Dr Diane Burns
BSc, MSc, PGCE, PhD
Management School
Senior Lecturer in Organisation Studies
Head of Organisation Studies Research Cluster
+44 114 222 3216
Full contact details
Management School
Room D52
Sheffield University Management School
Conduit Road
Sheffield
S10 1FL
- Profile
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Dr Diane Burns is a Senior Lecturer in Organisation Studies and Head of the Organisation Studies Research Cluster (OSC).
Diane joined Sheffield University Management School in October 2012 as a Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour. Prior to this, she was Research Fellow at the School of Allied Health Professions, University of East Anglia.
Diane's research focuses on the organisation and management of social care particularly how structures, processes and dynamics produce and affect care provision and the lives of people who work within or need the support of social care. She has published in a range of management & organisation journals examining temporality, digitisation, corporate colonisation and instability in social care organising.
Dr Diane Burns currently holds a Joint Programme Initiative Many Years Better Lives open call award to investigate the potential of AI-driven technology to address workforce shortages and inequality in homecare in the UK, Finland and Sweden.
- Qualifications
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- PhD Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University
- MSc Organisational Psychology, Birkbeck University of London
- BSc Hons. Psychology Manchester Metropolitan University
- PGCert. Teaching & Learning in Higher Education, University of Sheffield
- Research interests
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Diane's research interests focus on power and relations of domination in the care space. She has four key research areas:
- Workforce issues, job and care quality
- AI, digitisation and innovation
- Financialisation and marketisation
- Intersubjective epistemologies and participatory approaches in research
- Publications
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Books
- Preface.
Journal articles
- Is it time for job quality? Conceptualising temporal arrangements in new models of homecare. Sociology of Health & Illness.
- Innovation in UK independent homecare services : a thematic narrative review. Health & Social Care in the Community, 30(6), e3447-e3458.
- A Visual Turn for Organizational Ethnography: Embodying the Subject in Video-Based Research. Organization Studies, 39(10), 1403-1424.
- Negotiating and valuing spaces: The discourse of space and ‘home’ in care homes. Health and Place, 43, 8-16. View this article in WRRO
- How Financial Cutbacks Affect the Quality of Jobs and Care for the Elderly. ILR Review, 69(4), 991-1016. View this article in WRRO
- Digging deep: how organisational culture affects care home residents' experiences. Ageing and Society, 36(01), 160-188. View this article in WRRO
- Digging deep: how organisational culture affects care home residents' experiences – ERRATUM. Ageing and Society, 36(1), 224-224.
- Organisational aspects of elder mistreatment in long term care. Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 15(4), 197-209. View this article in WRRO
- Colonizing the Aged Body and the Organization of Later Life. Organization Studies, 35(11), 1699-1717. View this article in WRRO
- Participatory Organizational Research: Examining Voice in the Co-production of Knowledge. British Journal of Management, 25(1), 133-144.
- Wicked problems or wicked people? Reconceptualising institutional abuse. Sociology of Health and Illness: a journal of medical sociology, 35(4), 514-528. View this article in WRRO
- How organisational arrangements affect service provision. Nursing and Residential Care, 15(10), 676-679.
- How organizational factors interact to influence the quality of care of older people in the care home sector. Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, 18(Suppl 1), 14-22. View this article in WRRO
- Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and their management in care homes within the East of England: a postal survey. Aging and Mental Health.
- Feminism, psychology and social policy: Constructing political boundaries at the grassroots. FEMINISM & PSYCHOLOGY, 10(3), 367-380. View this article in WRRO
- Practices of citizenship: Inter-linking community, work and family in a national single parent organisation. Community, Work & Family, 3(3), 261-277.
- ‘Happy Families?’: Single Mothers, the Press and the Politicians. Capital & Class, 22(1), 1-11. View this article in WRRO
- Technology and homecare in the UK: policy, storylines and practice. Journal of Social Policy.
Chapters
- Managing Healthcare Organisations in Challenging Policy Contexts: Connections and Contradictions, Managing Healthcare Organisations in Challenging Policy Contexts (pp. 1-22).
