Professor Kevin Morrell

Research

The book draws on two decades of research across rhetoric, critical theory, philosophy, sociology, literary theory, discourse analysis and applied ethics. That work has been conducted in a range of empirical settings: public order policing in England, organisational change in the NHS, tax governance, post-conflict governance in Nicaragua, cultural attitudes to climate change in defence, and the critical analysis of leadership language.

Areas of expertise evidenced by that record include leadership, strategy, transformational change, organisational narrative, rhetoric, critical leadership studies, ethics and organisational research methods.

Formation

The book describes an intellectual route that runs from training in classical rhetoric and Aristotelian ethics at Cambridge, through fieldwork in public services, to work with executives and boards — and it is candid that this particular route shaped the account. A different researcher with different commitments would have written a different book, which is a claim the argument itself requires.

Selected publications

As listed in the book's appendix.

• Aroles, J. and Morrell, K. (2025). Marketisation and the Public Good: A Typology of Responses among Museum Professionals. Work, Employment and Society, 39(1).
• Aroles, J., Morrell, K., Granter, E. and Liang, Y. (2024). Representing, Re-presenting, or Producing the Past? Memory Work amongst Museum Employees. Journal of Management Studies, 63(4).
• Learmonth, M. and Morrell, K. (2019). Critical Perspectives on Leadership: The Language of Corporate Power. London: Routledge.
• Morrell, K. (2006). Policy as narrative: New Labour's reform of the National Health Service. Public Administration, 84(2), 367–385.
• Morrell, K. (2008). The narrative of “evidence based” management: A polemic. Journal of Management Studies, 45(3), 613–635.
• Morrell, K. (2012). Organisation, Society and Politics: An Aristotelian Perspective. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Morrell, K. (2022). Is successful change a fairy tale? Management Today, 29 June.
• Morrell, K. (2026). Is AI Telling You The Truth? Board Agenda, 26 January.
• Morrell, K. and Brammer, S. (2016). Governance and Virtue: The Case of Public Order Policing. Journal of Business Ethics.
• Morrell, K. and Currie, G. (2015). Impossible Jobs or Impossible Tasks? Client Volatility and Frontline Policing Practice in Urban Riots. Public Administration Review, 75(2), 264–275.
• Morrell, K. and Harrington-Buhay, N. (2012). Governance, Public Interest, and Property Rights: The Case of the 1995 Property Forum in Post-Conflict Nicaragua. Public Administration.
• Morrell, K. and Hartley, J. (2006). A model of political leadership. Human Relations, 59(4), 483–504.
• Morrell, K. and Tuck, P. (2014). Governance, tax and folk tales. Accounting, Organisations and Society, 39(2), 134–147.
• Morrell, K., Hewison, A. and Heracleous, L. (2020). From Events to Personal Histories: Narrating Change in Health-Care Organisations. Public Management Review, 22(6), 908–926.
• Morrell, K. et al. (2021). How Does the State Restore Order During Crisis? Lessons from the UK. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science.

Enquiries

Speaking, teaching, media and research enquiries: see contact.

Status: drafted from the manuscript and its appendix · author review required · no biographical detail added from outside the manuscript