Professor
Laura’s research focuses on professionals, professionals, and the professions, with a particular focus on their leadership and governance. In recent years she has developed a series of published studies on collective leadership (for which she was nominated for the Thinkers 50 leadership award). Her other research in a professional context has encompassed organizational and cultural change; growth and leadership transitions; mergers and acquisitions; professional careers; and the future of professional work. She has also developed a separate strand of autoethnographic studies concerning the process and problems of research impact.
In addition to her position as Professor of Leadership and Organization at Copenhagen Business School, Laura is Professor in the Management of Professional Service Firms at Bayes Business School, University of London, and holds Research Fellowships at both Harvard Law School and the University of Cambridge.
Alongside her publications in leading academic journals, she has published several books with Oxford University Press. Her latest is Leading Professionals: Power, Politics, and Prima Donnas (reprinted in paperback, 2022). She remains committed to translating her academic insights into practical action to help leaders of professional organizations address some of their most challenging issues. So, as well as advising the leaders of some of the world’s most significant professional service firms, she writes regularly for Harvard Business Review and presents the podcast series, Leading Professional People.
Laura currently serves on the editorial board of Organization Studies and the Journal of Management Studies. She is a founder member of the Strategic Advisory Board of the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS) and a member of the Peer Review College of the Economic and Social Research Council of Great Britain.
Laura was previously Associate Professor at the University of Oxford. From 2013 to 2016 Laura served on the Board of KPMG LLP (becoming Chair of the Independent Non-Executives). She has a PhD and MBA from London Business School.
- Leadership Dynamics
- Professionals and Professional Organizations
- Power and Politics
- Identity and Culture
- Future of Work
Empson, L. (2022) Leading professionals: Power, politics, and prima donnas. Oxford: Oxford University Press. First published in hardback 2017. Paperback edition published September 2022. Selected as a Financial Times ‘book of the month’.
Empson, L., Muzio, D., Broschak, J., and Hinings, B. (eds.) (2015) The Oxford handbook of professional service firms. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Republished in paperback.
Empson, L. (ed). (2007) Managing the modern law firm: New challenges, new perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Republished in paperback, as an audiobook, and translated into Chinese.
Journal articles and books chapters (selected)
Howard-Grenville, J. and Empson, L. (2023) ‘3 ways to prepare for the future of work’, Harvard Business Review on-line..
Empson, L., Langley, A., and Sergi, V. (2023) ‘When everyone and no one is a leader: Constructing individual leadership identities while sustaining an organizational narrative of collective leadership’, Organization Studies, 44(2), pp. 201-227
Empson, L. (2021) ‘Researching the post-pandemic professional service firm: Challenging our assumptions’, Journal of Management Studies, 58(5), pp. 1383-1388.
Empson, L. and Howard-Grenville, J. (2021) ‘How has the past year changed you and your organization’, Harvard Business Review.
Empson, L. and Alvehus, J. (2020) ‘Collective leadership dynamics among professional peers: Co-constructing an unstable equilibrium’, Organization Studies, 41(9), pp. 1234-1256.
Empson, L. (2020) ‘The Emperor’s new clothes: How our fear of seeming stupid became a self-fulfilling prophecy’, Academy of Management Learning and Education, 19(2), pp. 227-229.
Mosonyi, S., Empson, L., and Gond, J-P. (2020) ‘Management consulting: Towards an integrative framework of knowledge, identity, and power’, International Journal of Management Reviews, 22(2), pp. 120-149.
Empson, L. (2020) ‘Ambiguous authority and hidden hierarchy: Collective leadership in a professional service firm’, Leadership, 16(1), pp. 62-86.
Empson, L. (2019) ‘How to lead your fellow rainmakers’, Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp. 114-123.
Lupu, L., Spence, C., and Empson, L. (2018) ‘When the past comes back to haunt you: The enduring influence of upbringing on the work-family decisions of professional parents’, Human Relations, 71(2), pp. 155-181.
Empson, L. (2018) ‘If you’re so successful why are you still working 70 hours a week?’, Harvard Business Review, February. Frequently re-published and translated for German and Chinese editions.
Empson, L. (2018) ‘Elite interviewing in professional organizations’, Journal of Professions and Organizations, 5(1), pp. 58-69.
Costas, J., Ekman, S., Empson, L., Kärreman, D., and Muhr, S.L. (2018) ‘Working time regimes: Continuing problems’, German Journal of Human Resource Management, 32(3-4), pp.271-282.
Ashley, L. and Empson, L. (2017) ‘Understanding social exclusion in elite professional service firms: Field level dynamics and the “professional project”‘, Work, Employment, and Society, 31(2), pp. 211-229.
Empson, L. (2017) ‘My liminal life: Perpetual journeys across the research-practice divide’, in Bartunek, J. and McKenzie, J. (eds.) Academic practitioner research partnerships: Developments, complexities and opportunities. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 200-216.
Ashley, L. and Empson, L. (2016) ‘Convenient fictions and inconvenient truths: Dilemmas of diversity at three leading accountancy firms’, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 35, pp. 76-87.
Ashley, L. and Empson, L. (2016) ‘Explaining social exclusion and the “war for talent”‘, in Nelson, R., Headworth, S., Dinovitzer, R., and Wilkins, D. (eds.) Diversity in practice: Cambridge’s studies in law and society. Cambridge: University of Cambridge.
