“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Professor Nigel Lockett
University of Leeds & Chair of the Board of Trustees for Foundation
Welcoming delegates at the Conference
Nigel Lockett is Professor of Enterprise at the Leeds
University Business School and Director of the Leeds
Enterprise Centre at the University of Leeds. He is a
senior academic, experienced manager, entrepreneur
and community leader. Nigel is a Visiting Research
Fellow (Lancaster University Management School) and
Visiting Fellow (Universidad de Salamanca). He is a
Fellow of the RSA (FRSA). Nigel is a past President of
the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Before joining the University of Leeds he previously
worked as a senior lecturer at Bradford University
School of Management and Brunel University Business
School, business development manager at InfoLab21
and lecturer at the Lancaster University Management
School. Nigel also has more than 20 years experience
as a company director, with a track record in managing
start-up, joint venture and social enterprises. Also, he is
currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of Foundation a
charity committed to ending social exclusion across the
North of England by working with offenders, the
homeless, women who are victims of domestic abuse
and young people at risk.
Nigel is the co-author, with Dr Richard Blundel, of the
major new textbook Exploring Entrepreneurship
published by Oxford University Press.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Professor Stephen Osborne
University of Edinburgh & Vice Chair of the Scottish Council for Voluntary
Organisations
Stephen P. Osborne is Professor of International Public
Management and Director of the Centre for Public
Services Research at the University of Edinburgh
Business School, as well as being Associate Dean for
Quality in the Humanities and Social Sciences College
at the University. In addition he is Co-Director of the
ESRC Research Centre for Charitable Giving and
Philanthropy and Associate Director for Scotland for the
ESRC Third Sector Research Centre, and editor of
'Public Management Review'. He is currently leading a
five year longitudinal study on behalf of the Scottish
Government on the role and impact of the third sector in
providing public services. Outwith his academic career
he is Vice Chair of the Scottish Council for Voluntary
Organisations.
Plenary opening the conference: “Can the Third Sector survive the recession:
Evidence from Scotland”
A key issue for third sector organisations presently is the extent to which they can
survive in the current global recession - and be sustainable thereafter. This is
especially relevant for those organisations involved in providing public services.
This presentation will provide new evidence on if and how third sector organisations
are faring in the recession. It is based upon a five year longitudinal study being
carried out upon behalf of the Scottish Government. The evidence suggests that
third sector organisations are surviving, if not thriving. This presentation will
highlight the approaches currently being employed in the sector as well as
considering the import of these approaches for its long term survival.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Mr. Graham Manville
University of Southampton
Graham Manville is a Senior Fellow at the University of
Southampton. Graham teaches strategic management
and operations management and his current research
area is organisational performance management. In
2008 his research was honoured with two awards
including Best KTP Partnership for the South West of
England and an Emerald Literati Award for Excellence
for an "outstanding paper". He has published in
international journals and guest edited a special issue of
the International Journal of Productivity and
Performance Management in 2010 with the theme of
third sector performance. He co-hosted a workshop on
Third Sector Performance in May 2010 which was
sponsored by the British Academy of Management
(BAM) and the Higher Education Entrepreneurial Group
(HEEG). Graham is currently studying for his PhD at the
University of Southampton and should complete it in
2013. He is also a director of Longview Consulting Ltd, a
company that focuses on process improvement,
performance management and strategic facilitation.
Keynote address: “Case Study: Measuring Performance in Third Sector
Housing Associations”
In the economies of the western world, the on-going financial crisis has led to
massive cuts in public services with the civil society also known as the Third Sector
are being encouraged to take a more active role via competitive tendering. The
problem, however, is that many Third Sector organisations such which include as
Housing Associations are already contractors for public services and the cuts are
resulting in reduced funding or loss of contracts altogether. The Third Sector has
often been viewed as having a unique set of values relative to public and private
sector organisations but its life-world is changing in the light of the increasing
steering media towards commercialisation within this sector. In order to successfully
navigate through this period of instability and to adapt to this new life-world,
effective leadership, it is suggested, appropriate to this context will be vital.
