Doing better: Towards more effective and humane scholarship
Professor Hans Frankort reflected on his career, and the path towards more effective and humane scholarship, in his inaugural lecture
Hans Frankort, Professor of Strategy at Bayes Business School, held his inaugural lecture on 11th October 2023. Titled ‘Doing Better: Towards More Effective and Humane Scholarship’, Professor Frankort embarked on a brief reflective journey, before contemplating the path forward to shape a more effective and humane scholarly profession.
Introducing the lecture, Professor André Spicer spoke about how he was struck by Professor Frankort’s generosity, and his deep commitment to scholarly values as well as his strong humanity, when meeting him for the first time.
“While preparing for this talk tonight, I realised that Hans is an embodiment of the scholarly and intellectual values which we hold dear,” added Professor Spicer.
A celebratory roast
Having joined Bayes in 2009, Professor Frankort has received multiple awards for his research, teaching and service, including the Robert J. Litschert Award. He is the Research Champion of the Faculty of Management and serves on the Editorial Boards of the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Management Studies, and the Strategic Management Journal.
His research focuses on the antecedents and consequences of interpersonal and interorganisational relationships, and the drivers and effects of employee effort. It has been published in the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Management, and the Strategic Management Journal, to name but a few.
“This will without a doubt be my most important moment purely from a career perspective, but the professorship is also a position of great responsibility, and today I will focus more on that responsibility and less on the accomplishment,” said Professor Frankort. “So this inaugural is going to be a bit unusual…I will take the opportunity to share with you some frank views about my work and our profession. As one of my executive PhD students remarked: so it's going to be a roast. Exactly, a celebratory roast!”
He then went on to speak about what he might have done better, and he briefly outlined the focus of his work in the years to come, mentioning how he plans to work more on projects that bridge his two research streams to understand how a firm’s strategic interests and positioning have implications for the effort, choices and careers of people associated with that firm.
Quality first, no games
Professor Frankort then discussed the importance of doing “what is right, not what is easy” within academia, and he also highlighted the importance of being credible, humble and having fun while producing quality research.
Dissecting the various quirks of the scholarly experience, he focused on several aspects including ownership and credit, as well as the role of status and reputation within a field.
“Let's choose not to make status too much our master. Let's choose not to make games our vehicle. Let's choose to do the best work we can, even if it's not always good enough. Let's earn status, but only as a by-product of the quality of our work. Credit where credit is actually due,” he said.
Professor Santi Furnari, despite being on sabbatical at Stanford, also delivered a few remarks remotely, talking about their great friendship and praising Professor Frankort for his listening skills, generosity and intellectual curiosity.
“Hans is a true role model as an educator, scholar and human being, so please join me tonight in celebrating and congratulating Professor Hans Frankort,” he said.