INTRODUCTION

The increasing complexity of the role of the business school dean over time is evident from the rapid competitive evolution of business schools and the parallel challenges of growth (Davies and Thomas, 2009). Indeed, Starkey and Tiratsoo (2007: 55) note that ‘forty years ago running a business school was something a senior professor might well take as a matter of duty shortly before retirement. Nowadays deans almost constitute a profession in their own right, a cohort with unique and specialist skills.’ As noted in Chapter 1, the current rigours of the deanship role are exacerbated by strong criticisms of the business school and questions as to the legitimacy of business and management as an academic discipline, coupled with increasing globalised competition for experts and students and a diverse range of stakeholder interests.

Typically, in business schools, deans have grappled with the issues of the balance between rigour and relevance (Zell, 2005) and that between academic and professional practice (Grey, 2002), which they have attempted to address by creating scholarly and professional reputations alike. In this respect, deans have to learn to champion both the academic values of the university/academy and the professional values of their external management constituency without appearing two-faced (Fagin, 1997; Gmelch, 2004: 78). This has led several deans to compare themselves to partners in professional service firms (Davies and Thomas, 2009).