*
*
*
*
External steering media acting upon the sector
Measurement frameworks adopted in Housing Associations
Innovation in Housing Associations
Leadership challenges in the Third Sector
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Professor Fiona Lettice
University of East Anglia
Fiona Lettice is Professor of Innovation Management at
Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia and
a Visiting Research Fellow at Cranfield University. She
has successfully raised external research funding from
the European Commission, the Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the
Economic and Social Sciences Research Council
(ESRC) to support her research. Fiona has published
widely in academic journals including Research Policy,
International Journal of Production Economics,
Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Human
Resource Management Journal, International Journal of
Technology Management and Journal of Knowledge
Management. As well as being Editor-in-Chief for the
Team Performance Management journal, she is also on
the Editorial Advisory Board for the British Journal of
Management. The main focus of Fiona’s research is
new product development and innovation management
with interests in discontinuous innovation, green and
social innovation, diversity management, teamworking
and performance management. Prior to her academic
career, Fiona worked in industry as a project manager
for Centrica/British Gas, and for a small consultancy
company, where she worked predominantly with
BMW/Rover Group on design and engineering projects.
Keynote address: “Social Innovation – Challenges and Themes”
There is an urgent need to do things differently to reverse climate change, create
more inclusive societies or alleviate poverty. In response, social innovation is a
rapidly growing practice and an emerging academic discipline. A broad definition of
social innovation, from NESTA, is the development and implementation of new
ideas (products, services or models) to meet social needs. Social innovations may
come from a range of private and not-for-profit organisations. In our research, we
looked for the key themes across different social innovations, innovators and social
enterprises. The themes that emerged included: changing the lens to gain a new
perspective and to reframe a problem; building missing links between previously
unconnected parts of the system; engaging new customer bases; and the
importance of networking. We also considered the importance of diversity
management within social enterprises and their networks, to enable better access
to funding, to promote innovation and to reconcile the tension between social ends
and commercial means.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Dr Rob Wilson
Newcastle University
Dr Rob Wilson is a Senior Lecturer at Newcastle
University where he directs a university research centre
(KITE) and teaches in the Business School. His
research interests are in public service innovation and
socio-technical systems: the role that data, information
and information systems play in organisational
innovation and inter-organisational relationships (IOR).
With over fifteen years experience working on and
leading public sector information system research and
development projects he has presented to practitioners
and academics on collaboration and information
systems in public service contexts. His research is
based in three overlapping contexts - the integration and
information aspects of public services (in particular
contexts of health and social care - including children,
older people and families); the challenges of information
and measurement in local governance (the NHS,
VCS/Third sector and local authorities) and the role of
information and information systems in education. This
has led to the production of a number of academic
publications including journal articles, book chapters and
conference papers including a forthcoming issue of
Public Money and Management on Information for Local
Governance. The applied nature of much of the work in
fast moving domains of policy and practice has also led
to a strand of work which has produced a range of policy
and evaluation reports, co-production workshops, invited
presentations, expert advice and manager/practitioner
toolkits. For more information about Rob's and the KITE
research centre's work see www.ncl.ac.uk/kite.
Keynote address: “Quality in the Third Sector. What is being measured, by
whom, by what means, and for what purpose”
There are a range of roles and responsibilities involved in any quality process. This
presentation will introduce a model of the ways in which these are allocated and
used in practise by a range of third sector organisations. One of the major
differences in the application of such models is the ways in which some systems
use external assessors whereas others use peer-review and service-user input.
Either approach has different strengths and weaknesses. The model helps explain
the value assumptions and choices being made by those who create and apply
such methods.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Dr Claire Moxham
University of Liverpool
Dr Claire Moxham is Senior Lecturer in Operations
Management at the University of Liverpool Management
School and Director of Studies for the Online MBA
Programme.
Claire holds a PhD in Management
Science and her research interests focus on process
improvement, particularly in the public and voluntary
sectors. Claire’s PhD thesis examined performance
measurement in the UK voluntary sector and won the
2007 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research
Award in the category of Operations and Production
Management. Before joining academia, Claire held
Quality Management positions in the textile processing
and caravan manufacturing industries and also spent
three years working as a volunteer in Ethiopia with
Voluntary Service Overseas.
Research paper: “Closing the loop or ticking the box? Examining third sector
performance measurement”
The systems used to measure the performance of private sector organisations have
been debated and developed by Operations Management scholars and
practitioners over the past twenty years. In contrast, the design of performance
measurement systems for third sector organisations has received relatively limited
attention. This is surprising, as like their private sector counterparts, third sector
organisations are under pressure from stakeholders to measure performance in
order to demonstrate achievement and improvement.
