Neil Turner

Neil joined Cranfield in 2008 on the Foundation for Management Education''s (FME) Fellowship programme which is designed to attract and assist mid-career business practitioners into a second career as business school academics. He obtained his MEng from the University of Bath and began his engineering career developing avionics systems in 1991. In 1993 he joined Motorola as a design engineer, developing cellular telecoms infrastructure systems. He managed key development projects from 1998, and from 2004-2008 was head of the radio development group, managing internal and external teams to bring new products from concept through to worldwide volume manufacturing. Neil''s products generated well over $1bn in sales for Motorola, and he has numerous technical patents and defensive publications. He is a Fellow at the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Current activities

Neil teaches on the MSc in Programme and Project Management, with a focus on how organisations (don''t) learn to improve their project performance. From 2013-16 he was Course Director of this MSc which runs at the Shrivenham campus. His current research interests are around organisational learning in the context of complex projects and programmes, with a focus on how managerial practices and organisational strategic choices can improve project delivery. He has published in a range of prestigious journals and also supervises doctoral students working in this field.

Articles In Journals

• [Swart J, Turner N, van Rossenberg Y & Kinnie N (2017) Who does what in enabling ambidexterity? Individual actions and HRM practices, International Journal of Human Resource Management, In Press.]
• [Lee-Kelley L & Turner N (2017) PMO managers'' self-determined participation in a purposeful virtual community-of-practice, International Journal of Project Management, 35 (1) 64-77.]
• [Maylor H & Turner N (2017) Understand, reduce, respond: project complexity management theory and practice, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 37 (8) 1076-1093.]
• [Baxter D, Colledge T & Turner N (2017) A study of accountability in two organizational learning frameworks: why accountability for learning is critical, European Management Review, Early online (3).]
• [Turner N, Swart J, Maylor H & Antonacopolou E (2016) Making it happen: how managerial actions enable project-based ambidexterity, Management Learning, 47 (2) 199-222.]
• [Turner N, Kutsch E & Leybourne S (2016) Rethinking project reliability using the ambidexterity and mindfulness perspectives, International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 9 (4) 845-864.]
• Kutsch E & Turner N (2016) Breaking the Rules: How mindfulness, rather than rule based project management, can benefit certain projects, Pm Network (August 26-27).
• Kutsch E & Turner N (2015) Are you taking the right approach to managing projects?, Management Focus, 2015 (38) 10-11.
• [Turner N, Maylor H & Swart J (2015) Ambidexterity in Projects: an Intellectual Capital Perspective, International Journal of Project Management, 33 (1) 177-188.]
• [Maylor H, Turner N & Murray-Webster R (2015) It Worked for Manufacturing...! Operations Strategy in Project-Based Operations, International Journal of Project Management, 33 (1) 103-115.]
• [Pellegrinelli S, Murray-Webster R & Turner N (2015) Facilitating Organizational Ambidexterity through the Complementary Use of Programs and Projects, International Journal of Project Management, 33 (1) 153-164.]
• Turner N & Carver S (2014) So, What''s Your Project Management Strategy?, Project Manager Today (June/July) 36-36.
• Kutsch E & Turner N (2014) Managing the unknown - Modern challenges in IT development and operations, IT Elite 1-3.
• [Dutton C, Turner N & Lee-Kelley L (2014) Learning in a Programme Context: An Exploratory Investigation of Drivers and Constraints, International Journal of Project Management, 32 (5) 747-758.]
• [Turner N, Maylor H, Lee-Kelley L, Brady T, Kutsch E & Carver S (2014) Ambidexterity and Knowledge Strategy in Major Projects: A Framework and Illustrative Case Study, Project Management Journal, 45 (5) 44-55.]
• Lee-Kelley L, Turner N & Ward J (2014) Intentionally Creating a Community of Practice to Connect Dispersed Technical Professionals, Research Technology Management, 57 (2) 44-52.
• [Maylor H, Turner N & Murray-Webster R (2013) How Hard Can It Be? Actively Managing Complexity in Technology Projects, Research-Technology Management, 56 (4) 45-51.]
• [Turner N, Maylor H & Swart J (2013) Ambidexterity in Managing Business Projects - An Intellectual Capital Perspective, International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 6 (2) 379-389.]
• [Turner N, Swart J & Maylor H (2013) Mechanisms for Managing Ambidexterity: A Review and Research Agenda, International Journal of Management Reviews, 15 (3) 317-332.]
• [Turner N & Lee-Kelley L (2012) Masterplanning, Management Focus (32) 16-17.]
• [Turner N & Lee-Kelley L (2012) Unpacking the theory on ambidexterity: An illustrative case on the managerial architectures, mechanisms and dynamics, Management Learning, 44 (2) 179-196.]
• [Geraldi JG, Kutsch E & Turner N (2011) Towards a conceptualisation of quality in information technology projects, International Journal of Project Management, 29 (5) 557-567.]

