Dr Will Thomas

• Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy
• PhD Philosophy (Essex)
• MA Ethics, Politics and Public Policy
• BA (Hons) Politics

• Management and Managing: an introduction – Level 4, undergraduate
• Business Ethics – Level 5, undergraduate
• Designing and Running a Research Project – Level 5, undergraduate
• Extended Project (coordinator) – Level 6, undergraduate
• Investigating a Business Issue from a Human Resources Perspective – Level 7, postgraduate

Will’s research interests are in exploring two, frequently intersecting, areas: ethical leadership and the management of wicked or complex problems.

As a scholar of the ethics of care Will’s primary interest in respect to ethical leadership is in how we describe, promote and practice relationships within organisational settings.  Ideas from this perspective, originally focused on the practice of care and in education, are important and useful, especially in respect to work that involves multiple organisations or complexity.  His interests in this area extend to his teaching practice in which he works to employ these principles as part of a ‘pedagogy of care’.

Wicked problems – those that are hard to describe, and which have no direct solution – present specific challenges for leaders and managers.  Will’s work in this area engages with principles of leadership to highlight these challenges and to provide insights into strategies for successful work in complex areas.  Commonly, this engages with his interest in relational leadership in asking how effective collaborations between and within organisations can be facilitated to address complexity.

Complete:
Dr Jana Patey - Workplace Friendship and Anxiety: Organisational Insight through the Psychodynamic Exploration of Interpersonal Relationships

Dr Warren Scott - Messy problems and messy solutions: Ways of Being when engaging with Wicked Problems.

In Progress:

William Mellamphy - Understanding Contemporary forms of ‘play’ a study of 5th generation video games

André Neville - How does employers and veterans making assumptions about the skills ex-military personnel bring to a civilian working environment affect their ability to transition successfully?

Lisa Peach – Working intentionally with wicked problems - An appreciative ethnographic study of senior leader’s intentional moves to delegate accountability and sharing of accountability in an NHS hospital Trust

George Gnanathickam - Did strategic preparedness and readiness increase operational productivity and nursing experience during Covid-19?

New Projects:
Will is keen to hear from students with interests in working on projects relating to his research interests, particularly areas such as:

• The management of wicked or complex problems
• Ethical leadership – particularly relational leadership
• Ethics of care

Will has worked on more than 30 pieces of contract research and consultancy including large research studies and smaller one-off projects.  He is an experienced workshop facilitator and trainer.

Some recent examples:

• Entrepreneurs Forge – mini-MBA
• Leadership Development workshops:
  • Wicked Problems in Healthcare
  • Supporting Values-Based Leadership
• Evaluation of the Supply Chain Skills Development Fund
• Market Research Report for the Net-Zero Leiston project
• Evaluations of Stage 3 and Stage 4 Public Consultation Events for the Sizewell C project

Deemer, P., Ottley, E., and Thomas, W. (2021) Using positive action to create a fairer recruitment process, Available at: https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/using-positive-action-create-fairer-recruitment-process

Mongan, C and Thomas, W (2021) ‘Understanding good leadership in the context of English care home inspection reports’, Leadership in Health Services 34, 2, 167-180 https://doi.org/10.1108/LHS-11-2020-0098

Thomas, W., 2020, September. A Framework for the Selection and Design of Serious Games. In European Conference on Games Based Learning (pp. 613-XIX). Academic Conferences International Limited.

Thomas, W., Hujala, A., Laulainen, S., And McMurray, R. (2019) (eds) The Management of Wicked Problems in Health and Social Care. London: Routledge

Thomas W and Hollinrake S. (2019) ‘The Politics of Care: wicked constituents in care reforms’, in Thomas et al. (eds) The Management of Wicked Problems in Health and Social Care. London: Routledge

Thomas W. (2019) ‘Unpacking Dependency; Managing ‘Becoming’’, in Thomas et al. (eds) The Management of Wicked Problems in Health and Social Care. London: Routledge

Thomas W & Southwell M (2017) Learning from Rejection – an autoethnography of contract research in Vine, T. Clarke, J. and Richards S. (eds) Ethnographic Encounters London: Routledge

Hollinrake, S. Thomas, W. Tocca, A. and Cavenagh, P. (2016) Food Shopping and Eating Habits in Later Life: Implications for Retailers and Public Health in Contributing to the Well-Being of Older People in Baho, S.M. and Katsas G.A. (eds) Making Sense of Food Inter-Disciplinary Press, London

Hollinrake, S. and Thomas, W. (2015) Caring Relationships and Efficient Social Care Provision: can an ethic of care provide a better foundation for responding to care needs in later life?,  International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 35:5:419-436

Thomas W. and Hollinrake S. (2014) Economic and demographic challenges for social care: A critical perspective on the management and delivery of care, Journal of Health Organisation and Management 28:5:653-673

Thomas W. and Hollinrake S. (2014) Creating an Enabling Culture in the delivery of Health and Social Care: addressing economic and demographic challenges, E-proceedings of ISL Symposium 2014

Thomas W. & Hollinrake S. (2014) Policymakers, researchers and service users – resolving the tensions and dilemmas of working together, Innovation, the European Journal of Social Science Research 27:1:31-45