Prelims

Half Title Page

Indigenous African Enterprise: The Igbo Traditional Business School (I-TBS)

Series Title Page

Advanced Series in Management

Series Senior Editors: Miguel R. Olivas-Lujan and Tanya Bondarouk

Previous Volumes:

Title Page

Advanced Series in Management

Volume 26

Indigenous African Enterprise: The Igbo Traditional Business School (I-TBS)

Edited By

Ogechi Adeola

Lagos Business School, Nigeria.

United Kingdom – North America – Japan India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2021

Copyright © 2021 Emerald Publishing Limited

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83909-034-9 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83909-033-2 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83909-035-6 (Epub)

ISSN: 1877-6361

Dedication

To my Dad, Chief Emmanuel Ezeriwe Anumnu, nonagenarian, lover of God and humanity, who embodies the Igbo work ethics and business culture

List of Figures

List of Tables

List of Abbreviations

BSP

Business Succession Planning

IAS

Igbo Apprenticeship System

ICT

Information Communication Technology

I-TBS

Igbo Traditional Business School

NDE

National Directorate of Employment

ROSCA

Rotating Savings and Credit Association

SDGs

Sustainable Development Goals

SMEs

Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

SWOT

Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threat

TED

Technology, Entertainment, Design

TVET

Technical Vocational Education and Training

TFL

Transformational Leadership

Preface

When I gained admission into the university was same time my cousin started going to shop with his dad. We spent same duration in both pursuits. Today, he wants to buy Uber for me to drive. There's something they teach them in that Igbo apprenticeship that you can't learn outside.

Ikenna Okonkwo, @iykeville90 (Tweet of 6 May 2020)

Entrepreneurship is, without a doubt, key to a nation's development. While African nations have struggled for social and economic development by emulating Western and Asian business management ideologies, they have failed to look inward and adopt indigenous entrepreneurial philosophies and practices to engineer their own development. One such failure is the neglect of the apprenticeship business practice of the Igbos of south-eastern Nigeria. The Igbos are the third largest and most industrious ethnic group in Nigeria. Their diverse entrepreneurial investments have contributed immensely to the economic development of Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

Igbos are known for their industry, perseverance, resilience, risk management, and business acumen. The successful ventures of most Igbo entrepreneurs are attributed to their unique indigenous business practices collectively described in this book as the Igbo Traditional Business School (I-TBS), an incubation system of entrepreneurial skill development and utilisation for economic purposes. The Igbo Traditional Business School (I-TBS) is not a conventional academic institution as it operates outside the classroom. Though without a library, or even an address, its tradition of lifelong entrepreneurial learning is worthy of consideration. The system has successfully nurtured young adults into gainful employment, trading, and entrepreneurship for decades.

The success of the Igbo business practices has not gone unnoticed by local or international practitioners who have regarded the Igbo model as the largest and most successful entrepreneurial incubator in the world. Yet, Africa has not fully adopted this entrepreneurial model for business development. This book traces the origins, development, and key themes of Igbo business practices that include apprenticeships, entrepreneurial clusters, sales practices, conflict management, talent recruitment, indigenous financial practices, venture capital financing, family businesses, and succession planning.

Igba-Boi, the principal constituent of I-TBS, prepares young adults for the business world through mentorships or apprentice relationships with established traders or businesspeople. The indigenous entrepreneurship practice has produced millions of entrepreneurs who have found economic space for themselves in Nigeria and abroad, lifting families out of poverty. The unique I-TBS model imparts ethical entrepreneurial skills which make the business school a key learning prototype for businesses all over the world. It is imperative that I-TBS methods of operation should be analysed and documented, identifying critical insights into ways to reduce unemployment, encourage entrepreneurship, and make a valuable contribution to sustainable development in Africa.

Igbo business practices have important lessons for present-day management and are capable of meeting Africa's desire for sustainable development and financial independence. This book illuminates the unique characteristics of Igbo business practices and the ways those practices have produced successful business owners in Nigeria. Also included is a comparison with a German entrepreneurial model and discussion of Igbo business practices in the diaspora. Readers will discover recommendations for institutionalising these indigenous practices, formulating policies, and creating operational frameworks that will advance sustainable economic growth in Africa.

