Professor of Organisational Ethnography
Fellow of Darwin College
DPhil (University of Oxford)
Research interests
Mark de Rond studies people by living with them under similar conditions so as to better understand how they experience the world and act in it. A recurring feature of his work is the variety of human experience in (relatively) extreme contexts.
His fieldwork has included prolonged stints with doctors and nurses at war (in Afghanistan), Boat Race crews in Cambridge, adventurers on the river Amazon, stop-the-war activists en route from Berlin to Aleppo and, most recently, paedophile hunters.
Subject-wise, his research focuses specifically on: (1) how people solve problems collectively under challenging conditions where there is a premium on collaboration; (2) the explanations people give for why things are as they are and not otherwise; and (3) how, as ethnographers, we understand, and reconcile ourselves to, the moral ambiguities and consequences of our work.
Subject group: Organisational Theory & Information Systems
Professional experience
Mark’s unique fieldwork and teaching approach have fostered an eclectic portfolio of executive education clients, including Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy, Linklaters, White & Case, and various other law firms; Stonehage Fleming, McKinsey, KPMG, PWC, Ernst & Young and other professional service firms; organisations such as Sky, Ascential, OfCom, Lloyds-TSB, BT, Diageo, Moody’s, The Economist, and the NHS, and such NGOs as UNICEF, the British Academy, and the Church of England. He received training in mediation and negotiation at Harvard Law School (Program on Negotiation), is part of the University mediation team, and holds advanced degrees in management and economics, photojournalism and documentary photography, and biography and creative nonfiction. His research has featured widely in the press, including in The Economist, TIME magazine, The Financial Times, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Week, Der Spiegel, Forbes, The Huffington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Evening Standard, The Wall Street Journal, The British Medical Journal (BMJ), The Lancet, and on the BBC’s Thinking Allowed, Thought for the Day, and World Service. His photographs have been published in The Independent, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph and by the BBC News.
Previous appointments
Prior to joining Cambridge Judge Business School, Mark was an assistant professor in strategy at ESSEC Business School, Paris, a college lecturer at University College and Trinity College (University of Oxford), a research fellow at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (2001), and a Fulbright visiting scholar at Stanford University (2008).
Awards & honours
- OMT Best Published Article Award, 2020
- Cambridge Judge Business School Teaching Award, 2020
- The Last Amateurs listed on the JP Morgan “Words of Inspiration” Reading List Special (22 most inspiring books for difficult times from 20 years of reading lists), 2020
- Cambridge Judge Business School Teaching Award, 2019
- Academy of Management Annals Best Article Award, 2019
- EGOS Book Award (for Doctors at War), 2018
- Finalist, George R. Terry Award (for Doctors at War), 2018
- Honorable Mention, Outstanding Qualitative Book Award (for Doctors at War), 2018
- Cambridge Judge Business School Faculty Award (one of five), 2018
- The Last Amateurs listed as “One of 30 best ever sports books”, Metro, 2018
- Academy of Management Journal Best Article Award, 2017
- Finalist, EGOS Best Conference Paper Award, 2017
- Honourable Mention, Research Impact on Practice Award, Organizations and the Natural Environment (ONE) Division, Academy of Management, 2017
- Sandra Dawson Research Impact Award (“in recognition of the outstanding impact of his research into the social dynamics of high performing teams”), 2016
- Winner, BAAG Afganistan Journalism Competition (based on Mark’s work on understanding the sociological basis of war-related PTSD), 2015
- Finalist, OMT Best Published Paper Award, Academy of Management, 2014
- Cambridge Judge Business School Teaching Award, 2014
- Gold Winner in the Feature Story Category and Gold Winner in the War Category, Prix de la Photographie Paris (Px3) (these photos are part of Mark’s work on PTSD among military medics and soldiers), 2013
- Cambridge Judge Business School Teaching Award, 2012
- Imagination Lab Award for Innovative Scholarship, awarded annually by the Swiss-based Imagination Lab Foundation and the European Academy of Management for work that is both highly scholarly and very innovative, 2009
- Financial Times Best Business Books of 2008 (The Last Amateurs)
- BBC Sport Best Sporting Reads of 2008 (The Last Amateurs)
- Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award, 2007/8
- Ascendant Scholar Award by the Western Academy of Management, awarded annually to up to four young scholars who have shown exceptional promise in their early research careers, 2007
- George R. Terry Award for the book, published in the last two years, judged to have made the most outstanding contribution to the advancement of management knowledge, Academy of Management, 2005 (for Strategic Alliances as Social Facts: Business, Biotechnology & Intellectual History))
- Past Presidents’ Best Paper Award, Western Academy of Management, 2004
- Best Doctoral Student Paper Award, Research Methods Division, Academy of Management, 2001
- Shortlisted for the William H. Newman Award for Outstanding Paper based on PhD dissertation, Academy of Management, 2001
- American Friends of Christ Church Scholar, 1998-1999
Selected publications
Here are a selection of Mark de Rond’s publications. Please see the “Selected publications” tab above for a more comprehensive list.
