Contact Professor Colin Pilbeam

Background

Dr Colin Pilbeam is a multi-disciplinary research scientist with extensive experience of managing collaborative research projects internationally. He has a passion for doctoral education and gained Senior Fellowship of Higher Education Academy in 2019.

Colin Pilbeam received his MA in Agriculture and Forest Sciences from Oxford and his PhD in Agricultural Botany from the University of Reading. An MBA from the University of Reading preceded a prize-winning DBA in Higher Education Management from the University of Bath.

Colin Pilbeam joined Cranfield University School of Management in 2000 as Manager of Research Programmes, and was appointed as Senior Research Fellow in 2005. He was promoted to Principal Research Fellow in 2013, to Reader in Safety Leadership in 2018 and then to Professor of Organizational Safety in 2021. Between 2005 and 2011 he was Director of the PhD programme in School of Management recognised as ‘world-leading’ by an independent panel review in 2008.

He served on the executive council of the British Academy of Management as co-Vice Chair for Special Interest Groups in 2018-19.   

Research opportunities

Dr Colin Pilbeam is keen to recruit doctoral students, especially those with experience of organizational safety. While open to your suggestions for research projects, he is particularly interested in investigating:

  • the effects of macro-factors (including national cultures) on organizational safety culture
  • the tension between safety and productivity and how this is managed
  • the contribution of training to safe working
  • the role of leadership in delivering safety performance
  • the ways organizations can learn from accident and incident reports, and why they fail

Current activities

Dr Colin Pilbeam is Professor of Organizational Safety, based in the Cranfield Safety and Accident Investigation Centre. He is also an Adjunct Professor in School of Aviation and Transportation Technology, Purdue University, USA.  

His research focuses in how organizational structures, processes and practices influence safe working and organizational safety performance. Recent projects funded by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) have investigated safety leadership in service organisations and the management of safety in outsourced relationships. The Lloyds Register Foundation has funded work on the influence of context on the design of safety interventions. Together with industry sponsored projects on safety leadership and safety culture with Network Rail, Laing O'Rourke and Highlands and Islands Airports Limited. These form part of a career portfolio of managed research projects valued at more than £3.5m.

His current doctoral research students contribute to our understanding of organizational safety. Their projects investigate:

·       Effects of national culture on organizational safety climate

·       Effects of hierarchy and time on perceptions of organizational safety climate

·       Decoupling of safety practices from written procedures

·       Establishing and maintaining resilience in organizational systems

·       Using semiotics to interpret the representations of safety created by conventional safety tools

He is working with the University Côte d'Azur to develop safety leadership training in the nuclear industry funded by the EU.

Colin Pilbeam is a module leader on four MSc courses:

MSc in Through Life System Sustainment (Leadership and Change Management module)

MSc in Operations Excellence (Leading Change in Operations module)

MSc in Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Engineering (Ethics, Safety and Regulation module)

MSc in Aviation Safety Management Risk and Reliability (Responding to Risk in Sociotechnical systems)

He is also a module leader for ‘Critical Thinking Skills’ on the Doctor of Business Administration degree programme in the School of Management. He regularly runs masterclasses on ‘Working with Literature’ at Cranfield, at other UK universities and at the annual British Academy of Management doctoral symposium. 

Clients

Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), Lloyds Register Foundation, Siemens, GSK, Costain, Kuehne+Nagel, Waitrose, Argos, Network Rail, Laing O'Rourke.

