Practice of OR: Operationalising Ackoff. Management Decision, 19(3), pp. 39–47. doi:10.1108/eb001275.

    [publisher’s website]

  48. Eden, C., Jones, S., Sims, D. and Smithin, T. (1981). THE INTERSUBJECTIVITY OF ISSUES AND ISSUES OF INTERSUBJECTIVITY. Journal of Management Studies, 18(1), pp. 37–47. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6486.1981.tb00090.x.

    [publisher’s website]

  49. Eden, C. and Sims, D. (1981). Computerised Vicarious Experience: The Future for Management Induction? Personnel Review, 10(1), pp. 22–25. doi:10.1108/eb055427.

    [publisher’s website]

  50. Sims, D. (1979). A Framework for Understanding the Definition and Formulation of Problems in Teams. Human Relations, 32(11), pp. 909–921. doi:10.1177/001872677903201102.

    [publisher’s website]

  51. Hyder, S. and Sims, D. (1979). Hypothesis, Analysis and Paralysis : Issues in the Organisation of Contract Research. Management Education and Development, 10(2), pp. 100–111. doi:10.1177/135050767901000202.

    [publisher’s website]

  52. Eden, C., Sims, D. and Jones, S. (1979). Policy analysis and organizational politics. European Journal of Operational Research, 3(3), pp. 207–215. doi:10.1016/0377-2217(79)90140-1.

    [publisher’s website]

  53. Jones, S., Eden, C. and Sims, D. (1979). Subjectivity and Organisational Politics in Policy Analysis. Policy & Politics, 7(2), pp. 145–163. doi:10.1332/030557379782758194.

    [publisher’s website]

  54. Eden, C., Jones, S., Sims, D. and Gunton, H. (1979). Images into models. Futures, 11(1), pp. 56–62. doi:10.1016/0016-3287(79)90069-7.

    [publisher’s website]

  55. Sims, C. (1979). On the nature of problems in consulting practice. Omega, 7(2), pp. 119–127. doi:10.1016/0305-0483(79)90099-9.

    [publisher’s website]

  56. McLean, A.J. and Sims, D.B.P. (1978). Job Enrichment from Theoretical Poverty: The State of the Art and Directions for Further Work. Personnel Review, 7(2), pp. 5–10. doi:10.1108/eb055355.

    [publisher’s website]

Report

  1. Storey, C. and Sims, D. (2004). Leadership for innovation. Chartered Insurance Institute (CII).

Professional activities

Editorial activity (7)

  1. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Member of Editorial Board, 2009 – present.
  2. International Journal of Work, Organisation and Emotion, Member of Editorial Board, 2006 – present.
  3. Organisation Studies, Member of Editorial Board, 2006 – present.
  4. Strategic Change, Member of Editorial Board, 2003 – 2009.
  5. Management Learning, Member of Editorial Board, 2000 – present.
  6. Journal of Management Inquiry, Member of Editorial Board, 1996 – 2005.
  7. Management Learning, Editor, 1995 – 1999.

Events/conferences (67)

