The series of disruptions from the dot-com crash and global financial crises to the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with climate threats and demographic shifts in aging and migration the notion of the Organisation in the 21st century and process of organising requires a rethink. The ambition of the center is to contribute to the emergence of sustainable, inclusive, and creative solutions for organising, managing, leading, and developing people and products. This is realised through nurturing collaborations with regional, national and international ecosystems of industry and academic partners, along with research-led education. Supported by CUT, our approach is interdisciplinary, pluralistic and involves the study of diverse organisational forms and products, with a particular focus on rethinking the development of people and organisations, organisational innovation and leadership for sustainable futures.
RTO at a glance
Dr. Petya Puncheva Michelotti – Full Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Management & Organisations, Rennes School of Business – Director of the Research Centre Embracing Unframed Thinking underpins our philosophy as we pursue bold, innovative and impactful research across our three interrelated research strands: People and Organisational Development, Organisational Innovation, and Leadership for a Sustainable Future.
Name of the area of expertise Rethinking Tomorrow’s Organisation (RTO)
Petya has a PhD from Griffith University, Australia and over 20 years of international academic experience in sustainable management. Her research focuses on worker participation and wellbeing in new forms of organising and managing, inclusive communication in recruitment and selection, and the empowering of sustainability leaders.
Ambition of the center The center aims to foster sustainable, inclusive, and creative solutions for organising, managing, leading, and developing people and products. This is achieved through collaborations with regional, national, and international industry and academic partners, along with research-led education.
Associated or derived Rennes SB courses Mindful Decision-Making, Managing Diversity: An international perspective, Social Economy, Thinking Inside Out: Building Effective and Creative Teams, Creative Leadership for Sustainable Organisational Change, New Products and Brand Management, Marketing of Innovation, Development and Marketing of New Products for Sustainability, Sustainable Consumption, Sociology and Politics of Transitions; Graduating Project
Some of our academic partnerships Australia: Deakin University (Deakin Business School); Norway: Inland University; Spain: Universitat Jaume I; UK: University of Glasgow; Slovenia: Ljubljana School of Economics and Business
Corporate and institutional partnerships Federazione Trentina della Cooperazione (Trentino federation of cooperatives), Italy; Produit en Bretagne, France; B<>Com, France; Rennes Metropole, France; South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (United Kingdom)
3 key figures
6 PhD students
36 partner institutions across 20 countries
43 faculty members with expertise in the 3 key research areas: Developing People and Organisations, Organisational Innovation, Leadership for Sustainable Futures
Recent achievement
Leading innovation in social enterprise elderly care work in isolated regions The RTO center, in collaboration with the G3D center, has partnered with industry and academic institutions from Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, and Australia to research and innovate sustainable models for decent work and quality elderly care in isolated regions. Petya Puncheva-Michelotti, the consortium leader, stated that the organizational needs of social enterprises are often overlooked by business schools. The consortium aims to address this by providing research expertise and innovative solutions in social enterprise leadership, governance, and networking to improve elderly care in remote areas.
Best achievement
The Pollen Project (Dermot Breslin, Sarah Hudson, Joanne Gardner Le-Gars, Sofia Hansen) Pollen is an ANR-funded project whose objective is to examine the social acceptability of using AI in public management decision making. This 3-year project is being led by RTO/AI research centres in collaboration with B<>Com and Rennes Metropole, and includes a) the completion of a systematic literature review (Phase I 2023-24), and b) qualitative study of key shareholders within Rennes Metropole and partners (Phase II 2024-25).
Best highlight
A two-day RTO research workshop on ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Informal Relations and Inequalities’ was held on June 3rd and 4th, initiated by Cyrlene Claasen, leader of the ‘Developing People and Organisations’ research axis. Guest speakers included Professor David Weir from York St John University and Dr. Kweku Adams from the University of Bradford. The event aimed to enhance collaborations on informal relations and inequalities in business, with a focus on African and South Asian countries.
Research Axes
Developing People and Organisations
Group Leader:
Dr Cyrlene Claassen (M&O Department): Research in the areas of organisational crisis management, organisational justice and employee engagement, national and cultural challenges to equal opportunity practices, governance and stakeholder engagement with a particular focus on African countries.
