Academy Fellow

David is Part-time Professor of Management at UNSW Business School, where he is Academic Lead for a Project on Business and Climate Risk. He is also Principal, Centennial Solutions, offering expertise that supports universities in strategic planning, leadership development, change management, governance and compliance, and performance improvement. Until April 2022 he was at Griffith University as Pro Vice Chancellor (Business), a position he held for over 6 years. He remains an Adjunct Professor with the Business School at Griffith. Previous to joining Griffith, he was Senior Deputy Dean at UNSW Business School and held several senior administrative roles in the Business School at the University of Sydney, including Associate Dean (Undergraduate), Associate Dean (Research), Deputy Dean (Academic), and Co-Dean. Before moving to Australia in 2000, he also served as Head of the Department of Management at King’s College, London. Between 2019 and 2022 David was President of the Australian Business Deans Council, the peak body representing 39 Business Schools at Australian Universities. He has held honorary and visiting positions at the King’s College, London, The University of Auckland Business School, UTS, UC Santa Barbara, The University of Melbourne and McGill University. He received his BA (Government) from the University of Essex, and MSc. (Industrial Relations and Personnel Management) and PhD (Management) from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

David’s research focuses on how language and other symbolic media influence the practice of leadership and organization-wide, group and individual level change. He has been an active member of the Organization Development and Change Division at the Academy of Management including serving a term as its Chair and was a co-founder of the International Centre for Organizational Discourse Strategy and Change. David has led or been a member of research teams that have attracted significant government and industry funding for major change-related research projects. These have included several on the impact of technological change on work and organisation and a number of projects on business responses to climate change. He has published in a range of peer-reviewed international journals and has co-edited several edited collections and Handbooks.

• Oswick, C. Grant, D., and Oswick, R. (2020) Categories, Crossroads, Control, Connectedness, Continuity, and Change: A Metaphorical Exploration of COVID-19. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 56 (3), 284-288
• Oswick, C and Grant, D (2016) Re-Imagining Images of Organization: A Conversation with Gareth Morgan. Journal of Management Inquiry Vol. 25(3): 338-343.
• Liu, H., Cutcher, L. and Grant, D. (2015) Doing authenticity: The gendered construction of authentic leadership. Gender Work and Organisation. Vol: 22(3): 237-255.
• Floris, M., Grant, D. and Cutcher, C. (2013) Mining the Discourse: Strategizing During BHP Billiton’s Attempted Acquisition of Rio Tinto. Journal of Management Studies. 50(7): 1185-1215.
• Grant, D., and Newell, S. (2013) Realizing the Strategic Potential of e-HRM. Journal of Strategic Information Systems. 22(3): 187-192.
• Wright, C. Nyberg, D. and Grant, D. (2012) “Hippies on the Third Floor”: Climate Change, Narrative Identity and the Micro-Politics of Corporate Environmentalism. Organization Studies 33(11): 1451-1476.
• Fairhurst G and Grant D (2010). The Social Construction of Leadership: A Sailing Guide Management Communication Quarterly 23(4):1-40. 
• Marshak R. and Grant, D. (2008) Organisational Discourse and New OD Practices, British Journal of Management 19(1): 7-19.
• Grant, D. Hall, R. Wailes, N. Wright, C. (2006) The False Promise of Technological Determinism: The Case of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. New Technology Work and Employment 21(1): 2-24.
• Hardy, C., Lawrence, T. and Grant D. (2005) Discourse and Collaboration: The Role of Conversations and Collective Identity, Academy of Management Review 30(1): 58-77.
• Grant, D., Hardy, C., Oswick, C. and Putnam L. (Eds) (2004) The Sage Handbook of Organisational Discourse. London: Sage.
• Oswick, C., Keenoy, T., and Grant, D. (2002) Metaphors and Analogical Reasoning in Organization Theory: Beyond Orthodoxy. Academy of Management Review, 27(2): 294-303.