- Concluding Comments: Voice as a Common Theme Across Studies of Healthcare Management in Challenging Policy Contexts, Managing Healthcare Organisations in Challenging Policy Contexts (pp. 301-313).
- Reconceptualizing Institutional Abuse: Formulating Problems and Solutions in Residential Care In Keaton M, McDermott AM & Montgomery K (Ed.), Patient-Centred Health Care. Organizational Behaviour in Health Care London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Theory and Methods in Social Research In Lewin C & Somekh B (Ed.), Theory and Methods in Social Research Sage Publications Limited
- Feminist methodologies In Lewin C & Somekh B (Ed.), Research Methods in the Social Sciences (pp. 66-73). Sage Publications Limited
Conference proceedings papers
- Where does the money go? Financialised chains the crisis in elder care. Proceedings of ILPN International Conference 2016. London School Economics, 4 September 2016 - 7 September 2016. View this article in WRRO
- Video-based Ethnographic Documentary: Toward Collaborative Organizational Research. Academy of Management Proceedings, Vol. 2016(1) (pp 10066-10066) View this article in WRRO
- Examining the relationship between organisation culture and the quality of care: Early findings from the CHOICE project. https://www.ilpnetwork.org/event/ilpn-international-conference-2012/. London School of Economics, London.
- Identifying and conceptualising organizational boundaries between further and higher education in dual sector institutions: What are they and what do they do?. Paper presented at the 4th CRLL International Conference: The Times They Are A-Changing: Researching. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/165378.htm, 22 June 2007 - 24 June 2007.
Reports
- Report on the Social Innovation in Care in Wales at the Foundational Economy Colloquiuim
- Why we need social innovation in home care for older people View this article in WRRO
- Where does the money go? Financialised chains and the crisis in adult residential care View this article in WRRO
- What makes a real difference to resident experience? Digging deep into care home culture: The CHOICE (Care Home Organisations Implementing Cultures of Excellence). Report prepared for the Preventing Abuse and Neglect in Institutional Care of Older Adults Programme
- Organizational Dynamics of Respect and Elder Care. Report prepared for the Preventing Abuse and Neglect in Institutional Care of Older Adults
Presentations
- Innovating Home Care Models and the Innovation-bias. Queens University Belfast.
- Burns, D. ‘Innovation in Social Care’ National Social Care Conference, Social Care Wales & ADASS 12th September. Cardiff.
- What we can learn about social care by thinking about the money. Foundational Economy Colloquium on Social Innovation in the Foundational Economy.
- Innovating Social Care- The Sheffield Experiment. Cardiff Health and Organisation Ploicy Studies Seminar.
- 'Unmasking or reproducing abuse? Elaborating truth-telling processes through ‘dark-side’ field research'. Centre Mont Royal (2200 Rue Mansfield, Montréal, QC H3A 3R8.
- Radical social innovation: Experimenting with Doing Care Differently.. Queen Mary’s University of London.
- Financialised innovation and long-term residential elder care. . International Labour Process Conference 2017, Sheffield.
- The state of the social care sector and where the money goes. Winter Gardens, Blackpool.
- 'Speaking out in residential care'. Rutgers, New Jersey.
- What's wrong with this picture? Film as a Catalyst for Organisational Change - Five years on. Professional Development Workshop, Academy of Management, Vancouver Canada.
- Speaking out in a climate of silence: Fear, courage and reprimand. European Organisation Studies, Athens Greece.
- Capturing and (re)presenting subjectives: Examining soundscapes of voice/silence in organisational life. Qualitative Research Methods in Management and Business Research, New Mexico, USA.
- Caring in crisis: Mediating job quality and care quality in the provision of elder care. ILR Review Special Conference on Employment Relations in Health Care, Rutgers University, New Jersey.
- Respectful care of older people and organizational dynamics - what can health services learn from the care home sector?. Health Service Research Network, Manchester Central.