Organisational innovation
Group leader:
Dr Claire-Lise Ackerman (Marketing): researching innovation and product design, innovation in the sharing economy and services (tourism)
Leadership for sustainable futures
Group Leader:
Ronald Clarke (M&O Department): researching e-leadership, leading inclusive technological change in healthcare, leading teams for radical creativity.
Ackermann, C. L., Matson-Barkat, S., & Truong, Y. (2022). A legitimacy perspective on sharing economy consumption in the accommodation sector. Current Issues in Tourism, 25(12), 1947-1967.
Ahmad, M. F., Aziz, S., & Dowling, M. M. (2022). Does target country cultural orientation influence M&A?. British Journal of Management, 33(2), 906-938.
Azambuja, R., Islam, G., & Ancelin‐Bourguignon, A. (2022). Walling In and Walling Out: Middle Managers’ Boundary Work. Journal of Management Studies.
Breslin, D. (2022). When relationships get in the way: The emergence and persistence of care routines. Organization Studies, 43(2).
Breslin, D., & Gatrell, C. (2022). Theorizing through literature reviews: The miner-prospector continuum. Organizational Research Methods, 1094428120943288.
Clarke, R., Richter, A. W., & Kilduff, M. (2022). One tie to capture advice and friendship: Leader multiplex centrality effects on team performance change. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(6), 968-986.
Grünhagen, M., González-Díaz, M., Hussain, D., & Monteiro da Silva Filho, H. (2022). Multibrand, multisystem and multirole franchising: A qualitative exploration and framework development in Brazil. Journal of Small Business Management, 60(2), 253-288.
Jabbouri, R., Schneckenberg, D., & Truong, Y. (2022). From Policy-Practice to Means-Ends Decoupling in Organizations: A Systematic Review and Paths for Future Research. Management International, 26(1), 123-148.
Hennekam, S., & Ladge, J. J. (2022). Free to Be Me? Evolving Gender Expression and the Dynamic Interplay between Authenticity and the Desire to Be Accepted at Work. Academy of Management Journal
Hennekam, S., Richard, S., & Özbilgin, M. (2022). How social structures influence the labour market participation of individuals with mental illness: A Bourdieusian perspective. Journal of Management Studies.
Macpherson, A., Breslin, D., & Akinci, C. (2022). Organizational learning from hidden improvisation. Organization Studies, 43(6), 861-883.
Matson-Barkat, S., Puncheva-Michelotti, P., Koetz, C., & Hennekam, S. (2022). Destigmatisation through social sharing of emotions and empowerment: The case of disabled athletes and consumers of disability sports. Journal of Business Research, 149, 77-84.
McNamara, T., Meloso, D., Michelotti, M., & Puncheva-Michelotti, P. (2022). ‘You are free to choose… are you?’ Organisational punishment as a productivity incentive in the social science literature. Human Relations, 75(2), 322-348.
Peukert, C., Bechtold, S., Batikas, M., & Kretschmer, T. (2022). Regulatory spillovers and data governance: Evidence from the GDPR. Marketing Science, 41(4), 318-40.
Roessler, M., Schneckenberg, D., & Velamuri, V. K. (2022). Situated entrepreneurial cognition in corporate incubators and accelerators: the business model as a boundary object. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 69(4), 1696-1711.
Sales, A., Roth, S., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Azambuja, R. (2022). From play to pay: a multifunctional approach to the role of culture in post-merger integration. Management Decision, 60(7), 1922-46.
Scaringella, L., Górska, A., Calderon, D., & Benitez, J. (2022). Should we teach in hybrid mode or fully online? A theory and empirical investigation on the service–profit chain in MBAs. Information & Management, 59(1), 103573.
Schneckenberg, D., Matzler, K., & Spieth, P. (2022). Theorizing business model innovation: an organizing framework of research dimensions and future perspectives. R&D Management, 52(3), 593-609.
Breslin, D., Kask, J., Schlaile, M., & Abatecola, G. (2021). Developing a coevolutionary account of innovation ecosystems. Industrial Marketing Management, 98, 59-68
Hudson, S., & González-Gómez, H. V. (2021). Can impostors thrive at work? The impostor phenomenon’s role in work and career outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 128, 103601.
Hudson, S., González-Gómez, H. V., & Claasen, C. (2021). Societal Inequality, Corruption and Relation-Based Inequality in Organizations. Journal of Business Ethics.
Jang, S., & Liu, Y. (2019). Continuance use intention with mobile augmented reality games: Overall and multigroup analyses on Pokémon Go. Information Technology & People, 33(1), 37-55.