de Rond, M., Lok, J. and Marrison, A. (2022) “To catch a predator: the lived experience of extreme practices.” Academy of Management Journal, 65(3): 870-902 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2020.1492)
de Rond, M., Holeman, I. and Howard-Grenville, J. (2019) “Sensemaking from the body: an enactive ethnography of rowing the Amazon.” Academy of Management Journal, 62(6): 1961-1988 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2017.1417) (2019 OMT Best Published Paper Award)
de Rond, M. (2017) Doctors at war: an ethnographer’s account of life and death in a field hospital. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
EGOS Best Book Award, 2018
Finalist, George R. Terry Book Award, 2018
Honorable Mention, Outstanding Qualitative Book Award, 2018
- Review of Doctors at War by Randall Collins
- Read an excerpt from the book on The Times website
- Read an interview with Mark in the Times Higher Education Supplement
- Listen to an interview with Mark on BBC Radio 4
- Reviewed by Karl E. Weick in Administrative Science Quarterly
- Reviewed by Barbara Czarniawska in Organization
- Reviewed by Thomas Roulet on the Symbolic Interaction (Journal) Blog
- Reviewed by Jason E. Pelletier in Military Review
- Reviewed by Omar Dewachi in Medical Anthropology Quarterly
- Reviewed by Leo van Bergen in Medicine, Conflict and Survival
- Reviewed by Lorena Nunez Carrasco in Sociology of Health and Illness
Van Maanen, J. and de Rond, M. (2017) “The making of a classic ethnography: notes on Alice Goffman’s On the Run.” Academy of Management Review, 42(2): 396-406 (DOI: 10.5465/amr.2016.0373)
de Rond, M. and Lok, J. (2016) “Some things can never be unseen: the role of context in psychological injury at war.” Academy of Management Journal, 59(6): 1965-1993 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2015.0681) (AMJ 2016 Best Published Article, EGOS Best Conference Paper finalist, Research Impact on Practice Award finalist)
Lok, J. and de Rond, M. (2013) “On the plasticity of institutions: containing and restoring practice breakdowns at the Cambridge University Boat Club.” Academy of Management Journal, 56(1): 85-207 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2010.0688) (Paper shortlisted for the OMT Best Published Paper Award, Academy of Management, 2014)
Journal articles
de Rond, M. (2002) “Reviewer 198, the hedgehog, and the fox: next generation theories in strategy.” Journal of Management Inquiry, 11(1): 35-45
de Rond, M. and Bouchikhi, H. (2004) “On the dialectics of strategic alliances.” Organization Science, 15(1): pp.56-69
de Rond, M. and Miller, A.N. (2005) “Publish or perish: bane or boon of academic life?” Journal of Management Inquiry, 14(4): 321-329
Lou, K. and de Rond, M. (2006) “The ‘not invented here’ myth.” Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 5: 451-452
de Rond, M. and Thietart, R.A. (2007) “Choice, chance and inevitability in strategy.” Strategic Management Journal, 28(5): 535-551 (DOI: 10.1002/smj.602)
de Rond, M. and Thietart, R.A. (2007) “Responsabilité stratégique des dirigeants: entre hasard, choix et inévitabilité.” Revue Française de Gestion, 33(172): 63-77
de Rond, M. (2008) “Teams: lessons from the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.” Harvard Business Review, 86(9): 28
Runde, J. and de Rond, M. (2010) “Evaluating causal explanations of specific events.” Organization Studies, 31(4): 431-450
King, A. and de Rond, M. (2011) “Boat Race: rhythm and the possibility of collective performance.” British Journal of Sociology, 62(4): 565-585
Midwinter, M.J., Mercer, S., Lambert, A.W. and de Rond, M. (2011) “Making difficult decisions in major military trauma: a crew resource management perspective.” Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, 157(3, Suppl.1): S299-S304
Sminia, H. and de Rond, M. (2012) “Context and action in the transformation of strategic scholarship.” Journal of Management Studies, 49(7): 1329–1349 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2012.01059.x)
