Professor Donald MacLean

  • Professorial Research Fellow (Management)

telephone: 01413304649
email: Donald.MacLean@glasgow.ac.uk

R305C Level 3, Management, Main Building, Glasgow G12 8QQ

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720

Biography

Professor Donald MacLean combines academic work on strategy with on-going commercial, public and third-sector consultancy engagements and directorships. He received a BSc in Physics from the University of Strathclyde, a PhD in optoelectronics from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from Kingston University. He spent ten years working in the global optoelectronics industry before joining the University of Glasgow in 1993 where he is now a professorial research fellow in the Adam Smith Business School. He has published extensively on strategy, transformation, creativity, health and complexity theory in a range of international journals including the Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Organization, The Journal of Management Studies, Organization Studies and Human Relations. 

Research interests

Donald is a member of the Strategy and Technology Management research cluster.

Areas of expertise:

  • Strategy, complexity and emergence
  • Strategy processes and practices - beyond planning and implementation; alternative perspectives
  • Strategy, organisation and leadership
  • Paradox, poetics and people in strategy
  • Strategy and organisation in SMEs and creative industries
  • Rural business; business in the Highlands and Islands

 

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2024 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2002 | 2001 | 1999
Number of items: 34.

2024

Ates, Aylin, Acur, Nuran ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9655-0343 and MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2024) How Linn Products Ltd. has achieved organizational fitness in the digital age. Research-Technology Management, 67(4), pp. 23-35. (doi: 10.1080/08956308.2024.2351333)

2017

MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and MacIntosh, Robert (2017) The strategy cycle: planning, paradox and poetry in the practice of strategists. In: Siebert, Sabina (ed.) Management Research: European Perspectives. Series: Routledge studies in international business and world economy (73). Routledge: London, pp. 103-120. ISBN 9781138721463

MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2017) Dynamic capabilities, creative action and poetics. Revista de Administração de Empresas, 57(3), pp. 264-272. (doi: 10.1590/s0034-759020170307)

2016

MacIntosh, Robert, Bartunek, Jean M., Bhatt, Mamta and MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2016) I never promised you a rose garden: when research questions ought to change. In: Noumair, Debra A. and Shani, Abraham B. (Rami) (eds.) Research in Organizational Change and Development. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 47-82. ISBN 9781786353603 (doi: 10.1108/S0897-301620160000024003)

2015

MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720, MacIntosh, Robert and Seidl, David (2015) Rethinking dynamic capabilities from a creative action perspective. Strategic Organization, 13(4), pp. 340-352. (doi: 10.1177/1476127015593274)

MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and MacIntosh, Robert (2015) Planning reconsidered: paradox, poetry and people at the edge of strategy. European Management Journal, 33(2), pp. 72-78. (doi: 10.1016/j.emj.2015.02.003)

MacIntosh, Robert and MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2015) Complexity theory. In: Beech, Nic and Gilmore, Charlotte (eds.) Organising Music: Theory, Practice, Performance. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, United Kingdom, pp. 152-161. ISBN 9781107040953

2014

MacIntosh, Robert and MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2014) Strategic management: Strategists at Work. Palgrave Macmillan: London. ISBN 9781137035448

2012

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and MacIntosh, R. (2012) Strategic change as creative action. International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 4(1), pp. 80-97. (doi: 10.1504/IJSCM.2012.045827)

Houchin, K. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2012) Complexity and strategy: an empirically informed critique. In: Johannessen, S.O. and Kuhn, L. (eds.) Complexity in Organization Studies. Sage: London, UK, pp. 79-106. ISBN 9781446207260

MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2012) Conditioned emergence: researching change and changing research. In: Johannessen, S.O. and Kuhn, L. (eds.) Complexity in Organization Studies. Sage: London, UK, pp. 55-70. ISBN 9781446207260

Wilson, F. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2267-4578 and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2012) The Big Society, values and cooperation. Work, Employment and Society, 26(3), pp. 531-541. (doi: 10.1177/0950017012438572)

2011

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and MacIntosh, R. (2011) Organizing at the edge of chaos: insights from action research. In: Allen, P., Maguire, S. and McKelvey, B. (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Complexity and Management. SAGE: London, pp. 423-458.