Publications

Articles In Journals

Conference Papers

  • Habib F, Pilbeam C, Mena C & Bastl M (2017) Exit strategies for BREXIT. In: POMS 2017 28th Annual Conference, Seattle, 5-8 May 2017.
  • Habib F, Mena C, Pilbeam C & Bastl M (2017) Buyer-supplier relationship termination - a social exchange theory perspective. In: 24th EurOMA Conference 2017, Edinburgh, 1-5 July 2017.
  • Pilbeam C & Parry E (2017) Identifying and managing the unintended identity challenge for part-time doctoral students. In: 3rd International Conference on Developments in Doctoral Education and Training, Stratford-upon-Avon, 3-4 April 2017.
  • Bond A, Pilbeam C & Turner N (2017) Conducting a practice-based study in a novel context: methodological challenges. In: British Academy of Management (BAM) Conference 2017, Warwick, 5-7 September 2017.
  • Chambers M & Pilbeam C (2016) Empirical Investigation of Luo’s (2005) integrated model of inter-unit coopetition within a Professional Service Firm. In: British Academy of Management 2016, Newcastle University, 6 September 2016.
  • Habib F, Pilbeam C, Mena C & Bastl M (2016) Exit management in buyer-supplier relationships: a transaction cost economics perspective. In: 23rd EurOMA Conference, 2016, Trondheim, 19-22 June 2016.
  • Akram M & Pilbeam C (2016) Developing a comprehensive risk typology for NPD projects. In: 23rd Innovation and Product Development Management Conference, 2016, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, 12-14 June 2016.
  • Hemel S, Smart P, Pilbeam C & MacDonald E (2016) Institutional pluralism and the search for sustainability-oriented innovations. In: 2016 R&D Management Conference, Cambridge, 3-6 July 2016.
  • Habib F, Pilbeam C, Mena C & Bastl M (2016) The art of disengagement: Exit strategies in manufacturing and service sector. In: 27th Annual Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society, Orlando, FL, 6-9 May 2016.
  • Murphy J, Denyer D, Pilbeam C & Pettigrew A (2015) Leadership and Change in Extreme Contexts. Symposium.. In: British Academy of Management, University of Portsmouth, 8 September 2015.
  • Pilbeam C, Doherty N & Denyer D (2015) Achieving safety compliance through safety leadership. In: WOSNET 8th International Conference, Porto, 23 September 2015.
  • Akram M & Pilbeam C (2015) Critical success factors for effective risk management in new product development. In: 6th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Systems Management (IESM), Seville, 21 October 2015.
  • Davidson R, Pilbeam CJ, Doherty N & Denyer D (2014) Capturing safety awareness through diaries. In: British Academy of Management Annual Conference, 2014, Belfast, N. Ireland, 9-11 September 2014.
  • Habib F, Pilbeam CJ, Mena C & Bastl M (2014) How to leave your partner? - Exit strategies in buyer-supplier relationships. In: British Academy of Management Conference 2014 BAM2014*, Belfast, 9-11 September 2014.
  • Marynissen H, Ladkin D, Denyer D & Pilbeam C (2014) A constitutive view on risk communication in organisations managing high-risk processes: Towards a conceptual framework. In: 23rd SRA-E Conference, Istanbul, 16-18 June 2014.
  • Pilbeam CJ, Davidson R, Denyer D & Doherty N (2014) Networks of influence: safety leadership in service organisations. In: XX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, 2014, Frankfurt, 24-27 August 2014.
  • Pilbeam, CJ, Denyer, D, Doherty N & Davidson R (2014) Defining low-hazard environments for common safety: common sense isn't it?.
  • Davidson R, Pilbeam CJ, Doherty N & Denyer D (2014) Journey to a distributed safety leadership paradigm: An exploratory study. In: XX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, 2014, Frankfurt, 24-27 August 2014.
  • Hemel S, Smart P, MacDonald E & Pilbeam CJ (2014) Searching for sustainability-led innovation: reconciling the unintended consequences of conflicting organizational logics. In: 6th International Conference on Sustainability and Responsibility , Berlin, 8-9 October 2014.
  • Alvarez G, Wilson HN, Pilbeam CJ & Wilding R (2014) The evolution of sustainability network structure and governance (Prize for best paper in conference overall). In: 22nd International Colloquium in Relationship Marketing - “Sustainable relationships: myth or reality?", Newcastle, 8-10 September 2014.
  • Chambers MC & Pilbeam C (2013) Context, interventions, mechanisms and outcomes of collaboration and competition between organisational units in multi-business organisations - a review of the literature. In: British Academy of Management Annual Conference, 2013, Liverpool, 10-12 September 2013.
  • Lupson J, Beattie K & Pilbeam C (2013) Implementing beneficiary accountability: challenges in the field. In: BAM 2013: British Academy of Management annual conference, Liverpool, 10 September 2013.
