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Owen Darbishire

Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour

Saïd Business School
University of Oxford
Park End Street
Oxford
OX1 1HP

Profile

Owen Darbishire is Rhodes Trust Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour at Saïd Business School and Fellow of Pembroke College, University of Oxford.

Owen has been a tenured member of faculty for almost 30 years where he has an international reputation in the field of negotiations and collective bargaining. He is a highly experienced executive education teacher, renowned for his expertise and insights in negotiations, decision making, and influence and persuasion, for which he is greatly in demand.   

Owen is the Academic Director of the Oxford Programme on Negotiation and also runs the most popular MBA elective in Negotiations.  As well as working extensively in this area, Owen has served as the director of Oxford’s most popular undergraduate degree, Economics and Management, is a past director of the Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme, as well as having served as Chair of Faculty at the Saïd Business School and as vice-master of Pembroke College.  

Owen is highly sought after for an extensive array of executive programmes and by corporate clients. The long list of over 100 international organisations he has worked with come from many sectors and include: BMW, ThyssenKrupp, ABN AMRO, Equinor, Apple, Commerzbank, Atkins, Ikea, China Construction Bank, Financial Conduct Authority, Ahold, Rolls Royce, BT, State Farm, Eni, J&J, Petrofac, Novartis, UN WFP, Qatar Foundation and the International Red Cross.

Owen’s research in negotiations includes his internationally renowned work on how different national systems of collective bargaining impact negotiated outcomes, especially regarding the extent to which variations in employment systems have resulted. He has also has a particular interest in international negotiations and has recently written on the Brexit negotiations.

Owen read PPE as an Exhibitioner at Balliol College, Oxford and has a PhD in Collective Bargaining from the ILR School, Cornell University. 

Expertise

  • Organisational behaviour
  • Employment relations
  • Decision making
  • Negotiation
  • Comparative management

Research

Owen’s research and writing focuses on how labour markets, employment patterns and work are changing internationally.

His current focus is on the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Ireland. As a researcher Owen has worked at a number of highly-respected institutions in the United States, Britain and Germany.

Comparative labour and employment relations

In examining how corporations respond to such pressures as new technology, increased competition and the deregulation of markets, Owen’s research explores the influence of national systems of corporate governance and industrial relations. The research also focuses on patterns of change in labour and employment law and how varieties of capitalism impact on the success of firms in different sectors over a 30-year time span. This research adopts a comparative historical perspective to the political economy of labour markets. A particular focus has been his international research in the telecommunications and automotive industries.

Publications

Preparing for Brexit: Substance, politics and readiness in an international re-negotiation

  • Journal article
  • International Negotiation
  • Owen Darbishire
Organisation Studies

Convergence in Industrial Relations Institutions: The Emerging Anglo-American Model?

  • Journal article
  • ILR Review
  • Alexander JS Colvin,
  • Owen Darbishire
Organisation Studies

International employment relations: The impact of varieties of capitalism

  • Chapter
  • Handbook of Research in International Human Resource Management, Second Edition
  • A Colvin,
  • O Darbishire
Organisation Studies

Work and skills in the telecommunications industry

  • Chapter
  • Emerging Digital Spaces in Contemporary Society: Properties of Technology
  • O Darbishire
Organisation Studies

Convergence of Labor Law in the Anglo-American Countries

  • Chapter
  • Labor and Employment Relations Association Series: Proceedings of the 60th Annual Meeting
  • A Colvin,
  • O Darbishire
Organisation Studies
See more publications

Engagement

Owen’s work has an impact on individuals, their organisations and the wider business community through his undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

His work with an extensive number of individual organisations via customised executive education programmes also has an immediate effect on those organisations’ specific development, decision-making and strategy.

In his field of research expertise, Owen is a member of the Editorial Board for the Industrial and Labor Relations Review. Within the University of Oxford, he has always contributed widely to the life and organisation of the University at the college, department and extra-curricular level. His current posts include membership of the Governing Body of Pembroke College, Elected Member of the Saïd Business School Board, the Committee of the Oxford University Rugby Football Club, and Senior Member of the Oxford University Amateur Boxing Club. Outside university life, Owen also plays an active, voluntary part in a number of schools and trusts and is a Trustee of the Horlock Educational Trust, Governor of Abingdon School, Oxfordshire and, until recently, governor of Benenden School, Kent.

Teaching

Owen’s teaching spans every level of education offered by Saïd Business School, from undergraduates to senior leaders.

His engaging teaching style makes a lasting impact, both in the lecture theatre with large cohorts of students as well as in a small group environment, working with senior executives from individual organisations such as BMW or Innocent drinks. His teaching expertise focuses on individual, group and organisational decision-making, organisational behaviour, and negotiation. Owen is Director of the Oxford Transition to Leadership Programme, a modular general management programme for mid-career managers and professionals.

Degrees:

  • BA Economics and Management – employment relations; organisational behaviour; strategic management
  • MBA – core organisational behaviour course; negotiations elective
  • Executive MBA – core organisational behaviour course; negotiations elective

Executive Education teaching:

  • Director, Oxford Transition to Leadership Programme
  • Oxford Diploma in Organisational Leadership
  • Oxford High Performance Leadership
  • Oxford Programme on Negotiation

Custom programmes for a wide range of clients.