Foreword

I am gratified to see continued systematic attention to the thematic thrusts of this book: Africa's Indigenous Enterprise: The Igbo Traditional Business School (I-TBS), edited by Ogechi Adeola.

Remarkable progress has been in the literature seeking to enrich our understanding of the model underpinning Igbo business prowess. This book, without a shadow of doubt, significantly provides incremental additions to knowledge of the dynamic processes of entrepreneurship from the contextual lenses of I-TBS. Understandably eclectic, the chapters individually advance our understanding and appreciation of the inter-subjective discourses and situated practices. They also show that much more learning/understanding is required to fully appreciate the temporal and spatial dimensions of Igbo business acumen. Furthermore, it is clear that the process of ‘learning’ and ‘knowing’ I-TBS is complicated not only by the subject eclecticism but also its relativism. This is not a disadvantage. Rather, in its simplicity, it de-reifies, reconstructs and resituates the cultural syncretism and hegemonic representations of entrepreneurship learning. It also reinforces the notion that entrepreneurship among Africa's indigenous groups is a very fertile terrain for exploration, but research to inform, critique, influence and inspire critical reflections and innovative practices remains in its infancy.

Generally, the dominantly prevailing knowledge of entrepreneurial processes and practices largely reflects axioms that are inextricably linked to the idiosyncrasies of economic systems of developed countries. In fact, it has long been argued that the bulk of entrepreneurship episteme is tinted and framed by Western hues. Thus, embedded concepts are encumbered with ideological and ethnocentric biases. This has meant that large parts of the world system remain insufficiently accommodated in the formal discourse of entrepreneurship theories. Particularly excluded are theoretic movements and practice inflections in African societies prior to as well as after the initiation of large-scale contacts with Europe. Consequently, the intellectual development of the discipline (i.e. historical development of the doctrines) in relation to African contexts has been hampered mainly because of the prevailing tendency to apply Anglo-centric prisms to the analysis of environments for which they are ill-conceived. This, in turn, mirrors a general failure by modern scholars to fully appreciate the spatial and temporal dimensions of entrepreneurship itself. Essentially, the study of enterprise cultures of Africans in Western terms has led to the arbitrary truncation of the vast canvass of entrepreneurship development in the region: the imposition of constructs and ideas prevalent in developed economies on Africa without regard to Africa's own constructs, categories, ideas and institutions. The implications have been far-reaching for the development of entrepreneurship education in Africa, resulting, in part, to a general failure by scholars to recognise non-linear and discontinuous movements of entrepreneurship in comparative settings. More recently, however, researchers have started to pull conceptual and analytical tools from various disciplinary areas to reinterpret what has been alluded to as the ‘critical mess’ of entrepreneurship. The results have been profoundly refreshing; boundaries have continued to be pushed back, ‘truth claims’ have come under increasing tensions, orthodoxies and taken-for-granted assumptions are challenged, methodological pluralism and conceptual reflexivity are significantly evident and gaining popularity. With credit to Dr Adeola's intellectual dexterity, this scholarly work, Africa's Indigenous Enterprise: The Igbo Traditional Business School (I-TBS), embodies this modern rationality.

It is particularly difficult to summarise the arguments and positions adduced in this book. The contributing authors demonstrate wide variety of intellectual purposes and practice approaches. In many ways, they stretch theoretical and discursive aspects of an indigenous Africa-centric business model practised by the Igbos of south-eastern Nigeria. In doing so, newer directions and agendas are introduced, some potently emergent themes are focused. All of these, despite the underpinning eclecticism, give impetus to the growing dynamism and need to continue to re-scope the landscape of entrepreneurship in African contexts. This has particular relevance when put alongside the complexities of reading and deciphering the ‘meaning below the surface’ in much of the entrepreneurial processes among Africa's indigenous groups. The significance, policy and practice implications may turn out to be more than just ‘academic work’.