  1. British Academy of Management. (Conference) Cardiff/UK (2012).
    Paper: This is a rehearsal: Leadership learning through supported immersion in a permanently provisional world
    Author: Abbey G
    Co-authors: Sims, D
  2. EGOS. Gothenburg (2011).
    Paper: Poetry: the untold side of narratives in shaping managers' identity
    Author: Sims D
    Co-authors: Xing, Y
  3. Academy of Management. (Conference) San Antonio, USA (2011).
    Paper: A dialogical exploration of solo improvisation in musical work
    Author: Beech N
    Co-authors: Gregg, G, Patrick, H, Sims, D
  4. 17th Organizational storytelling seminar: some do's and dont's for researchers. (Conference) Bath/UK (2011). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Taking a life for a walk
    Author: Sims D
  5. Co-producing management knowledge and practice. (Workshop) St. Andrews (2009).
    Paper: Will this story work over there? Suggestions on how practitioners and managers might hear each other better
    Author: Sims D
  6. Spoken Word Conference. (Conference) Kingston (2009). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Spoken stories in organizations
    Author: Sims D
  7. University of Essex Seminar Series. (Seminar) Colcehster/UK (2008). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Looking for the key to leadership under the lamp post
    Author: Sims D
  8. Cranfield Seminar Series. (Seminar) Cranfield/UK (2008). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Looking for the key to leadership under the lamp post
    Author: Sims D
  9. 9th Conference of the European Personal Construct Association. (Conference) London/UK (2008). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Constructing stories and storying constructs
    Author: Sims D
  10. 8th International Conference on Organizational Discourse. (Conference) London/UK (2008). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Time present, time past, and the echoes of the mind: contemplating the tense of discourse
    Author: Sims D
  11. Hellenic Institute of Strategic Studies 5th International Conference. (Conference) Athens/Greece (2007). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Umbrellas, surfboards and water hoses: being at home with change
    Author: Sims D
  12. British Academy of Management Conference. (Conference) Warwick/UK (2007).
    Paper: The role of leadership in embedding diversity in Higher Education
    Author: Sims D
    Co-authors: S Gupta, F Bento
  13. British Academy of Management Conference. (Conference) Warwick/UK (2007).
    Paper: Learning through narratives about the construction of identity in Chinese bank managers
    Author: Sims D
    Co-authors: Y Xing
  14. British Academy of Management Conference. (Conference) Warwick/UK (2007).
    Paper: Contingency and institutional perspectives
    Author: Sims D
    Co-authors: G Cohen
  15. Academy of Management. (Conference) Philadelphia/USA (2007).
    Paper: Strategists' identity and the impact on the practice of strategy
    Author: Sims D
    Co-authors: J Balogun, P Johnson, A Huff, N Beech, L Rouleau
  16. 7th International Conference on Organizational Discourse. Amsterdam (2006).
    Paper: Name dropping for pleasure and profit: discourses of collaborative identity
    Co-authors: N Beech, C Huxham
  17. 7th International Conference on Organizational Discourse. Amsterdam (2006).
    Paper: Walking on water: dramaturgy and aesthetics
    Co-authors: N Gharibyan-Kefallonitis
  18. 8th Organizational Storytelling Seminar. (Seminar) Southampton/UK (2006). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Giving research legitimacy to the storytelling approach: how stories feature in the life of organizations, including those dominated by audits and statistics, and how even audits and statistics turn i
    Author: Sims D
  19. British Academy of Management Conference. (Conference) Belfast/UK (2006).
    Paper: Relational aesthetics and emotional relations: leadership on baord merchant marine ships
    Author: Sims D
    Co-authors: N Gharibyan-Kefallonitis
  20. British Academy of Management Conference. (Conference) Belfast/UK (2006).
    Paper: Symposium: strategists' identity and the impact on the practice of strategy
    Author: Sims D
    Co-authors: P Johnson, N Beech, J Balogun, R Thomas, G Hodgkinson
  21. Hellenic Institute of Strategic Studies 4th International Conference "Strategy 2005". (Conference) Athens/Greece (2005). Invited speaker.
    Paper: The leader behind the leader: the place of low visibility leaders in enabling leadership to happen
    Author: Sims D
  22. EURAM 2005. Munich (2005).
    Paper: Learning to do a responsible identity
  23. British Academy of Management Annual Conference. Oxford (2005).
    Paper: Knowing what you want to be, but not what it means
  24. British Academy of Management Annual Conference. Oxford (2005).
    Paper: Finding people to contribute to leadership
  25. Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism. Halifax, Nova Scotia (2004).
    Paper: Sensations from narrative
  26. Narrative and Memory Research Group 4th Annual Conference. Huddersfield (2004).
    Paper: 'Faking it'?: relevant things to talk about the life of students on work placement
    Co-authors: Murakami, K, Murray, L, Chedzey, K
  27. International workshop on Knowledge Production in Management Research. Stockholm (2004).
    Paper: Intellectual work: writing as reflexive knowledge production
  28. British Academy of Management Annual Conference. St. Andrews (2004).
    Paper: Narrating a self: learning and 'doing' a professional identity
    Co-authors: Chedzey, K, Murray, L, Murakami, K
  29. The Construction of Identity in Organizations Workshop. University of Strathclyde (2003).
    Paper: Living a story and storying a life; what happens if you get life-narrative writer’s block?
  30. International Conference for the Study of Leadership. Lancaster (2003).
    Paper: Leadership, responsibility and agenda formation
    Co-authors: Pitt, M, McAulay, L
  31. ESRC Seminar Series on Emotional Learning: Reparative forms of emotional learning. Brunel University (2003).
    Paper: Learning about the self: exploring emotion and identity through cognitive sculpting
  32. British Educational Research Association. Manchester (2003).
    Paper: Can narrative analysis reveal the nature of undergraduate student learning on work placements? Can it constitute learning?
    Co-authors: Murray, L, Murakami, K, Cortazzi, M, Chedzey, K
