Two alumna of the Master of Studies in Social Innovation degree programme at Cambridge Judge Business School have been named winners at the annual convention of the Academy of Management.
The winning papers, both adapted from the winners’ Masters dissertation theses at Cambridge Judge, were announced earlier this month at the Academy’s 83rd annual convention in Boston.
Working-class people in elite institutions
Sandra Ool (MSt 2019), now working as a senior finance professional in Stockholm, was named winner of the Information Age Publishing Best Doctoral Student Paper on Management Consulting award. Her paper, entitled “Rewriting our story: working-class people in elite institutions”, reflects her experience as a working-class person working in the City of London financial and consulting sector.
“Moving beyond macro level socio-economic statistics, my dissertation explores the complex and often misunderstood lived experiences of working-class people in elite institutions,” says an abstract of the paper. “I explore what it is like to clash with the surrounding environment on a daily basis and what people choose to do about it. The purpose of my dissertation was to explore how working-class people’s views of themselves and their elite work environment change throughout their career.”
Inclusive co-design in management consulting
Taisa Ballantyne (MSt 2018), now a Senior Strategy Advisor in Alberta, Canada, was named winner of the Management Consulting Division Outstanding Field-based Paper award. Her paper, entitled “Inclusive co-design in management consulting through power, place and time work”, focuses on how management consultants can culturally adapt co-design processes for greater inclusion of beneficiary groups.
“I draw on the case of the Design by Doing 2.0 Bhutanese Employment Lab, a social innovation lab co-created and designed by community-based consultants and the Bhutanese refugee community in Edmonton, Canada,” says an abstract of the paper. “Using qualitative data from in-depth interviews and lab documents, I reveal how power, place, and time considerations are integral to building more inclusive processes when engaging and designing solutions with culturally diverse beneficiary groups.”
Neil Stott, Management Practice Professor of Social Innovation and Director of the MSt in Social Innovation programme at Cambridge Judge, said: “We are delighted that that the Academy of Management recognised these two fine papers that examine issues related to the topic of inclusion. Both papers began as dissertations at Cambridge Judge, and the fact that they were then adapted into award-winning reflects well on the authors, the papers and the MSt in Social Innovation programme”.
Featured alumnae
Sandra Ool
MSt in Social Innovation 2019
Taisa Ballantyne
MSt in Social Innovation 2018
Featured research
Ool, S. (2023) “Rewriting our story: working-class people in elite institutions” Academy of Management
Ballantyne, T. (2023) “Inclusive co-design in management consulting through power, place and time work” Academy of Management
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