  • Habib F, Bastl M & Pilbeam C (2013) Strategic responses to power dominance in buyer-supplier relationships: a weaker actor's perspective. In: British Academy of Management Annual Conference, 2013, Liverpool, 10-12 September 2013.
  • Marynissen H, Ladkin D, Denyer D & Pilbeam C (2013) The constitutive role of communication for coordinated safety behaviour in an organization managing high-hazardous processes. In: Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) Annual Meeting, Baltimore, 8 December 2013.
  • Habib F & Bastl M Pilbeam C (2013) Strategic responses to power dominance in buyer-supplier relationships: a weak actor's perspective. In: 20th EurOMA Conference, Dublin, 7-12 June 2013.
  • Pilbeam C & Stokes C (2012) Are you talking to me? Characterizing the ties of a change agent in a UK hospital. In: 4th Management & Social Networks Conference, Geneva, 16-17 February 2012.
  • Pilbeam C & Beattie K (2012) Accountability in multi-stakeholder processes. In: Multi-Organizational Partnerships, Alliances and Networks (MOPAN), Wageningen, 2 July 2012.
  • Pilbeam C & Denyer D (2012) Becoming an Expert Management Researcher: a Community of Practice Perspective on Doctoral Study. In: 2012 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, 3 August 2012.
  • Pilbeam C (2011) Social Networks for Innovation in Manufacturing SMEs in the UK. In: Decision Sciences Institute Conference, Boston, 20 November 2011.
  • Moore C & Pilbeam C (2011) Are you talking to me? A social network analysis of a change agent's interactions. In: British Academy of Management Annual Conference 2011, Birmingham, 13-15 September 2011.
  • Abray-Nyman J, Pilbeam & C (2011) Peer to peer influence networks on philanthropic exchange in Canadian higher education. In: Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Toronto, 17 November 2011.
  • Richey C & Pilbeam C (2010) Evolution and governance of an inter-organizational network: a case study of an humanitarian aid programme in Liberia. In: British Academy of Management Annual Conference 2010, University of Sheffield, 14 September 2010.
  • Pilbeam C & Buchanan D (2010) A very unpleasant disease: the rapid reform and maintenance of infection control. In: Seventh Biennial International Conference in Organizational Behaviour in Healthcare, Birmingham.
  • Abray-Nyman J & Pilbeam C (2010) Philanthropy: a reciprocal ecosystem of co-created value. In: 39th Annual Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) Conference , Alexandria, VA, 18 November 2010.
  • Alvarez G, Wilson HN, Pilbeam CJ & Wilding R (2010) How networks evolve: a dynamic multiple-network perspective in a sustainability context. In: Multi-Organizational Partnerships, Alliances and Networks (MOPAN), University of Keele, 28-30 June 2010.
  • Pilbeam C (2009) Impact of organizational context on networking behaviours of senior managers: a study of Pro-Vice Chancellors in UK Universities. In: 16th Annual Conference on Multi-Organizational Partnerships, Alliances and Networks (MOPAN), Maynooth.
  • Pilbeam C & Abray-Nyman J (2009) Innovative philanthropy: the role of reciprocity in co-creating value for elite gift-giving in postsecondary education. In: ARNOVAs 38th Annual Conference (Association for Research on Nonprofit Organization and Voluntary Action), Cleveland, OH.
  • Pilbeam C (2009) Improving inter-organizational working to deliver Millenium Development Goals. In: British Academy of Management Annual Conference, Brighton.
  • Pilbeam C & Lloyd-Jones G (2009) How do I know how I'm doing?: the development and use of doctoral student networks. In: SRHE Annual Conference 2009, Newport.
  • Pilbeam C & Jamieson I (2007) Connecting organizations through their leaders: exploring the inforaml networks of university Pro-Vice Chancellors in the UK. In: Conference proceedings 2007 : British Academy of Management : management research, education and business success : is the future as clear as the past?, Warwick, 11-13 September 2007.
  • Pilbeam C & Denyer D (2007) Independent learner or community member ? The role of doctoral student networks in doctoral education. In: Oxford Higher Education Seminar 2007, Oxford.
  • Pilbeam C & Jamieson I (2007) Shaping universities: resource dependency and the strategic networks developed by Pro-Vice Chancellors for Research and Teaching. In: SRHE Annual Conference 2007, Brighton.
  • Plibeam C & Denyer D (2007) Organizational networks: using systematic review to develop a research agenda. In: Conference proceedings 2007 : British Academy of Management : management research, education and business success : is the future as clear as the past?, Warwick, 11-13 September 2007.
  • Pilbeam C (2006) Creating wealth of division ? Generating third stream income and its managerial consequences.. In: SRHE Annual Conference 2006, Brighton.