de Rond, M. (2012) “Soldier, surgeon, photographer, fly: fieldwork beyond the comfort zone.” Strategic Organization, 10(3): 256-262 (DOI: 10.1177/1476127012452819)
Lok, J. and de Rond, M. (2013) “On the plasticity of institutions: containing and restoring practice breakdowns at the Cambridge University Boat Club.” Academy of Management Journal, 56(1): 85-207 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2010.0688) (Paper shortlisted for the OMT Best Published Paper Award, Academy of Management, 2014)
de Rond, M. (2014) “The structure of serendipity.” Culture and Organization, 20(5): 342-358 (DOI: 10.1080/14759551.2014.967451)
de Rond, M. (2014) “Why less is more in teams.” Harvard Business Review OnPoint, Spring: 13-14
Liu, C. and de Rond, M. (2016) “Good night, and good luck: perspectives on luck in management scholarship.” The Academy of Management Annals, 10(1): 409-451 (DOI: 10.1080/19416520.2016.1120971)
de Rond, M. and Lok, J. (2016) “Some things can never be unseen: the role of context in psychological injury at war.” Academy of Management Journal, 59(6): 1965-1993 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2015.0681) (AMJ 2016 Best Published Article, EGOS Best Conference Paper finalist, Research Impact on Practice Award finalist)
Hällgren, M., Rouleau, L. and de Rond, M. (2017) “A matter of life or death: how extreme context research matters for management and organization studies.” Academy of Management Annals, 12(1): 111-153 (DOI: 10.5465/annals.2016.0017) (Academy of Management Annals 2018 Best Published Article)
Van Maanen, J. and de Rond, M. (2017) “The making of a classic ethnography: notes on Alice Goffman’s On the Run.” Academy of Management Review, 42(2): 396-406 (DOI: 10.5465/amr.2016.0373)
de Rond, M. and Tunçalp, D. (2017) “Where the wild things are: how dreams can help identify countertransference in organizational research.” Organizational Research Methods, 20(3): 413-437 (DOI: 10.1177/1094428116689706)
de Rond, M., Holeman, I. and Howard-Grenville, J. (2019) “Sensemaking from the body: an enactive ethnography of rowing the Amazon.” Academy of Management Journal, 62(6): 1961-1988 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2017.1417) (2019 OMT Best Published Paper Award)
Rouleau, L., Hällgren, M. and de Rond, M. (2020) “Covid-19 and our understanding of risk, emergencies, and crises.” Journal of Management Studies, 58(1): 243-246 (DOI: 10.1111/joms.12649)
de Rond, M., Lok, J. and Marrison, A. (2022) “To catch a predator: the lived experience of extreme practices.” Academy of Management Journal, 65(3): 870-902 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2020.1492)
de Rond, M. (2023) “Here’s what you don’t get about war: a footnote to Lipstick.” Organization Studies, 44(2): 302-303 (DOI: 10.1177/0170840622113141)
Special issues of journals
Rouleau, L., Musca, G. and de Rond, M. (2014) “Special issue on from the ethnographic turn to new forms of organizational ethnography.” Journal of Organizational Ethnography, 3(1)
Books, monographs, reports & case studies
Faulkner, D.O. and de Rond, M. (eds.) (2000) Cooperative strategy: economic, business and organizational issues. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
de Rond, M. (2003) Strategic alliances as social facts: business, biotechnology, and intellectual history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
de Rond, M., Burdus, S. and Hebblethwaite, S. (2007) “Cobra Beer: biting into new markets.” European Case Clearing House (ECCH).
de Rond, M. (2008) The last amateurs: to hell and back with the Cambridge Boat Race crew. London: Icon Books.
Read Mark’s blog on The Last Amateurs
Watch Mark talk about what makes the perfect crew
Watch “From Nausea to Method in Ethnography”
de Rond, M. and Morley, I. (eds.) (2010) Serendipity: fortune and the prepared mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
de Rond, M. (2012) There is an I in team: what sports coaches and elite artists really know about high performances. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.
de Rond, M. (2013) A supposedly fun thing that I will never do again. London: Blurb.