Conference Papers

• [Swart J, Turner N, Maylor H, Prieto N & Cruz N (2017) The role of knowledge resources in managing project complexity. In: OLKC 2017 :11th Organizational Learning, Knowledge and Capabilities Conference, Valladolid, 26-28 April 2017.]
• Kutsch E, Denyer D & Turner N (2017) A case of dying leadership: Examining the K2 disaster of 2008. In: 77th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, 2017, Atlanta GA, 4-8 August 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.]
• [Maylor H, Geraldi J, Johnson M & Turner N (2017) So, how''s it going? Performance assessment in major projects. In: 77th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, 2017, Atlanta GA, 4-8 August 2017.]
• Turner, N, Kutsch E, Swart & J (2016) Learning to be resilient? Taking the ambidexterity view. In: Organizational Learning, Knowledge and Capabilities conference (OLKC 2016), St. Andrews, Scotland, 26 April 2016.
• Turner N & Kutsch E (2016) Understanding resilience in organizational operations – an ambidexterity perspective. In: 2016 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, 5 August 2016.
• Gallagher P, Kutsch E & Turner N (2015) The diversity of routines: Towards resilient performance in defence projects. In: EGOS - European Group for Organizational Studies 2015, Athens, 2 July 2015.
• Kutsch E & Turner N (2015) The internalization of mindfulness at 28,000 feet: Revisiting the K2 2008 disaster. In: EGOS - European Group for Organizational Studies 2015, Athens, 2 July 2015.
• Turner N, Swart J, van Rossenberg Y & Kinnie N (2014) The practices enabling ambidexterity: Towards a clearer understanding of how managers balance exploitation and exploration. In: British Academy of Management Conference 2014 (BAM2014)*, Belfast, 9-11 September 2014.
• Turner N, Swart J, Maylor H & Antonacopoulou E (2014) Ambidexterity-in-Practice: A multi-case investigation of managerial action at the level of the project. In: SMS Special Conference, Copenhagen - Micro-Foundations for Strategic Management Research: Embracing Individuals, Copenhagen, 13-15 June 2014.
• Turner N & Lee-Kelley L (2014) Formally constituting a non-situated community-of-practice: Systemic components for participation. In: EURAM 2014: 14th European Academy of Management Annual Conference, Valencia, 4 June 2014.
• Turner N, Swart J & Maylor H (2013) Ambidexterity in Action: A Multi-Case Investigation at the Level of the Project. In: Management Learning Conference, Lancaster, 18 March 2013.
• Turner N, Swart J & Maylor H (2013) Intertwined: ambidexterity architectures at the level of the project. In: EURAM 2013: 13th European Academy of Management Annual Conference, Istanbul, 26-29 June 2013.
• Dutton C, Turner N & Lee-Kelley L (2013) Cross-programme learning: an exploratory investigation of drivers and constraints. In: EURAM 2013: 13th European Academy of Management Annual Conference, Istanbul, 26-29 June 2013.
• Turner N, Maylor H & Swart J (2012) Ambidexterity in Action: A Qualitative Investigation of How to Achieve Exploitation and Exploration. In: EURAM 2012 - 12th European Academy of Management Conference, Rotterdam, 6 June 2012.
• Turner N, Maylor H, Swart J & Lee-Kelley L (2012) Managerial Practices Enabling Ambidexterity: A Multi-Case Approach. In: OLKC 2012, Valencia, 25 April 2012.
• Lee-Kelley L, Turner N & Brady T (2012) Adaptive Mastery in Action: 2012 Olympic Games Transport Planning. Reflections of a Knowledgeable Agent. In: OLKC 2012, Valencia, 25 April 2012.
• Turner N, Maylor H & Swart J (2011) Ambidexterity-as-Practice: Understanding the role of the manager in IT-Services Projects. In: OLKC 2011, Hull, 12 April 2011.
• Turner N, Swart J & Maylor H (2011) Managerial Ambidexterity in IT-Services Projects. In: EURAM 2011 - 11th European Academy of Management Annual Conference, Tallinn, 1 June 2011.
• Dickel H, Turner N, Lee-Kelley L & Kutsch E (2011) Going for Gold? Knowledge management and learning at the London 2012 Olympics. In: EURAM 2011 - 11th European Academy of Management Annual Conference, Tallinn, 1 June 2011.
• Lee-Kelley E, Turner N & Trerise G (2010) Learning lessons in public sector programme and project management - a case study of a UK defence organisation. In: EURAM 2010 - 10th European Academy of Management Annual Conference, Rome, 19 May 2010.
• Turner N & Swart J (2010) The role of knowledge assets in ambidextrous project learning. In: EURAM 2010 - 10th European Academy of Management Annual Conference, Rome, 19 May 2010.
• Maylor H, Geraldi J, Johnson M & Turner N (2010) I can''t get no...: moving on from the dominant approaches to managing quality in complex programs.. In: PMI Research and Education Conference, Washington, 5 July 2010.
• Maylor H, Geraldi J, Johnson M & Turner N (2009) Mind the Gap! Temporal disconnects in the provision of complex service offerings. In: EurOMA 2009 Conference, Gothenburg, 14 June 2009.
• 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.
• Aitken J, Turner N & Bozarth C Supply Chain Complexity: Developing A Combinative Capability. In: 24th EurOMA Conference 2017, Edinburgh, 1-5 July 2017.

Books

• Kutsch E & Turner N (2016) The Internalization of Attention at 28,000 Feet: Revisiting the K2 2008 Disaster. In: Managing Project Risks for Competitive Advantage in Changing Business Environments. Bodea CN, Purnus A, Huermann M, and Hajdu M (ed.), IGI Global, p. 196-215.
• Kutsch E, Hall M & Turner N (2015) Project Resilience - The art of noticing, interpreting, preparing, containing and recovering. Farnham: Gower.