This presentation will examine how third sector performance measurement is
currently carried out. It will draw on empirical findings from UK third sector
organisations to present the perceived purpose of performance measurement. The
presentation raises questions as to whether third sector performance measurement
is used to close the loop or to simply tick the box. The opportunities for Operations
Management scholars and practitioners for further work in this important and
currently under researched area will also be discussed.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Mr. Max Moullin
Director of the South Yorkshire Centre for Quality and Performance
Max is Director of the South Yorkshire Centre for Quality
and Performance, which specialises in the public and
third sectors. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Quality
Institute and the Operational Research Society and a
member of both the national Healthcare Advisory Forum
and the Public Sector Performance Management
Forum. He is author of the book Delivering Excellence in
Health and Social Care. He was a Principal Lecturer at
Sheffield Business School from 1986 to 2012.
Research paper: "Improving third sector quality and performance with the
Public Sector Scorecard”
Given the myriad pressures on most third sector organisations, it is not easy to
prioritise quality. Max will describe how moving away from quality will not only be
detrimental to service users, but will also increase overall costs in the system. He
will demonstrate the importance of a culture of improvement and innovation, rather
than a blame culture and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different
forms of performance management. He will describe - with case studies - how the
outcome-focussed Public Sector Scorecard can be used to help public and third
sector organisations formulate their strategy around the outcomes that matter to
users and other key stakeholders, improve service delivery, and evaluate
performance.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Mr. Omar Al-Tabbaa
University of Leeds
Mr Al-Tabbaa works as teaching and research fellow in
Strategy at Leeds University Business School, UK. He
possesses a wide range of experience related to
managing non-profit organizations, as well as, business
incubators. His current research interests focus on the
cross-sector collaboration, organization performance
improvement, and the application of strategic
management theory in the context of small and medium
sized enterprises (SMEs).
Research paper:
collaboration”
“A
strategy
to
create
value:
Nonprofit-business
Nonprofit-Business collaboration (NBC) has been widely investigated, being
regarded as a value creation mechanism for society (by providing better solutions to
address complex social issues) and business (by delivering economic gains as part
of social responsibility programs). NBC from the perspective of nonprofit
organizations (NPOs), however, has been overlooked, in particular how they plan
strategically to attract prospective business partners. In this research, we propose a
framework to facilitate NPOs’ strategy development and assess its relevance with
data obtained from 26 NPOs covering three size categories which have
collaboration experience. In general, findings indicate that the framework captures
the foundations of effective strategy in terms of the number and quality of
collaborations. Furthermore, the results provide evidence to support our main
proposition that successful NPOs are proactive and address collaboration as a
strategic issue. More specifically, the results show that NPOs are more likely to
secure a successful collaboration as a result of: 1) recognizing and publicizing their
distinctive qualities to deliver economic and social value to businesses, 2) research
the needs of businesses to ensure compatibility with their social responsibility
strategy, and 3) address stakeholders concerns at the planning phase of the
collaboration. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to assess this
unique value creation perspective.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Ms Katherine William-Powlett
ex-National Council for Voluntary Organisations – NCVO
Katherine has spent the last four years working for the
National Council for Voluntary Organisations developing
their innovation work and offering consultancy and
training in innovation and leadership. She is now
working freelance. She recently completed a Masters in
Innovation Creativity and Leadership at City University.
This included a research project on the role of trustees
of voluntary sector organisations in innovation. Previous
incarnations include solicitor, lecturer in law, and leading
a small charity in innovative capital projects. Katherine
is a school governor, a trustee of two small
organisations, and a mother of three sons.
Third sector presentation: “Trustees: A Help or a Hindrance to Innovation”
This talk will present an exploration of how trustees of voluntary sector
organisations encourage or stifle innovation with recommendations for best
practice.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Mr. Nabeel Al Ramadhani
President of the Human Relief Foundation
Nabeel Al-Ramadhani joined Human Relief Foundation
(HRF) as Director in 1994. HRF is an international
humanitarian, development NGO, whose primary
purpose was to work with the victims of the first gulf war
in Iraq. During the last 14 years, Nabeel has led HRF’s
response to humanitarian crises in Iraq, Palestine,
Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia,
Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. He has strengthened
HRF by pushing for its scale up of development work.
Previously a lecturer at the University of Bradford,
Nabeel has a PhD in structural engineering, and is the
chairman for various projects including Claremont
Community Centre.
