Simon Stockley

Though seemingly trivial, office politics can affect the performance of employees and organisations. The latest podcast in the Cambridge Judge Business Debate series asks how can we improve them? In this episode, joining podcast host Michael Kitson, University Senior Lecturer in International Macroeconomics at Cambridge Judge Business School, are Cambridge Judge colleagues Philip Stiles, University Senior Lecturer in Corporate Governance; Mark de Rond, Professor of Organisational Ethnography; and Simon Stockley, Senior Faculty in Management Practice. This is the 16th in a series of "Cambridge Judge Business Debate" podcasts featuring faculty and others associated with Cambridge Judge Business School and the broader Cambridge community. This latest podcast focuses on office politics – the good and the bad – and ways to make office politics contribute to organisational performance rather than cause disruption. Here is an edited transcript of some of the podcast discussion: What is office politics, and how can it be positive for an organisation? Michael Kitson: "'Office politics' has a bad name and can often be very disruptive. Given this, how can companies organise themselves and what should workers do to yield the best possible results in the most positive office environment?" Philip Stiles: "'Office politics' is a very…

A research symposium on human trafficking, co-ordinated with the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation, looks at refugees, recruitment, routes and other troublesome "Rs" of modern slavery. Winding their way up an ornate iron spiral staircase, delegates to a special symposium emerge on the upper floor of the Old Library (dating from 1624) at St John's College, Cambridge, to view some priceless but disturbing documents. There is a list from 1797 (with names, ages and prices) of slaves to be bought for a Jamaican sugar plantation; a detailed drawing of a slave ship's interior, showing the inhumanly crowded conditions; and correspondence from leading anti-slavery campaigners William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson. The documents that were on display for the conference are all housed in the Library's Special Collections – a reminder of the horrors of the slave trade and the people who helped abolish it in Britain in 1807. The pilgrimage to view the special collection on slavery came on the fifth and final day of the fourth Summer Symposium of the Cambridge Centre for Applied Research in Human Trafficking (CCARHT) – the first to be held in collaboration with the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation at Cambridge Judge Business School, and…

Just what is "innovation" – and is there a dark side to this wave of change that has transformed our lives through technology and other breakthroughs? In this episode, joining podcast host Michael Kitson, University Senior Lecturer in International Macroeconomics at Cambridge Judge Business School, are Cambridge Judge faculty Sucheta Nadkarni, Sinyi Professor of Chinese Management; Simon Stockley, Senior Faculty in Management Practice; and Jeremy Hutchison-Krupat, University Senior Lecturer in Operations and Technology Management. This is the eighth in a series of "Cambridge Judge Business Debate" podcasts featuring faculty and others associated with Cambridge Judge Business School and the broader Cambridge community. This latest podcast focuses on innovation – including the definition of the term, the role of platforms and connectivity, and the role of government in providing the right practical and legal framework. Here is an edited transcript of some of the podcast discussion: Innovation is one of those buzzwords that dominates corporate and economic discussion. So what is it? Michael Kitson: "We're continually hearing the mantra that firms have to be more innovative to thrive and prosper. But what is innovation: is it all about technological change or something broader?" Jeremy Hutchison-Krupat: "Innovation is something, first, that is…