From a personal standpoint, whilst undeniably sensitive to the limits of particularisation, the phenomenon encapsulated in Dr Adeola's notion of I-TBS, especially Igba-Boi apprentice system, has continued to excite and challenge all those with an interest in unravelling the business success of Igbo people as indigenous Africa's most formidable entrepreneurial group. In terms of research, it is certainly a phenomenon that is full of exploratory potentials, fecund, ever-evolving and continually exposing new possibilities. In particular, for academic researchers like myself who consider entrepreneurship as discursive practice tied to the goals and practices of specific social agents (in given historical contexts) and embedded in socio-economic relations of power, it certainly is a field of vibrant contestations. Perhaps, there is also a philosophical angle to this which, in part, has much to do with constructions, dialectic and sometimes contradictory reconstitutions or reconstructions of indigenous/ethnic groups in business research settings.

I regard this book as an essential guide for policy makers, researchers, business advisers, intermediating agencies for enterprise-led growth (e.g. bank and business support agencies). It offers a strong practical rationale to unpack what works (or may not work) for start-ups and procedures that lead to excellent outcomes in terms of business start-up growth and sustainability. The book would be of interest to students of marketing, entrepreneurship and strategic management.

I, therefore, recommend this book for the following reasons. First, it provides comprehensive insights into a successful and profitable indigenous business enterprise model and considers implications and recommendations for business management in Africa. Second, it presents a framework for African management curricula for entrepreneurial studies and development. Third, it affords a unique characterisation and assemblage of salient practices of an indigenous archetypical enterprise learning model which, if adopted, would be a catalyst for enterprise-led growth and development beyond the Igbo ethnic enclave. Finally, it would serve as a springboard to start the arduous process of ontological indigenisation of entrepreneurship curricular that speak directly to contextual subjectivities of Africa and, perhaps, a springboard for future books on indigenous enterprises in Africa.

I congratulate the book editor, Dr Ogechi Adeola, for a job well done. Undoubtedly, she brought her wealth of experience and years of research to bear in putting this book together. I also hope that readers will find this book equally fascinating and useful.

Professor Azubuike Sonny Nwankwo, FCIM, FRSA, FHEA

Former Academy Provost, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna

Emeritus Professor, University of East London, UK

Inaugural President, International Academy of African Business & Development

Acknowledgement

The editor acknowledges all the 29 authors who embarked on this journey with her to document the entrepreneurial process, practices and business heritage of the Igbos of south-eastern Nigeria, for posterity and as a launchpad for portraying the uniqueness of Africa's indigenous enterprises. Together, we have made history.

Notes on Contributors

Awele Achi is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Strategy and Marketing at The Open University Business School, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. Prior to this, Awele held a scholarly research position at Lagos Business School, Nigeria. His research interests lie in the areas of Marketing Strategy, Social Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship and Research Methods.

Francis Chukwuedo Achi is a Doctoral Researcher and an Associate Lecturer at the Business School, Edinburgh Napier University, UK. He is a member of the Academy of Marketing and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), UK. He is also a member of the Academy of International Business (AIB). Francis was a Graduate Assistant (2013–2014) and Assistant Lecturer (2014–2020) at Delta State University, Nigeria. His research interests fall within the areas of FDI in Emerging African Markets, Market Entry Strategies, Branding, CSR and Services Marketing.

Ajeyomi Ademola currently works as a Research Assistant at the Lagos Business School, Lagos. He obtained a master's degree in Organisational Behaviour at the University of Lagos, Akoka, and has been very much interested in reading and writing on elements surrounding the theory and practice of organisational behaviour and human resources management research. He has (co-)authored in a number of local and international journals and book chapter publications, and seeks future collaborations to improve on the numbers and quality of his research outputs.

Ogechi Adeola is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Academic Director of the Sales and Marketing Academy at the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria. She holds a doctorate in business administration from Manchester Business School, UK. She is a 2016 Visiting International Fellow, Open University Business School, UK, and a 2017 Paul R. Lawrence Fellow, USA. She has published academic papers in top peer-reviewed journals. Her co-authored papers won Best Paper Awards at international conferences in 2016–2019, consecutively. A core area of her research focuses on strategic entrepreneurial marketing in sub-Saharan Africa.