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720, MacIntosh, R. and Canales, J.I. (2011) Strategy beyond the firm: interorganizational capability and industry development. In: SMS 31st Annual International Conference, San Diego, Miami, USA, 10-12 Jun 2011,

Seidl, D.N., MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and MacIntosh, R. (2011) Rules of suspension: a rules-based explanation of strategy workshops in strategy process. In: 71st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management 2011, San Antonio, Texas, USA, August 12-16, 2011,

2010

Beech, N., MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. (2010) Dialogues between academics and practitioners: the role of generative dialogic encounters. Organization Studies, 31(9-10), pp. 1341-1367. (doi: 10.1177/0170840610374396)

MacIntosh, R., MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and Seidl, D. (2010) Unpacking the effectivity paradox of strategy workshops: do strategy workshops produce strategic change? In: Golsorkhi, D., Rouleau, L., Seidl, D. and Vaara, E. (eds.) Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice. Cambridge University Press, pp. 291-309. ISBN 9780521517287

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720, Seidl, D. and MacIntosh, R. (2010) Action, system and practice in strategy research. In: SMS 30th Annual International Conference, Rome, Italy, September 12-15, 2010,

Seidl, D., MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2010) A rules-based approach to strategy workshops: episodes of strategic change and continuity. In: Strategic Management Society Special Conference: Intersections of Strategy Processes and Strategy Practices, Lapland, Finland, 17-20 March 2010,

2009

Palmer-Woodward, C. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2009) The experience of being changed through consulting. In: Buono, A.F. and Poulfelt, F. (eds.) Client-Consultant Collaboration: Coping with Complexity and Change. Series: Research in management consulting. Information Age Publishing: Charlotte, NC, USA, pp. 89-107. ISBN 9781607522096

2008

MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2008) Mode 2. In: Thorpe, R. and Holt, R. (eds.) Sage Dictionary of Qualitative Management Research. Sage Publications, pp. 136-138. ISBN 9781412935289

MacIntosh, R and MacLean, D (2008) Complex adaptive systems. In: Clegg, S and Bailey, J (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies. SAGE. ISBN 9781412915151

2007

MacIntosh, R., MacLean, D. and Burns, H. (2007) Health in organization: toward a process-based view. Journal of Management Studies, 44(2), pp. 206-221. (doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2007.00685.x)

2006

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2006) Cultivating questions, consensual conflict? Journal of Management Inquiry, 15(1), pp. 31-32. (doi: 10.1177/1056492605276081)

MacIntosh, R., MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720, Stacey, R. and Griffin, D. (Eds.) (2006) Complexity and Organization: Readings and Conversations. Routledge: London, UK. ISBN 9780415352406

2005

Houchin, K. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2005) Complexity theory and strategic change: an empirically formed critique. British Journal of Management, 16(2), pp. 149-166. (doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2005.00427.x)

Johnson, G. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2005) Aim high: Gerry Johnson on the ESRC’s initiative for UK management: an interview. European Management Journal, 23(3), pp. 331-335. (doi: 10.1016/j.emj.2005.04.011)

2004

Beech, N., Burns, H., de Caestecker, L., MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. (2004) Paradox as invitation to act in problematic change situations. Human Relations, 57(10), pp. 1313-1332. (doi: 10.1177/0018726704048357)

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2004) Sunshineand Storms on the Isle of Skye: Sabhal Mor Ostaig and the gaelic renaissance. In: Johnson, G., Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. (eds.) Exploring Corporate Strategy. FT-Pearson, pp. 1000-1007.

2002

Beech, N., MacIntosh, R., MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720, Shepherd, J. and Stokes, J. (2002) Exploring constraints on developing knowledge: on the need for conflict. Management Learning, 33(4), pp. 459-475. (doi: 10.1177/1350507602334004)

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720, MacIntosh, R. and Grant, S. (2002) Mode 2 management research. British Journal of Management, 13(3), pp. 189-207. (doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.00237)

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and MacIntosh, R. (2002) One process, two audiences: on the challenges of management research. European Management Journal, 20(4), pp. 383-392. (doi: 10.1016/S0263-2373(02)00058-0)

2001

MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2001) Conditioned emergence: researching change and changing research. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 21(10), pp. 1343-1357. (doi: 10.1108/EUM0000000005973)

1999

MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. (1999) Conditioned emergence: a dissipative structures approach to transformation. Strategic Management Journal, 20(4), pp. 297-316. (doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199904)20:4<297::AID-SMJ25>3.0.CO;2-Q)

This list was generated on Tue Jul 8 22:22:20 2025 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Edited Books | Conference Proceedings
Number of items: 34.