  33. British Academy of Management. Harrogate (2003).
    Paper: Work Placements as Narrative Learning: Stories for Learning and for Counterpoint
    Co-authors: Murray, L, Murakami, K, Cortazzi, M, Chedzey, K
  34. Subaltern Storytelling Seminar. University College Cork (2002).
    Paper: Between the millstones: who cares about the subaltern’s storying?
  35. Strategic Management Society Conference. Paris (2002).
    Paper: Passion as a Prime Determinant of Organizational Success
    Co-authors: Raimond, P.
  36. Research Seminar. University of Luton (2002).
    Paper: Pursued by narrative: understanding management through retrospective and prospective narratives
  37. European Groupon Organization Studies (EGOS) Sub-theme 14. Barcelona (2002).
    Paper: Careers as Prospective Story Telling: a narrative understanding
  38. 5th International Conference on Organizational discourse. King’s College, London (2002).
    Paper: Understanding the Narration of the Managerial Self by inverting Weick: Sequence as the source of sense or vice versa?
  39. 4th International Conference on Organizational Behaviour in Health. Oxford (2002).
    Paper: Where two paradigms meet: an exploration of economic analysis, stakeholder analysis and agenda shaping as applied to treatment of myocardial infarction
    Co-authors: Merril, C.
  40. Research Seminar. Strathclyde Business School (2001).
    Paper: Moral indignation and passion in organizations; the case of the ‘bastard’
  41. European Group on Organization Studies (EGOS). Lyon (2001).
    Paper: Knowing, Loving, and the Velveteen Rabbit
  42. 9th International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition. Paris (2001).
    Paper: Death by Chocolate: Comfort thinking and sublimated passion in organizations
  43. 4th International Conference on Organizational discourse. King’s College, London (2000).
    Paper: You bastard: a study of moral indignation in organizations
  44. Sixth International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition. University of Essex (1999).
    Paper: Storing the Stories: How organizations refashion their narrative worlds and reshape their agendas
  45. Organizational learning: 3rd International Conference. Lancaster University (1999).
    Paper: Rewriting the contents page: a narrative view of organizational learning and knowledge management in a merging organization
  46. British Academy of Management annual conference symposium. University of Nottingham (1998).
    Paper: Practitioners and academics on the floor of the intellectual capital exchange: beyond knowledge management and organizational learning
    Co-authors: McCarthy, A.
  47. 4th Symposium on Cognition and Creativity in organizational settings. Paris Graduate School of Management (1998).
    Paper: Agenda formation in organizations: approaches from social cognition, narrative and both
  48. Staff and research student seminar. Stockholm School of Economics (1997).
    Paper: The process and principles of narrative research
  49. Seminar. Keele University, Department of Health Studies (1997).
    Paper: Power, agendas and stories
  50. Fifth International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition. Namur (1997).
    Paper: The importance of being intellectual: on the nature of intellectual work
    Co-authors: Stjernberg, T. and Stymne, B.
  51. Doctoral Seminar. University of Glamorgan (1997).
    Paper: The everyday practice of narrative research
  52. British Academy of Management Annual Conference. London (1997).
    Paper: The narrative nature of organizational learning
  53. Second International Conference on Organizational Discourse: talk, text and tropes. King’s College, London (1996).
    Paper: The struggle with sense: a dialogue between two approaches
    Co-authors: Wallemacq, A.
  54. Organizational Learning and the Learning Organization: Theoretical and Research Developments. Lancaster (1996).
    Paper: Organizational learning as the development of a canon of stories
  55. Fourth International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition. Stockholm (1996).
    Paper: The author, the actor, the teller and their listeners: understanding agenda formation as organizational cognition
    Co-authors: Dowds, N., McAulay, L. and Pitt, M.
  56. Fourth International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition. Stockholm (1996).
    Paper: From ‘Thinking in organizations’ to ‘Management in the thought-full enterprise’
  57. Faculty seminar. Faculty of Social Sciences, Brunel University (1996).
    Paper: Gendered agendas and Tory stories
  58. British Academy of Management Annual Conference. Aston (1996).
    Paper: Horse races, governance and the chance to fight: on the formation of organizational agendas
    Co-authors: Pitt, M., McAulay, L., Dowds, N.
  59. British Academy of Management Annual Conference. Aston (1996).
    Paper: Researching the unresearchable: agendas, narratives, protocols and the entertainer
    Co-authors: Dowds, N., McAulay, L., Pitt, M.
  60. Third International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition. Strathclyde University (1995).
    Paper: A narrative approach to agenda shaping
  61. New Perspectives in Management Education. University of Leeds (1995).
    Paper: Thinking new thoughts in management: a case study of going beyond discipline
  62. European Group of Organization Studies (EGOS) Colloquium, theme: 'Thinking in Organizations'. Istanbul (1995).
    Paper: Building individual agendas in organizations: a participatory action research project?
  63. ESRC Seminar on Critique in Management Education. Leeds (1995).
    Paper: Four readings and a funeral: the uneasy relationship between management education and management learning
  64. British Academy of Management. Sheffield (1995).
    Paper: Agenda formation in organizations: collective revitalisation through the expression of individual role identities
    Co-authors: Pitt, M., Dowds, N., McAulay, L.
  65. Metaphors in Organisational Theory and Behaviour. King's College, London (1994).
    Paper: Enabling metaphors in conversation: a technique of cognitive sculpting
    Co-authors: Doyle, J.
  66. British Academy of Management Annual Conference. Lancaster (1994).
    Paper: Invoking metaphors of managerial role-identity
    Co-authors: Pitt, M.
  67. 2nd International Workshop on Managerial and Organizational Cognition. EIASM, Brussels (1994).
    Paper: Cognitive sculpting as a means of discovering managers' metaphors
    Co-authors: Doyle, J.