Adedeji Adewusi currently works as a Research Assistant in Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University (formerly Pan-African University). He holds a bachelor's and master's degrees in Sociology. Adedeji's primary research interest revolves around indigenous entrepreneurship, informal economy, governance and their connection with the Sustainable Development Goals. He has published in both local and international journal outlets.

Isaiah Adisa is a Researcher working with a faculty member at the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria. He studied Industrial Relations and Human Resources Management at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (formerly Ogun State University), Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria. He graduated with second class honours (upper division) and distinction, respectively, at both undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the same university. He is an astute researcher whose interests focus on, but are not limited to, industrial relations and human resources management, organisations strategy, marketing, labour economics and gender-related studies.

Amaechi Kingsley Ekene is currently a part-time Lecturer at the Centre of African Studies (Sociology Section), University of Venda, South Africa. He has a master’s degree in Religion, Society and Global Issues (Sociology) from Menningsfakultet (MF-Norwegian School of Social Sciences and Theology) and a PhD from the University of South Africa (UNISA). He is also currently registered for a second a second PhD in Sociology, at the University of Venda. His research interests include social entrepreneurship, African business models, theories of violence and social movement theory.

Uche Attoh is currently a Senior Fellow in Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour at Lagos Business School. Having successful facilitated four corporate mergers, Uche brings to the classroom over four decades of local and international experience in human resource management, negotiation and arbitration. He also teaches employment law and Strategic Human Resource Management. His research interest is in the area of peace and conflict resolution, and he speaks regularly at conferences on this topic. He has also written several cases on negotiation, human resource practices and law, which are used for class discussion.

Yemisi Bolade-Ogunfodun is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK, and currently Lead Educator on its Massive Open Online Programme (MOOCs) – Managing People. With a PhD in Management from Henley Business School, her research specializes in the theory of organizational culture from an anthropological perspective, focusing on contexts of cultural diversity. Yemisi's research interests also cover meaning systems underpinning work practices, ethical implications of incongruence in meanings and ethnographic approaches to organizational research.

Ngozi Ann Chikere is a PhD Candidate of Business Administration from the University of Lagos, currently working as assistant Lecturer at Augustine University Ilara-Epe, Lagos. She started her career as a chartered Administrator from Chartered Institute of Administration Lagos. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Management from Imo State University in 2008, Master of Science in Business Administration in 2012 and at the verge of concluding her PhD in Management specialization this 2020. She has flare for Entrepreneurship and Knowledge Management. She has published articles on these areas and also attended conferences both locally and internationally.

Esther N. Ezemba is a Graduate Assistant at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria. She earned a First-Class Honors in Cooperative Economics and Management and currently researching in the area of poverty economics and female gender entrepreneurship in the informal sector of the Nigerian economy. Her previous research focuses on empowerment (broadly defined) among the rural populace with bias on women micro-entrepreneurs. She hopes to extend this inquiry in her doctorate by interrogating how entrepreneurship at micro-level interfaces with all the dimensions of empowerment to extricate low-income women from socially constructed barriers to better quality of life. She aims to rake up new narratives in the relatively under reported gendered poverty issues in a typical oil-rich context like Nigeria.

Nkemdilim Iheanachor is a Faculty and member of Lagos Business School's Strategy group, he has extensively researched and consulted in areas such as competitive strategy, corporate strategy, blue ocean strategy, and balanced scorecard development. Nkemdilim holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Management. As a member of Academy of International Business he has to his credit several journal articles, award-winning case studies and book chapters published in reputable international journals and books. He is a regular reviewer for International Marketing Review, Thunderbird International Business Review and Journal of Business Research. His current consulting work spans companies in financial services, real estate, technology, and other industries across Africa.

Afam Ituma is a Professor of Human Resource Management and Vice-Chancellor of Coal City University, Enugu. He received his BSc from ESUT (Nigeria), MBA from the University of Leicester, and PhD from Brunel University. He is a nationally and internationally recognised scholar and has a strong profile in both research output and research leadership. He has many years of experience in teaching, editorial board membership, conference and university leadership, as well as authorship and editorial contributions to many critical notes, articles, journals and books. He has been a recipient of many awards and research grants.