Jang, S., Farajallah, M., & So, K. K. F. (2021). The effect of quality cues on travelers’ demand for peer-to-peer ridesharing: a neglected area of the sharing economy. Journal of Travel Research, 60(2), 446-461.
Lin, W., Shao, Y., Li, G., Guo, Y., & Zhan, X. (2021). The psychological implications of COVID-19 on employee job insecurity and its consequences: The mitigating role of organization adaptive practices. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(3), 317.
Michelotti, M., McColl, R., Puncheva‐Michelotti, P., Clarke, R., & McNamara, T. (2021). The effects of medium and sequence on personality trait assessments in face‐to‐face and videoconference selection interviews: Implications for HR analytics. Human Resource Management Journal.
Rahman, M., Rodríguez‐Serrano, M. Á., & Hughes, M. (2021). Does advertising productivity affect organizational performance? Impact of market conditions. British Journal of Management, 32(4), 1359-1383.
Pankov, S., Schneckenberg, D., & Velamuri, V. K. (2021). Advocating sustainability in entrepreneurial ecosystems: Micro-level practices of sharing ventures. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 166, 120654.
Picot-Coupey, K., Krey, N., Huré, E., & Ackermann, C. L. (2021). Still work and/or fun? Corroboration of the hedonic and utilitarian shopping value scale. Journal of Business Research, 126, 578-590.
Zhang, R., Li, A., & Gong, Y. (2021). Too much of a good thing: Examining the curvilinear relationship between team‐level proactive personality and team performance. Personnel Psychology, 74(2), 295-321.
Ancelin-Bourguignon, A., Dorsett, C., & Azambuja, R. (2020). Lost in translation? Transferring creativity insights from arts into management. Organization, 27(5), 717-741.
Bryce, C., Dowling, M., & Lucey, B. (2020). The journal quality perception gap. Research Policy, 49(5), 103957.
Longondjo Etambakonga, C., & Roloff, J. (2020). Protecting environment or people? Pitfalls and merits of informal labour in the Congolese recycling industry. Journal of Business Ethics, 161(4), 815-834.
Mirza, S. S., & Ahsan, T. (2020). Corporates’ strategic responses to economic policy uncertainty in China. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(2), 375-389.
Ozcan, S., Boye, D., Arsenyan, J., & Trott, P. (2020). A scientometric exploration of crowdsourcing: research clusters and applications. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 69(6), 3023-3037.
Parker, O., Mui, R., & Titus Jr, V. (2020). Unwelcome voices: The gender bias‐mitigating potential of unconventionality. Strategic Management Journal, 41(4), 738-757.
Yu, X., Li, Y., Su, Z., Tao, Y., Nguyen, B., & Xia, F. (2020). Entrepreneurial bricolage and its effects on new venture growth and adaptiveness in an emerging economy. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 37(4), 1141-1163.
Collaborations
The research center has engaged in numerous impact projects with local, national and international organisations including
ANR-registered research project (Pollen – 2022-2025) on the social acceptability of each stage of an NLP-driven decision-making process (in collaboration with AI-driven business)
The members of RTO also have extensive research and scientific collaborations with research centers and institutions around the world.