Media appearances (30)

  1. (2010) gulfnews.com (website).
  2. Young executives shoulder the burden. (2010) www.gulfnews.com (website).
  3. Young Executives - Shoulder The Burden. (2010) Gulf News (newspaper).
  4. World Cup fever threatens to deliver £1bn own goal to economy. (2010) Financial Times (newspaper).
  5. (2010) Sky (unknown).
  6. Heal your workplace's recession wounds. (2010) Short List (magazine).
  7. Beauty parades are no way to recruit. (2010) www.cityam.com (website).
  8. Beauty parades are no way to recruit. (2010) City AM (newspaper).
  9. Critics unite in anger to force the 'aliens' of business down to earth. (2010) www.u.tv (website).
  10. Listen to the bearers of bad news. (2010) Financial Times (newspaper).
  11. (2010) BBC World Service Radio (radio).
  12. Confused thinking on insensitive bosses. (2010) Financial Times (newspaper).
  13. The lessons Cameron can learn from Boris's bungles. (2009) Sunday Times (newspaper).
  14. How to be a stelios and not one to the herd. (2009) Guardian (newspaper).
  15. The week in higher eductaion. (2008) www.timeshighereducation.co.uk (website).
  16. Cribsheet. (2008) www.guardian.co.uk (website).
  17. Coca-Cola contraceptive plus stale chips research wins Ig Nobels. (2008) www.postchronicle.com (website).
  18. Coca-Cola explodes sperm. (2008) asiaone .com.sg (website).
  19. Spermicide Coke, stale chips research clinch Ig Nobels. (2008) Chinadaily.com (website).
  20. Spermicide coke research wins Ig Nobel award. (2008) stuff.co.nz (website).
  21. (2008) Spin 103.8 Dublin (radio).
  22. And now we knowÉ. (2008) Sunday Times (newspaper).
  23. dan a conocer premios Anti-Nobel 2008 en la Universidad de Harvard. (2008) www.diario.com.mx (website).
  24. Prize-winning bastards advance ignoble cause. (2008) www.smh.com.au (website).
  25. El anti-Noble, a un estudio sobre por que las pulgas brincan mas sobre perros que sobre gatos. (2008) www.yucatan.com.mx (website).
  26. Sperm killer, stale chips - it's Ig Nobel. (2008) www.news.com.au (website).
  27. Flea jumping study wins ignoble prize. (2008) www.rte.ie (website).
  28. Cultural revolution spreads. (2007) Times (newspaper).
  29. MBA, La voie rapide par cadres presses. (2007) L'Expansion (magazine).
  30. Outdated, unimaginative, badly taughtÉ the use of case studies is under fire. (2007) The Independent (newspaper).