Obinna Ikwuegbu holds a PhD in organizational behaviour from the Department of Leadership, Organizations and Behaviour at the Henley Business School, of the University of Reading, United Kingdom. Prior to this, he attended Swansea University, Wales, United Kingdom, graduating with an MSc with distinction in Management Finance. This is in addition to eight years of industry experience in commercial banking. He has a marked interest in the subject areas of creative cognition, leadership, strategy, entrepreneurship and sensemaking practices in organizations. He is versed in grounded theory research design, particularly in the creative context. He also has a primal interest in Igbo entrepreneurship and the Igbo ontology. Obinna was a holder of the University of Reading Studentship from 2014 to 2017.

Adenike Aderonke Moradeyo is Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Business Administration, Pan-Atlantic University, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria. Her research interests straddle operations management, supply chain management, innovation management, performance management, entrepreneurship and economics. She obtained MSc Economics and PhD in Management from the University of Ibadan and Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria respectively. Adenike has to her credit the following awards; Best-in-session paper award (2011), Best-in-session paper award (2019) and Outstanding paper award (2019). She is also an ad hoc reviewer of the prestigious Africa Journal of Management (AJOM).

Chinonye L. Moses is a Professor of Entrepreneurship in Covenant University, Nigeria, with speciality in women entrepreneurship and international management. An astute researcher, her experience in the academia spans over 28 years and her work continues to receive recognition. She has served in several leadership positions and belongs to both local and international professional bodies. An entrepreneur herself, Chinonye is passionate about advancing the course of women entrepreneurs and spends her spare time providing resources and interventions to support women entrepreneurs in Nigeria's rural areas.

Anayo D. Nkamnebe, PhD, is a Professor of Marketing, Director of the Consultancy Unit, former Head, Department of Marketing and former Dean Faculty of Management Sciences at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria. He is the current President of the Academy of Management Nigeria and Board Member of International Society for Market and Development. Professor Nkamnebe started his academic career after an intermission in the private sector and has published and presented scholarly papers in journals and conferences across Africa, America, Europe, and Asia. He sits on the boards of scholarly journals and renders invited services to higher educational institutions and academies in Nigeria and overseas. His research interest is in the overarching areas of marketing and entrepreneurship.

Chizoba Nwoye obtained his Doctorate degree in Business Administration (DBA) from Walden University, USA, with specialization in leadership. Dr. Nwoye's background is in the oil and gas services sector with over 24 years industry experience. He worked in different oil and gas servicing company's in various senior and leadership positions, helping the organistions meet their business goals. His interests are in business strategy, leadership, and he is a faculty member at University Canada West, Canada. Dr. Nwoye obtained his BENG degree from the Enugu State University of Science & Technology, Nigeria, and MBA degree from the Robert Gordon University, Scotland.

Okey Nwuke obtained his Doctorate degree in Business Administration (DBA) from Walden University, USA, with a research focus on leadership transition challenges in family businesses. Dr Nwuke's background is in the banking industry where he served in top leadership positions for over 23 years and 6 years with a major family-owned conglomerate, with responsibility for the Group's governance transformation for sustainability. He sits on the boards of several blue-chip organizations and is a faculty member at Lagos Business School, Nigeria. Dr Nwuke obtained his BSc degree from the University of Nigeria and MBA degree from the University of Birmingham, UK.

Ishmael Obaeko Iwara earned a PhD and Master’s Degree in Rural Development, as well as a BA (Hons) in African studies at the University of Venda. He obtained a BSc (Hons) in Economics at the University of Calabar. His recent research initiative focuses on a holistic model that highlights exogenous and endogenous entrepreneurial attributes responsible for enterprise success. Currently, he is managing an NRF funded research project on “Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship”. He is also involved in SASUF (South African – Sweden University Forum) research project on informal market and entrepreneurship; and has been Co-Principal Investigator of a UNIVEN funded project on social cohesion.