  • Pilbeam C & Denyer D (2006) Doctoral networks as learning communities: A social network approach. In: British Academy of Management Conference, Belfast.
  • Pilbeam C & Tranfield D (2006) Working collaboratively in basic research: setting a research management agenda. In: R & D Management Conference, Windermere.
  • Pilbeam CJ (1999) Using 15N tracers to estimate N dynamics. In: Enhanced Farmer Livelihoods in the Hills of Nepal through Improved Soil Fertility, Kathmandu, 25 July 1999.
  • Pilbeam CJ, Gregory PJ, Tripathi BP & Munankarmy RC (1999) Nitrogen fluxes through sustainable farming systems in the mid-hills of Nepal. In: Sustainable Management of Soil Organic Matter, Edinburgh, 15 September 1999.
  • Pilbeam CJ, Tripathi BP, Munankarmy RC & Gregory PJ (1999) Productivity and economic benefits of integrated nutrient management in three major cropping systems in the mid-hills of Nepal. In: Conference on poverty, rural livelihoods and land husbandry in hillside environments, Silsoe, 6-8 January 1999.
  • Pilbeam CJ, Sherchan DP & Gregory PJ (1998) Quantifying the yield benefit of integrated nutrient management from long-term wheat-rice and maize/millet rotations in the hills of Nepal. In: First National Workshop on Long-term Soil Fertility Experiments in Nepal, Lalitpur, 11 August 1998.
  • Tripathi BP, Acharya GP, Gregory PJ & Pilbeam C (1998) Effect of organic and inorganic fertilizers on different cropping systems in western hills of Nepal. In: International Congress of Agronomy, Environment and Food Security for the 21st Century, New Delhi, 23 November 1998.
  • Sherchan DP, Tripathi BP, Pilbeam CJ, Acharya GP, Gregory PJ & Jha AK (1998) Integrated nutrient management for sustainable crop production in the mid-hills of Nepal. In: First International Agronomy Congress, New Delhi, 22 November 1998.
  • Pilbeam CJ (1997) The recovery of N fertilizer by cereal crops in different geographical locations.. In: 11th International World Fertilizer Congress, Ghent, 7 September 1997.
  • Wood M, Pilbeam CJ, McNeill A & Harris H (1997) Nitrogen cycling in a dryland cereal-legume rotation system. In: Soil Fertility Meeting, Tel Hadya, 19 November 1995.
  • Pilbeam C, McNeill A, Court D, Harris H & Swift R (1996) Efficiency of fertilizer use by a rain-fed wheat crop following split-application of fertilizer nitrogen. In: 8th Nitrogen Workshop, Ghent, 5 September 1994.
  • Pilbeam CJ & Wood M (1996) Nitrogen fixation by Lentil and Chickpea in West Asia: Quantification and regulation by environmental factors. In: Eleventh Australian Nitrogen Fixation Conference, Perth, 22 September 1996.
  • Simmonds LP, Daamen CC & Pilbeam CJ (1996) Factors influencing crop water use efficiency. In: 4th Congress of the European Society for Agronomy, Wageningen, 7 July 1996.
  • Pilbeam CJ, Wood M & Ryan J (1996) Immobilization and mineralization of N fertilizer applied to wheat.. In: 4th Congress of the European Society for Agronomy, Wageningen, 7 July 1996.
  • Pilbeam C (1995) Nitrogen and water use in dryland cropping systems. In: Plant Sciences Research Programme Conference on Semi-Arid Systems, Manchester, 5 September 1995.
  • Pilbeam CJ (1995) Fertilization of Crops or Soils?: Studies with 15N. In: British Soil Science Society Meeting, University of Reading, 11 September 1995.
  • Wood M, McNeill A, Pilbeam C, Swift R, Harris H & Mugane P (1994) Nitrogen use in two dryland farming systems. In: The Efficient Use of Fertilizers in a Changing Environment: Reconciling Productivity and Sustainability. 7th Annual FLRC Workshop, Palmerston North, 1 February 1994.
  • Pilbeam CJ & Warren GP (1994) Studies with 15N on fertilizer N recovery and N mineralization in semi-arid Kenya. In: International Symposium on Nitrogen Economy in Tropical Soil, Port-of-Spain, 9 January 1994.
  • Wood M, McNeill AM, Pilbeam CJ, Swift RS, Harris HC & Mugane PG (1994) Sustainability of nitrogen use in two dryland farming systems. In: 8th Nitrogen Workshop, Ghent, 5 September 1994.
  • Pilbeam CJ & Wood M (1993) Importance of biological nitrogen fixation to the soil nitrogen budget in semi-arid Kenya. In: Nitrogen Metabolism in Plants and Soil. 4th AFRC meeting, Cranfield Institute, Silsoe Campus, 15 December 1993.
  • Pilbeam CJ, Mugane PG, Wood M & Kavilu AW (1992) Constraints to nodulation of Phaseolus vulgaris L. in semi-arid Kenya. In: Proper Soil Management - a key to food security in our nations Proc. Soil Sci. Soc. E. Africa meeting, Nakuru, 30 November 1992.
  • CJ Pilbeam, PD Hebblethwaite & P Thompson (1987) Population studies on novel forms of faba bean. In: Changing Priorities in Crop Production and Food Processing, University of Reading, 1 September 1987.
  • Bond A, Pilbeam C & Turner N What is temporary about temporary organizations? Towards an empirically useful definition. In: British Academy of Management 2016, Newcastle University, 6-8 September 2016.