Invitations
University of Vienna, Austria,
University of Salerno, Italy
Cranfield University, UK
University of Bath, UK
London South Bank University, UK
Vrije University, Netherlands
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Swansea University, UK
Nord University, Norway
Anglia Ruskin University, UK
Kingston University, UK
West Virginia University, USA
Established partnerships
Curtin University, Australia
Macquarie University, Australia
Melbourne University, Australia
University of Economics in Prague, Czech Republic
Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
LUT School of Business, Finland
University of Eastern Finland, Finland
University of Namibia, Namibia
Inland University, Norway
Orebro University, Sweden
Tor Vergata University, Italy
University of Victoria, New Zealand
University of Glasgow, UK
University of Liverpool, UK
University of Sheffield, UK
Case Western Reserve University, USA
Northeastern University, USA
Rice University, USA
Summer schools
Estonian Business School, Estonia
Durham University, UK
PhD service
Doctoral seminars
Aston University, UK
Nord University, Norway
Tor Vergata University, Italy
Cranfield University, UK
University of Hull, UK
London South Bank University, UK
Nottingham University, UK
(Co)supervision
INCAE, Costa Rica
St Joseph University, Lebanon
University of Valencia, Spain
University of Glasgow, UK
University of Sheffield, UK
Open University, UK
Participation in doctoral examination
Curtin University, Australia
Tor Vergata University, Italy
Nord University, Norway
Bahcesehir University, Turkey
University of Derby, UK
University of Hertfordshire, UK
University of Sheffield, UK
Project funding
French contribution to the project “The Role of Governments in Promoting sector specific Corporate Responsibility: a European Benchmark” coordinated by the University St. Gallen and financed by the Bertelsmann Stiftung. French budget: 6000€
ERASMUS+ (Cooperation partnerships in higher education) for the DECART project (Designing higher Education Curricula for Agility, Resilience & Transformations), coordinated by IMT Atlantique, in partnership with Reykjavik University, Vilnius University, University of KwaZulu Natal, Del Institute of Technology (Indonesia) and Rennes School of Business (400 000€) – 2022-2025
News and Activities
News
2 & 3 June 2024 We concluded two days of creative workshops focused on advancing collaborative research and knowledge sharing around the theme: “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Informal Relations and Inequalities“. This initiative, led by our colleague Dr Cyrlene Claasen from the Centre for Rethinking Tomorrows’ Organisation, brought solidarity and insights into what we want to foster together.
Special thanks to:
Visiting Professor David Weir
Guest Speaker Dr Kweku Adams (University of Bradford)
Our colleagues Dr Clement Longondjo, Dr Shubho Chakraborty for sharing their inspiration and experience of collecting data from groups experiencing extreme hardship and inequality.
Our motivated group of colleagues and graduate students.
Questions that stimulated our discussions:
Myopia on differences: Why do some people seem to us not to be doing things ‘right’ and yet achieve the right outcomes?
What are the invisible sources of inequality within the ecosystem of freelancer/entrepreneurs in South Asian and African countries?
How can the adoption and use of a natural attitude facilitate creativity and collaborative learning?
What support do entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds need to cope with failure or the threat of failure at professional, personal and social levels?
May 2023 : Sustainable HRM and the Future of Work Webinar avec Prof Júlia Brandl,Universitat Innsbruck, Austria; Prof Marco Guerci, Universita Degli Studi Di Milano, Italy; Prof Judith Semeijn,Open Universiteit, Netherlands; Prof Douglas Renwick;Nottingham Trent University, UK May 2023 : Paper Development workshop (PDW) with several RSB professors eand Professor Stefano Tasselli, Rotterdam School of Management, Netherland April 2023 : Webinaire Tomorrow’s Organization (TOW) with Prof Greg Bamber,Monash University,Australia; Prof Penny Dick,Sheffield University Management School, UK ; Prof Henri Hakala, LUT University, Finland February 2023: RTO Workshop with Mairi Maclean (University of Bath), Martin Friesl (University of Bamberg) and Chris Wickert (VU Amsterdam). To join please follow this link. May 2022: Paper development workshop (PDW) with various faculty authors and leading editors as reviewers; Caroline Gatrell (General Editor, Journal of Management Studies), Pawan Budhwar (Editor-in-Chief, Human Resource Management Journal) and Elisa Giuliani (Editor, Research Policy) October 2022: Tomorrow’s Organization Webinar (TOW) with Prof Stephanie Decker (University of Birmingham), Prof Jan-Willem Stoelhorst (University of Amsterdam), Prof Joaquin Alegre (University of Valencia) November 2022: PDW with Julia Roloff, and Clement Longjondo (authors), Sarah Robinson and Dermot Breslin (reviewers) (RSB) December 2022: Paper development workshop (PDW) Lara Bertola (author), Sophie Hennekam and Seong-Young Kim (reviewers) (RSB)
Contact
Dr Petya PunchevaMichelotti, Full Professor of Organisational Behavior, Management & Organisations, Rennes School of Business – Research Centre Director
Dr. Petya Puncheva Michelotti – Full Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Management & Organisations, Rennes School of Business – Director of the Research Centre
ERASMUS+ (Cooperation partnerships in higher education) for the DECART project (Designing higher Education Curricula for Agility, Resilience & Transformations), coordinated by IMT Atlantique, in partnership with Reykjavik University, Vilnius University, University of KwaZulu Natal, Del Institute of Technology (Indonesia) and Rennes School of Business (400 000€) – 2022-2025