Debjyoti Chakravorty

About

Overview

Debjyoti Chakravorty is a 3rd year PhD candidate in Management (Organizational Behaviour) at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), City, University of London. Prior to starting his PhD, Debjyoti obtained a Research Master’s degree in Business and Management (Strategy) from Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University Rotterdam, where he also worked as a Research Assistant for over a year.

Debjyoti’s research interests lie in labour rights, employment relations, sustainability, corporate social (ir)responsibility, and business ethics. Theory-wise, he is studying power/authority, identity and identification, and sensemaking. The context of Debjyoti’s research is set in the tea industry of Darjeeling, India, home to the world-famous Darjeeling Tea – also known as the ‘Champagne of Teas’. For his PhD, jointly supervised by Dr. Joelle Evans and Dr. Itziar Castello-Molina, Debjyoti is researching the work and harsh working and living conditions of tea plantation workers in the hills of Darjeeling in West Bengal who are being exploited by tea manufacturing companies over the past several decades. Adopting the theoretical lenses of power and identity, Debjyoti is studying how tea companies are exercising power/authority on their workers by depriving them of minimum wages, various monetary benefits, basic amenities required for work, proper housing and medical facilities, tea estate/land rights; and how such exercise of power/authority is impacting tea workers’ occupational identities and identification processes. In terms of research methodology, he is using an in-depth ethnographic approach involving audio-recorded semi-structured interviews, direct observations of tea workers during work shifts, and analysis of archival materials. Debjyoti’s PhD research is fully funded by a 4-year fellowship from Bayes Business School.

Additionally, Debjyoti has a keen interest in the management of knowledge-intensive professional service firms (PSFs), professional work, and professionals working within such firms. He is particularly interested in researching PSFs’ offshoring operations – i.e. nature of work conducted within offshore and onshore centres, experiences of professionals working within them, and how dynamics of knowledge exchange, power, and identity play out in frequent dyadic interactions between the two groups of professionals for the delivery of client services. Furthermore, Debjyoti is intrigued by Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) strategy and is interested in investigating how senior executives can learn to better manage the M&A process strategically from prior acquisitions (i.e. experiential learning). In this context, he is particularly interested in exploring the role of dedicated M&A functions/departments within firms in improving subsequent acquisition performances through deliberate organizational learning. Debjyoti’s Research Master thesis at RSM (awarded ‘Cum Laude’) explored how the effective organization of an in-house M&A function can foster positive learning transfers (or best practices) to key M&A phases minimizing the chances of misapplication of prior acquisition routines from past M&A experience, thereby improving focal M&A performance.

Beyond his research, Debjyoti holds a Master’s degree in Banking & Finance (Distinction) from Queen Mary, University of London and a Bachelor’s of Commerce Honours degree in Accounting & Finance from St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata, India. He also has ~2.5 years of professional work experience in Strategy & Operations Consulting and M&A Deal Advisory with Deloitte India and PwC Service Delivery Centre respectively.

Qualifications

• Research Master Business & Management (Strategy), Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands, Sep 2018 – Sep 2020
• M.Sc Banking & Finance, School of Economics and Finance, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom, Sep 2013 – Dec 2014
• B.Com Honours Accounting & Finance, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata, India, Jul 2009 – Dec 2012

Employment

• PhD Candidate in Management (Organizational Behaviour), Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), City University London, Sep 2020 – Aug 2024
• Research Assistant, Department of Strategic Management & Entrepreneurship, Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Sep 2019 – Sep 2020
• Analyst, Finance Transformation (Strategy & Operations Consulting), Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP, Sep 2015 – Sep 2017
• Associate, Deals & Consulting - M&A, Transaction Services (Advisory), PwC Service Delivery Center (Kolkata), India, May – Aug 2015

Memberships of professional organisations

• Bayes Business School (formerly Cass) ETHOS: The Centre for Responsible Enterprise, Nov 2022 – present
• Researcher, Bayes Business School (formerly Cass) Centre for Professional Service Firms, Sep 2020 – present

Awards

• The Business School (formerly Cass), City University of London (2020) Doctoral Fellowship, PhD in Management
  4-year Doctoral Fellowship comprising full tuition fees and maintenance grants
• Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University Rotterdam (2018) Full Doctoral Scholarship, Research Master in Business & Management (Value €45,500)
  Tuition fee waivers for academic years 2018-19 & 2019-20, and Doctoral Scholarship of €10,000 towards living expenses

Languages

Bengali (can read, write, speak and understand spoken), Dutch; Flemish (can read, speak and understand spoken), English (can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review) and Hindi (can read, write, speak and understand spoken).

Expertise

Primary topics

• Knowledge Management
• Change Management
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Knowledge & Learning
• Industrial Relations/Labour Studies
• Organizational Behaviour
• Organizational Culture
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Management Consulting
• Business Ethics

Industries

• accountancy firms
• financial services
• manufacturing
• professional services

Geographic Areas

• Asia - Southeast
• Europe - Western

Research

Research topics