Nabeel is married and has two sons and five daughters.
Third sector presentation: “Ethos and values in the Operation Management of
the Third Sector”
This presentation will discuss the following key points:
1- Understanding the environment and the geography of the field and involve it
in the planning.
2- Awareness of the beneficiaries’ culture and values and its affect on the
execution of the program.
3- The accountability of the field worker and the training that required for
international standards.
4- Awareness of the beneficiaries’ speciality and their contribution to the field
performance.
5- The required consideration of human proud and dignity in the plan and
performance of the field work.
6- The consideration of the required coordination with authorities and the
competitors and its effect on the program planning and performance.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Ms Alison Lowe
Chief Executive of Touchstone
Alison Lowe has worked with Voluntary Organisations
for 20 years. Right now she works as the Chief
Executive of Touchstone a Mental Health Charity in
Leeds. Touchstone work with and for people that are
affected by mental health problems and they specialise
in working with people from different cultural
backgrounds. Before Alison started working with
Touchstone she was a senior manager with Foundation
Housing, a charity that supports people that have just
come out of prison or are on bail to find housing.
Alison has been involved in local government for 22
years and is a councillor with the Labour Party in
Armley. Alison is also a member of the West Yorkshire
Police Authority and is Vice Chair of the shadow Police
and Crime Panel that will take over from the Authority in
November. As Lead Member for Community Safety on
the Council, Alison also sits on the Safer Leeds
Executive. Alison is involved with her local housing
residents and tenants groups, chairs a school governing
body and the personnel panel of Leeds West North
West Homes. Over the years, Alison has been a well
known campaigner on equal rights and is the chair of
the Leeds Domestic Violence Forum that raises
awareness of domestic violence against women and
children by known men.
Alison Lowe holds an MA in Medieval studies and a BA
(Hons) in History from Leeds University. She lives with
her partner Steve and has 2 grown up children, Adam
and Rosy.
Third sector presentation: “Strategically relevant, locally focused”
Third Sector charities face unprecedented challenges in the mythical era of the “Big
Society”. To survive and hopefully flourish, charities have had to learn all the tricks
and techniques of their counterparts in the public and private sectors.
In her presentation, Alison Lowe will talk about how a local Leeds mental health
charity has developed a meaningful and effective plan to withstand the vagaries
and vicissitudes of the current funding environment by embracing operational
management tools such as SWOT and TOWS analyses, PESTLES and so on.
Learn how Touchstone has doubled its income and tripled its reserves in 8 short
years whilst still delivering excellent, quality services to the people it serves.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Mr. Andy Simpson
Chief Executive Doncaster Refurnish
Andy Simpson is the Chief Executive of Doncaster
Refurnish an entrepreneurial social enterprise and
registered charity.
He was born in Doncaster in 1968 and is the youngest
of six siblings. He was raised in the Brodsworth mining
community and started in the world of work aged 13
delivering newspapers. Andy advocates young people
working early in life to instill personal discipline and
pride.
Andy was educated at the former Adwick High School
where later in his career he was sent in to help bring it
out of special measures. This was extremely rewarding
for him has he directly contributed to the betterment of
the community that he lived in.
Although he has no formal business qualifications this
has not stopped him from moving forward. He has
project management experience working across all 3
sectors Private, Public and Community and from a
diverse field of the construction industry to social work to
community regeneration. He likes his work to really
mean something and to make a difference.
He is a champion of social causes, with a track record of
creating and implementing successful social enterprises.
He needs to be challenged and likes excitement. He
likes to lead from the front and inspire belief to bring
young people forward to the front line.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Ms Eve Coles
University of Leeds & Cabinet Office
Eve Coles is a Senior Teaching Fellow at Leeds
University Business School where she has responsibility
for the academic oversight of civil protection work based
learning qualifications at postgraduate level. Eve has
also been responsible for developing a bespoke Post
Graduate Certificate in Resilience Management for
Yorkshire Ambulance Service and an MA in Civil
Protection via work based learning in partnership with
the Cabinet Office.
She is a member of the Business School’s AIMTech and
Socio-Technical Centre research groups. Her research
interests centre around organisational resilience
particularly in the public sector and include emergency
management policy in the UK, crisis and business
continuity management and supply chain resilience. She
has been a member of a number of national steering
groups and committees that have developed core
competences and National Occupational Standards in
civil contingencies and standards in crisis management.