Silk Ugwu Ogbu is a Public Affairs and Communication Strategist. His early education was at the University of Calabar, where he received a BSc in Political Science. He later proceeded to further studies, from where he earned both MSc and PhD in Political Science (International Relations). He also holds an MSc degree and another PhD in Marketing (Public Relations) and is currently in pursuit of a third PhD in Public Administration. His research interests are in the areas of conflict resolution, rhetorical communication, negotiation, political communication, leadership strategies, development communication, brand management, and stakeholder relationship management. He is a senior lecturer at the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos.

Victoria Okafor is a Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of Economics and Development Studies, Covenant University, Nigeria. Her main areas of research interest include development economics, monetary and financial economics. Victoria has published several research papers on various aspects of the Nigerian economy in international reputable journals. Prior to taking up lecturing role, Victoria worked with a non-government organisation as an executive assistant and an Auditor. She is a first-class graduate of economics and is currently undergoing a PhD program in economics in Covenant University.

Chidi Okoro has over three decades of experience working across major industry sectors. Trained as a Pharmacist, he founded a Pharmacy Retail Chain in Nigeria with own brands. Chidi is currently a Consultant to organizations in Retail, FMCG, Pharma and Africa Expansion. Also, he is an Adjunct Faculty at the Lagos Business School.

Ngozi Okpara is a Senior Lecturer of the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria. Her main areas of research are in media studies, particularly media ethics. Her works have been published in many academic and professional journals. She is currently the Head of the Department of Mass Media and Writing. She belongs to many professional associations in and outside Nigeria.

Nnaemeka Onoyima is a Management Scholar Academy (MSA) Research Assistant at Lagos Business School (LBS). He has a background in Environment and Sustainability with a 3 years professional experience with the department of Quality and Sustainability as an Environment and Systems Manager at Nigerian Bottling Company (a member of the Coca-Cola Hellenic Group). He obtained his master's degree in Industrial Microbiology from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with distinctions and has obtained so many more professional trainings and certifications.

Adebukola E. Oyewunmi is an Assistant Professor of HRM and Organization Studies and the lead consultant of her own firm. A graduate of the University of South Wales, United Kingdom, Adebukola holds master's and doctorate degrees in Human Resource Management. She has years of experience working as a banking consultant in one of the United Kingdom's major financial institutions. She is a trained facilitator of UNESCO's Global Futures Literacy Network and a member of Nottingham University's Africa Research Group. She is currently engaged with Covenant University, Nigeria, and consults privately for emerging businesses and start-ups.

Olabode A. Oyewunmi is a Legal Practitioner with over 15 years cognate experience. His practice centres on providing viable legal solutions to start-ups, small- and medium-scale businesses. He holds an LLB from the University of Lagos, Nigeria; LLM in Petroleum Law & Policy from the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy from the University of Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom, and a doctorate in Industrial Relations & HRM. His core research interests are corporate governance, business regulation, corporate and labour law. Olabode enjoys leisure travel and sporting activities.

Uchenna Uzo (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer of Marketing Management and the MBA Director of the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University. Uchenna is a recipient of numerous academic awards such as the Emeralds, European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and Academy of International Business (AIB) best teaching case awards among others. His research interest revolves around marketing management, indigenous practices and informal economy. His articles have been published in Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Journal of Personal Selling and Strategic Contracting and Negotiation among others, and he is the lead editor of the Emeralds book series titled Indigenous Management Practices in Africa.

Bernd Vogel is a Professor in Leadership and Founding Director of the Henley Centre for Leadership at the Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK. His research focuses on the future of leadership, mobilising and maintaining energy in organisations, multi-level leadership, leadership development and creating leadership and followership capacity.

Kola Yusuff is a Doctoral Student in the Department of Leadership, Organizations and Behavior at Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK. His research interest is in understanding leading and organizing as discursive phenomena, and the implications of this for understanding issues of accountability, authority, moral responsibility and legitimacy. His research is underpinned by theoretical and methodological perspectives from the fields of critical management studies, discourse analysis and ethnomethodology.