Articles

Ates, Aylin, Acur, Nuran ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9655-0343 and MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2024) How Linn Products Ltd. has achieved organizational fitness in the digital age. Research-Technology Management, 67(4), pp. 23-35. (doi: 10.1080/08956308.2024.2351333)

MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2017) Dynamic capabilities, creative action and poetics. Revista de Administração de Empresas, 57(3), pp. 264-272. (doi: 10.1590/s0034-759020170307)

MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720, MacIntosh, Robert and Seidl, David (2015) Rethinking dynamic capabilities from a creative action perspective. Strategic Organization, 13(4), pp. 340-352. (doi: 10.1177/1476127015593274)

MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and MacIntosh, Robert (2015) Planning reconsidered: paradox, poetry and people at the edge of strategy. European Management Journal, 33(2), pp. 72-78. (doi: 10.1016/j.emj.2015.02.003)

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and MacIntosh, R. (2012) Strategic change as creative action. International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 4(1), pp. 80-97. (doi: 10.1504/IJSCM.2012.045827)

Wilson, F. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2267-4578 and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2012) The Big Society, values and cooperation. Work, Employment and Society, 26(3), pp. 531-541. (doi: 10.1177/0950017012438572)

Beech, N., MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. (2010) Dialogues between academics and practitioners: the role of generative dialogic encounters. Organization Studies, 31(9-10), pp. 1341-1367. (doi: 10.1177/0170840610374396)

MacIntosh, R., MacLean, D. and Burns, H. (2007) Health in organization: toward a process-based view. Journal of Management Studies, 44(2), pp. 206-221. (doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2007.00685.x)

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2006) Cultivating questions, consensual conflict? Journal of Management Inquiry, 15(1), pp. 31-32. (doi: 10.1177/1056492605276081)

Houchin, K. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2005) Complexity theory and strategic change: an empirically formed critique. British Journal of Management, 16(2), pp. 149-166. (doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2005.00427.x)

Johnson, G. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2005) Aim high: Gerry Johnson on the ESRC’s initiative for UK management: an interview. European Management Journal, 23(3), pp. 331-335. (doi: 10.1016/j.emj.2005.04.011)

Beech, N., Burns, H., de Caestecker, L., MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. (2004) Paradox as invitation to act in problematic change situations. Human Relations, 57(10), pp. 1313-1332. (doi: 10.1177/0018726704048357)

Beech, N., MacIntosh, R., MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720, Shepherd, J. and Stokes, J. (2002) Exploring constraints on developing knowledge: on the need for conflict. Management Learning, 33(4), pp. 459-475. (doi: 10.1177/1350507602334004)

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720, MacIntosh, R. and Grant, S. (2002) Mode 2 management research. British Journal of Management, 13(3), pp. 189-207. (doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.00237)

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and MacIntosh, R. (2002) One process, two audiences: on the challenges of management research. European Management Journal, 20(4), pp. 383-392. (doi: 10.1016/S0263-2373(02)00058-0)

MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2001) Conditioned emergence: researching change and changing research. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 21(10), pp. 1343-1357. (doi: 10.1108/EUM0000000005973)

MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. (1999) Conditioned emergence: a dissipative structures approach to transformation. Strategic Management Journal, 20(4), pp. 297-316. (doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199904)20:4<297::AID-SMJ25>3.0.CO;2-Q)

Books

MacIntosh, Robert and MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2014) Strategic management: Strategists at Work. Palgrave Macmillan: London. ISBN 9781137035448

Book Sections

MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and MacIntosh, Robert (2017) The strategy cycle: planning, paradox and poetry in the practice of strategists. In: Siebert, Sabina (ed.) Management Research: European Perspectives. Series: Routledge studies in international business and world economy (73). Routledge: London, pp. 103-120. ISBN 9781138721463

MacIntosh, Robert, Bartunek, Jean M., Bhatt, Mamta and MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2016) I never promised you a rose garden: when research questions ought to change. In: Noumair, Debra A. and Shani, Abraham B. (Rami) (eds.) Research in Organizational Change and Development. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 47-82. ISBN 9781786353603 (doi: 10.1108/S0897-301620160000024003)

MacIntosh, Robert and MacLean, Donald ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2015) Complexity theory. In: Beech, Nic and Gilmore, Charlotte (eds.) Organising Music: Theory, Practice, Performance. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, United Kingdom, pp. 152-161. ISBN 9781107040953

Houchin, K. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2012) Complexity and strategy: an empirically informed critique. In: Johannessen, S.O. and Kuhn, L. (eds.) Complexity in Organization Studies. Sage: London, UK, pp. 79-106. ISBN 9781446207260

MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2012) Conditioned emergence: researching change and changing research. In: Johannessen, S.O. and Kuhn, L. (eds.) Complexity in Organization Studies. Sage: London, UK, pp. 55-70. ISBN 9781446207260

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and MacIntosh, R. (2011) Organizing at the edge of chaos: insights from action research. In: Allen, P., Maguire, S. and McKelvey, B. (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Complexity and Management. SAGE: London, pp. 423-458.