Lupu, I. and Empson, L. (2015) ‘Illusio and overwork: Playing the game in the accounting field’, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 28(8), pp. 1310-1340. Won journal’s Best Paper Award for 2015.
Empson, L. and Langley, A. (2015) ‘Leadership and professionals’ , in Empson, L., Muzio, D., Broschak, J., and Hinings, B. (eds.) The Oxford handbook of professional service firms. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 163-188.
Empson, L., Muzio, D., Broschak, J., and Hinings, B. (2015) ‘Researching professional service firms: An introduction and overview’, in Empson, L., Muzio, D., Broschak, J., and Hinings, B. (eds.) Oxford handbook of professional service firms. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-24.
Empson, L. (2015) ‘Reprint of classic article - My affair with the “other”: Identity journeys across the research-practice divide’, in Bell, E. and Willmott, H. (eds.) Qualitative Research in Business and Management. London: Sage.
Empson, L. (2015) ’Leadership, power, and politics in law firms’, in Normand-Hochman, R. (ed.) Leadership for lawyers. International Bar Association.
Empson, L., Cleaver, I., and Allen, J. (2013) ‘Managing partners and management professionals: Institutional work dyads in professional partnerships’, Journal of Management Studies, 50(5), pp. 808-844.
Ashley, L., and Empson, L. (2013) ‘Differentiation and discrimination: Understanding social class and social exclusion in the UK’s leading law firms’, Human Relations, 66(2), pp. 219-244.
Empson, L. (2013) ’My affair with the “other”: Identity journeys across the research–practice divide’, Journal of Management Inquiry, 22(2), pp. 229-248.
Empson, L. (2012) ‘Beyond dichotomies: A multi-stage model of governance in professional service firms’, in Reihlen, M. and Werr, A. (eds.) Handbook of research on entrepreneurship in professional services. Camberley: Edward Elgar, pp. 274-294.
Empson, L. (2012) ‘Reprint of classic article. Fear of exploitation and fear of contamination: Impediments to knowledge transfer in mergers between professional service firms’ in Avakian, S. and Clark, T. (eds.) Management consulting. Camberely: Edward Elgar.
Alvesson, M., and Empson, L. (2008) ‘The construction of organizational identity: Comparative case studies of consulting firms’, Scandinavian Journal of Management, 24(1), pp. 1-16.
Empson L. and Popham, S. (2007) ‘Introducing modern management’, in Empson, L. (ed.) Managing the modern law firm. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-9.
Empson, L. (2007) ‘Surviving and thriving in a changing world: The special nature of partnership’, in Empson, L. (ed.) Managing the modern law firm. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 10-36.
Empson, L. (2007) ‘Professions’, in Clegg, S. (ed.) International encyclopaedia of organization studies. London: Sage, pp. 1315-1318. AND Empson, L. (2007) ‘Professional service firms’, in Clegg, S. (ed.) International Encyclopaedia of Organization Studies. London: Sage, pp. 1311-1315.
Empson, L. (2007) ‘Wrestling with the intangible: Creating value in knowledge-based mergers’, in Angwin, D. (ed.) Mergers and acquisitions: A multidisciplinary perspective. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 229-255.
Empson, L., and Chapman, C. (2006) ‘Partnership versus corporation: Implications of alternative forms of governance in professional service firms’, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 24, pp. 139-170.
Empson, L. (2006) ’Professionals in partnership’, in Craig, J. (ed.) Production values: Futures of professionalism. Demos, pp. 144-152.
Empson, L. (2004) ‘Organizational identity change: Managerial regulation and member identification in an accounting firm acquisition’, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 29(9), pp. 759-781.
Greenwood, R. and Empson, L. (2003) ‘The professional partnership: Relic or exemplary form of governance?’, Organization Studies, 24(6), pp. 909-933.
Empson, L. (2001) ‘Introduction to special issue: Knowledge management in professional service firms’, Human Relations, 54(7), pp. 811-818.
Empson, L. (2001) ’Fear of exploitation and fear of contamination: Impediments to knowledge transfer in mergers between professional service firms‘, Human Relations, 54(7), pp. 839-862.
Empson, L. (2000) ‘Merging professional service firms’, Business Strategy Review, 11(2), pp. 39-46.
Empson, L. (2000) ‘Mergers between professional service firms: Exploring an undirected process of integration’, Advances in Mergers and Acquisitions, 1, pp. 205-237.
Empson, L. (2000) ’The challenge of managing knowledge’, in Dickson, T. (ed.) Mastering strategy. London: Pitman Publishing, pp. 377-384.
Empson, L. (2000) ’Lessons from professional service firms’, in Dickson, T. (eds.) Mastering Strategy. London: Pitman Publishing, pp. 332-339.
Morris, T. and Empson, L. (1998) ’Organization and expertise: An exploration of knowledge bases and the management of accounting and consulting firms’, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 23(5-6), pp. 609-624.
Empson, L. (1998) ‘Knowledge management: in search of the philosophers’ stone’, Business Strategy Review, 10(2), pp.67-71.
Empson, L. (1994) ‘Human resource management implications of mergers and acquisitions’. International Journal of Human Resource Management. 5(3):779-783.