Books

  • Pilbeam CJ & Karanikas N (2022) Designing safety interventions for specific contexts. London: Lloyd’s Register Foundation.
  • Pilbeam C (2020) Managing safety in outsourced relationships: research summary. Wigston: IOSH.
  • Pilbeam C (2020) Managing safety in outsourced relationships: full report. Wigston: IOSH.
  • Pilbeam C, Doherty N & Denyer D (2016) Safety Leadership: Fashion, Function, Future. In: Health and Safety in a Changing World. R. Dingwall, S. Frost (ed.), Routledge, p. 115-137.
  • Denyer D, Pilbeam C (eds), (2015) Managing change in extreme contexts, UK: Routledge.
  • Pilbeam C & Denyer D (2015) Approaches to post-crisis change. In: Managing Change in Extreme Contexts. Denyer, D. and Pilbeam CJ (ed.), Routledge, p. 279-295.
  • Pilbeam C & Buchanan DA. (2015) No slippage: sustaining control of healthcare acquired infections. In: Managing change in extreme contexts, London: Routledge Business, p. 175-197.
  • Pilbeam C & Buchanan DA (2011) A very unpleasant disease: successful post-crisis management in a hospital setting. In: The Reform of Health Care: Shaping, Adapting and Resisting Policy Developments. Dickinson H, Mannion, R (ed.), Palgrave.
  • Pilbeam C (2009) Institutional structures: where legitimacy and efficiency meet. In: The Routledge International Handbook of Higher Education. Tight M, Mok KH, Huisman J, Morphew C (ed.), New York: Routledge, p. 343-356.
  • Heath MC, Pilbeam CJ, McKenzie BA & Hebblethwaite PD (1994) Plant architecture, competitive ability and crop productivity in food legumes with particular emphasis on pea (Pisum sativum) and faba bean (Vicia faba).. In: Expanding the Production and Use of Cool Season Food Legumes. Muehlbauer FJ, Kaiser WJ (ed.), Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
  • Kraus E, Wilson D, Robson MJ & Pilbeam CJ (1989) Respiration: correlation with growth rate and its quantitative significance for the net assimilation rate and biomass production. In: Causes and consequences of variation in growth rate and productivity of higher plants. Lambers H, Cambridge ML, Konings H, Pons TL (ed.), The Hague: SPB Academic Publishing, p. 187-198.