de Rond, M. (2017) Doctors at war: an ethnographer’s account of life and death in a field hospital. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. (EGOS Best Book Award, 2018; Finalist, George R. Terry Book Award 2018, Honorable Mention, Outstanding Qualitative Book Award, 2018)
- Review of Doctors at War by Randall Collins
- Read an excerpt from the book on The Times website
- Read an interview with Mark in the Times Higher Education Supplement
- Listen to an interview with Mark on BBC Radio 4
- Reviewed by Karl E. Weick in Administrative Science Quarterly
- Reviewed by Barbara Czarniawska in Organization
- Reviewed by Thomas Roulet on the Symbolic Interaction (Journal) Blog
- Reviewed by Jason E. Pelletier in Military Review
- Reviewed by Omar Dewachi in Medical Anthropology Quarterly
- Reviewed by Leo van Bergen in Medicine, Conflict and Survival
- Reviewed by Lorena Nunez Carrasco in Sociology of Health and Illness
Blagden, D. and de Rond, M. (2018) Games. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (DOI: 10.1017/9781108565738)
Book chapters
Claus, L., de Rond, M., Howard-Grenville, J. and Lodge, J. (2019) “When fieldwork hurts: on the lived experience of conducting research in unsettling contexts.” In: Zilber, T.B., Amis, J.M., Mair, J. (eds.) Research in the sociology of organizations: vol.59: the production of managerial knowledge and organizational theory: new approaches to writing, producing and consuming theory. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing, pp.157-172
de Rond, M. and Hallett, T. (2019) “The long walk to Aleppo: institutional myths, inhabited institutions, and ideals in the real world.” In: Reay, T., Zilbert, T.B., Langley, A. and Tsoukas, H. (eds.) Institutions and organizations: a process view. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.134-153
de Rond, M. (2021) “Ethnography and the traffic in pain.” In: Mir, R. and Fayard, A.L. (eds.) Routledge companion to anthropology and business. New York, NY: Routledge
Conference papers
de Rond, M. (2001) “Reviewer 198 and next generation theories in strategy.” In Academy of Management (eds.) How governments matter: Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings (61st), 3-8 August 2001, Washington, D.C., USA. [Published on CD-ROM], pp.RM:A1-A6
de Rond, M. and Miller, A.N. (2003) “The brave new world of business school faculty: publishing, perishing, and the democracy of knowledge.” Democracy in a knowledge economy: Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Research Methods Division, 1-6 August 2003, Hawaii, USA.
de Rond, M. and Thietart, R.A. (2003) “Chance, choice and inevitability in strategy.” Democracy in a knowledge economy: Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Organization and Management Theory Division, 1-6 August 2003, Seattle, WA.
de Rond, M. and Bouchiki, H. (2003) “On the dialectics of strategic alliances.” Democracy in a knowledge economy: Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Organization and Theory Division, 1-6 August 2003, Seattle, WA, USA.
de Rond, M. (2004) “Chance, choice and determinism.” In: Critical Realist Workshop, 3 May 2004, Cambridge.
de Rond, M. and Miller, A.N. (2005) “‘What’s young Dixon’s stuff like?’: the effect of publish-or-perish cultures on faculty.” In: Getting through the research pipeline: Western Academy of Management Annual Conference, 46th, 30 March-2 April 2005, Las Vegas, NV.
de Rond, M. and Thietart, R.A. (2005) “Innovation is seeing what everybody else has seen, but thinking what nobody else has thought.” In: Strategic management: achievements and opportunities: Strategic Management Society Conference, 25th, 23-26 October 2005, Orlando, FL.
de Rond, M. and Thietart, R-A. (2005) “The structure of serendipity.” In: A new vision of management in the 21st century: Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Technology and Innovation Management Division, 5-10 August 2005, Honolulu, HI.
de Rond, M. and Thietart, R-A. (2005) “Chance, choice and inevitability in strategy.” In: A new vision of management in the 21st century: Academy of Management Annual Meeting, OMT Division, 5-10 August 2005, Honolulu, HI.
de Rond, M. and Marjanovic, S. (2005) “The legitimacy of messiness: interdisciplinary research and interorganizational relationships.” In: A new vision of management in the 21st century: Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Research Methods Division, 5-10 August 2005, Honolulu, HI.
Runde, J. and de Rond, M. (2007) “Evaluating causal explanations of samples of one.” In: Organization Studies as Applied Science: The generation and use of academic knowledge about organizations: Organization Studies Summer Workshop, 3rd, 7-9 June 2007, Crete, Greece.
Working papers
de Rond, M. and Thietart, R.-A. (2004) “Chance, choice and determinism in strategy.” Judge Institute of Management, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.2004/5
Book reviews
de Rond, M. (2015) “Michel Anteby: Manufacturing morals: the values of silence in business school education.” Organization Studies, 36(3): 391-393
de Rond, M. (2018) “Why is a raven like a writing desk? Damian O’Doherty: Reconstructing organization: the loungification of society.” Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization (published online)
On fieldwork with teams
Read Mark’s blog on The Last Amateurs
Watch Mark talk about what makes the perfect crew
Watch “From nausea to method in ethnography”
On fieldwork with war surgeons
Watch “Welcome to Bastion: warzone ethnography with the combat surgeons”