Eve is Editor of a new UK online peer reviewed journal
Emergency Management Review which is published in
partnership with the Cabinet Office Emergency Planning
College (epcollege.com/EMR). She is Chair of the
Emergency Planning Society's Education Committee, a
member of the BSI steering committee for the
development of PAS 200 in Crisis Management and a
member of the International Research Committee on
Disasters. She is also an external examiner at
Portsmouth University Business School, Dublin
Business School and a visiting lecturer to the
emergency management programmes at Auckland
University of Technology.
Workshop: “Organisational Resilience in an Age of Austerity”
Doing more for less is quite a challenge for all of us and no more so in today’s
economic climate. Yet in the face of such a challenge it is more than possible to see
how organisational resilience can be harnessed and enhanced through careful
thought and developing good practice. This session will highlight how value for
money thinking can help good practice remain uncompromised in the face of future
threats and challenges.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Ms Taira Kayani
Burley Lodge Centre (BLC)
Taira has over 20 years’ experience of leading in
organisations in the Third Sector. She is an experienced
and organised senior manager with substantial
knowledge and skills in strategic planning and
implementation; fundraising; strategic HR; the
development, financial management; publicity and
marketing; managing performance and quality; the
development and implementation of organisational
policies and procedures and the development and
successful delivery of a variety of projects and
initiatives.
Taira is an active member of a number of strategic
forums in Leeds. She has a comprehensive awareness
of current issues affecting the Third sector and is
committed to influencing decision makers on behalf of
the sector. She holds a community development
approach to working and is committed to the meaningful
involvement of staff, volunteers and community
members in the development and delivery of local
services.
Taira holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Management
and is currently reading for an Executive MBA at Leeds
Metropolitan University.
Workshop:
outcomes”
“The
operational
alignment
of
quality,
performance
and
The Third sector has long been driven to make a difference to the lives of the
people it aims to provide services and activities for. The links between the quality of
services we provide, the emphasis on measuring our performance and the current
focus of funders and commissioners on achieving outcomes requires us to have a
clearer focus on the operational alignment of these key elements of our business
model.
The workshop will explore how BLC has connected the dots and will focus on some
practical solutions to implementing change in Third Sector organisations.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
Dr Gary Graham &
Dr Anita Greenhill
University of Leeds & University of Manchester
Dr Gary Graham joined Leeds University Business
School in January 2011 after 11 years lecturing first at
MSM until 2005 and then MBS from 2005 onwards. He
has co-authored two books on the Internet and its
influence on the creative sector. His current research
concerns the impact of the Internet – particularly the
convergence of online and printed newspaper activity
but also the issue of consumer interactivity – on the
supply chain operations of regional newspapers.
Dr Anita Greenhill is a Senior Lecturer at the
Manchester Business School, University of Manchester.
Dr Greenhill has an extensive research and publication
list exploring cultural practices of online communities. Dr
Greenhill along with Dr Gary Graham is currently
researching the changing role of the city, local
communities and their use of community news media in
the digital age. The key areas of research interest are in
the areas of Networked Usage of Technology within
Community, Organisational and Business settings.
Workshop: “News engagement with the third sector”
The workshop aims to explore the challenges of operationalising Large Scale
Institutional and Third Sector news engagement. Thurman (2012) argues that the
advances of social media / web 2.0 are eroding away the timeliness, relevance and
utility of local news.
Boyer (2011) talks about the shifting character of news,“ If a 19 th –or even 20th
century news organisation with a correspondent in a remote location could hope to
have a monopoly on reports from the location for days or even weeks, the
synchornisity and translocation interconnectedness of digital news has drastically
reduced these advantages to a matter of minutes and often only seconds. One
could thus argue the marginal value of original news content has diminished the
news industry since it circulates so quickly and is republicised so easily elsewhere,
a condition that the recent rise of online news aggregators, like Google, have
exasperated.”
Our research has show that Universities feel they - “ Have a mandate to develop
partnership with our immediate neighbours”.
But what does this mean for inner city communities?
It is clear Local Communities are embracing and innovating in their usage of new
media to share, gather and disseminate local news, ‘their’ news
http://whalleyrange.org/, peace FM, South Manchester Reporter.
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“Operations Management in the Third Sector” Conference, 20th March 2013
Speakers: Bios and Summaries of Talks
End of Bios and Summaries of Talks
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