Professor Timothy Marjoribanks

Biography

I joined Swinburne University of Technology in September 2017, and am Associate Dean Research, and Professor of Management, in the School of Business, Law, and Entrepreneurship. My research and teaching engage with debates in organisational innovation, technology and transformation, and leadership and management practice, both in Australia and internationally.  My work focuses in particular on the media industry, journalism practice, sport, and new technologies. I am a member of the ARC College of Experts.

I graduated with a PhD in Sociology from Harvard University in 1997, and an MA in Sociology from Harvard in 1994, after completing Honours degrees in Law and Arts (majoring in Politics) at The University of Adelaide. My PhD focused on technological innovation and organisational change in the global media organisation News Corporation. On completing my PhD, I held an academic appointment in Sociology at The University of Melbourne, from 1997 to 2010. From 2011 to 2017, I was Professor of Management in La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, including roles as Head of the Department of Management, and Associate Head, La Trobe Business School.

In my research and teaching, I engage with debates around new institutional theory, economic sociology, organisational and technological innovation, and a range of research approaches and methods, including comparative and qualitative analysis. Through this work, I argue that organisations need to be understood as key sites of power, and that they should be analysed within their broader institutional contexts. My current and previous research projects include: With Lawrie Zion, Andrew Dodd, Penny O'Donnell, Matthew Ricketson and Merryn Sherwood,an ARC funded project entitled New Beats: A study of Australian journalists who became redundant during and since 2012, with industry partners, the MEAA, NLA and ABC. With David Nolan, Karen Farquharson, Denis Muller, and Michael Gawenda, I completed work on an ARC Linkage funded project on the communication needs of Sudanese-Australians. The ABC and AMES were our industry partners. I am also working with La Trobe researchers Matthew Nicholson and Merryn Sherwood on sport and media, and with Suzanne Young and Geoff Durden on CSR in organisational contexts. With colleagues Andrew Kenyon, Amanda Whiting, and Tim Lindsey, I completed work on an ARC funded comparative study of journalism practice and defamation law, in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as Australia, the UK and the US, while Ann Capling and I conducted ARC funded research on organisational transformation in the Australian Football League.

I have wide-ranging teaching experience at the Masters and undergraduate levels, including in the MBA. I have developed and taught numerous subjects in areas including organisations, leadership, management, work, media, health, theory and research methods. I have also successfully supervised more than 35 PhD and MA (Research) students, and more than 30 Honours students, to completion.