MacIntosh, R., MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and Seidl, D. (2010) Unpacking the effectivity paradox of strategy workshops: do strategy workshops produce strategic change? In: Golsorkhi, D., Rouleau, L., Seidl, D. and Vaara, E. (eds.) Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice. Cambridge University Press, pp. 291-309. ISBN 9780521517287

Palmer-Woodward, C. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2009) The experience of being changed through consulting. In: Buono, A.F. and Poulfelt, F. (eds.) Client-Consultant Collaboration: Coping with Complexity and Change. Series: Research in management consulting. Information Age Publishing: Charlotte, NC, USA, pp. 89-107. ISBN 9781607522096

MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2008) Mode 2. In: Thorpe, R. and Holt, R. (eds.) Sage Dictionary of Qualitative Management Research. Sage Publications, pp. 136-138. ISBN 9781412935289

MacIntosh, R and MacLean, D (2008) Complex adaptive systems. In: Clegg, S and Bailey, J (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies. SAGE. ISBN 9781412915151

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2004) Sunshineand Storms on the Isle of Skye: Sabhal Mor Ostaig and the gaelic renaissance. In: Johnson, G., Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. (eds.) Exploring Corporate Strategy. FT-Pearson, pp. 1000-1007.

Edited Books

MacIntosh, R., MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720, Stacey, R. and Griffin, D. (Eds.) (2006) Complexity and Organization: Readings and Conversations. Routledge: London, UK. ISBN 9780415352406

Conference Proceedings

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720, MacIntosh, R. and Canales, J.I. (2011) Strategy beyond the firm: interorganizational capability and industry development. In: SMS 31st Annual International Conference, San Diego, Miami, USA, 10-12 Jun 2011,

Seidl, D.N., MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 and MacIntosh, R. (2011) Rules of suspension: a rules-based explanation of strategy workshops in strategy process. In: 71st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management 2011, San Antonio, Texas, USA, August 12-16, 2011,

MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720, Seidl, D. and MacIntosh, R. (2010) Action, system and practice in strategy research. In: SMS 30th Annual International Conference, Rome, Italy, September 12-15, 2010,

Seidl, D., MacIntosh, R. and MacLean, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-5720 (2010) A rules-based approach to strategy workshops: episodes of strategic change and continuity. In: Strategic Management Society Special Conference: Intersections of Strategy Processes and Strategy Practices, Lapland, Finland, 17-20 March 2010,

This list was generated on Tue Jul 8 22:22:20 2025 BST.

Grants

2012 - Inter-organizational Strategy and Renewable Energy:
ASRF, Vivien Beattie, Ignacio Canales, Richard Harris, Robert MacIntosh*, Donald MacLean, Graeme Martin, Robbie Paton and Ray Stokes, £2000, 12.5% - pump priming for a major interdisciplinary and multi-method  study on renewable energy, capitalising on work I have already done and a major network of contacts I have established.

2011 - Sustainability in Rural Co-ops:
ASRF, D. MacLean and F Wilson, £1180, 50% - pump-priming for study leading to PhD or research grant application; led to 4-rated journal paper.

2011 - Strategic Development of Pointer Training: 
First Step Award (FSA) – D MacLean and R MacIntosh £5000, 50%.

2011 - Succession Planning and Strategy at D McGhee and Son:
FSA – D MacLean and R MacIntosh £5000, 50%.

2011 - Strategy at Westcrowns Ltd.:
FSA – D MacLean and R MacIntosh £5000, 50%.

Supervision

Current supervision

  • Alternatives to rationalism in strategic change
  • Transformation in traditional industries

Supervision interests

  • Emergent strategy as social poetics
  • Business/Organisation in Highlands and Islands
  • Strategy as Content

Current PhD student

Teaching

Executive Development and coaching

Additional information

  • Chair of SRSL (SAMS Research Services Ltd) – a marine science services business based in Argyll
  • Director and Trustee of Scottish Association for Marine Science
  • Strategy Lead for Institute of Directors Leadership Development Programmes in the Highlands and Islands
  • Visiting Professor at Open University of the Netherlands

Professor Donald MacLean 2016