- Care home organisations implementing cultures of excellence (CHOICE): The final study of the Comic Relief/Department of Health PANICOA research programme. Brighton.
- Fragile systems: Recurrent features of elder abuse. London School of Economics, London..
- Re-Writing 'otherness' through participatory methods with older people. Qualitive Research in Management and Organisations Conference, University of New Mexico, USA.
- Financialised innovation and long-term residential elder care.
- Radical social innovation: Experimenting with Doing Care Differently.
- What is collaboration? Discursive struggles for meaning in English health and social care organizations. Santiago de Compestala, Spain.
- Wicked people or wicked problems? Reconceptualising institutional abuse.. Dublin, Ireland.
Other
- Sustainable Care Policy Perspective - Reimagining Care: Ageing well at home: emergent models of home care provision and the professionalisation of the home care workforce.
- Reframing the funding crisis crisis in adult residential care. View this article in WRRO
- Preface.
- Research group
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Work, Employment and Organisations (WEO), Organisation Studies Research Cluster
- Grants
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Date Funding body Title Grant Value Principal Investigator Co-investigators 2025 -2028 ESRC (JPI MYBL)
Al-driven platform care: Promoting equal and inclusive job quality in long-term care
£377,000 (1.2 million euro)
Diane Burns
Kate Hamblin, Grace Whitfield, Carole Elliot
2021 ESRC Centre for Care
£4.5 million
Kate Hamblin
Diane Burns, Nathen Hughes, Majella Kilkey, Liam Foster, Gwilym Pryce, Catherine Needham, Nadia Brookes, Shereen Hussain
2017 - 2021
ESRC Sustainable Care Research Programme
£2 million Sue Yeandle
Diane Burns, Jason Heyes, Majella Kilkey, Louise Ryan, Catherin Needham, John Glasby, Jill Manthorpe, Shereen Hussain
2016 - 2017 Wellcome Trust Doing Care Differently
£49,793
Diane Burns
Luke Cowie, Joe Earle, Peter Folkman, Julie Froud, Paula Hyde, Sukhdev Johal, Ian Rees Jones, Anne Killett, Karel Williams
2012 - 2013 Department of Health & Comic Relief
Care Home Organisations Implementing Cultures of Excellence - Implementation Project
£550,000
Anne Killett
Diane Burns, Dawn Brooker, Alison Bowers, Fiona Kelly, Jenny La Fontaine, Martin O’Neill
- Teaching interests
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Diane has a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Diane's learning and teaching practice is underpinned by constructivist and active learning approaches which she uses to inform course design, delivery and evaluation.
Diane is passionate about creating inclusive learning and teaching environments that fosters students' engagement, facilitates their learning and supports their development of critical thinking.
- Teaching activities
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Dr Diane Burns currently teaches on Managing People in Organisations and Performance Management at postgraduate level:
- MGT650 Manging People in Organisations
- MGT679 Employee Performance Management
Through Diane's approach to teaching, she aims to challenge students to think critically and to consider management practices in a range of industries and public service organisations.
Diane encourages engagement in critical thinking through the use of case studies and student-led discussions.
- Professional activities and memberships
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Diane is a Trustee of of the Learned Society of the Studies in Organizing Health Care.
- PhD Supervision
Diane is interested in supervising doctoral research in the following areas:
- Care work and the social care workforce.
- Dark side of organisation – abuse, mistreatment, exploitation and resistance.
- Social innovation in the organisation and delivery of social care.
- Ethnographic, participatory, action methodologies and approaches.
Diane currently supervises:
She has previously supervised:
Name Thesis title Year of completion Arbaz Kapadi For Whose Benefit? Service User Involvement, Co-Production and Healthcare Quality Improvement 2023 Juan Pablo Winter Power dynamics and subalterns' organising in an informal settlement: A Participatory Action Research in South Africa 2022 Rosie Westerveld Partnerships, power & privilege: A critical investigation of development partnerships between UK & Nepal civil society organisations 2021 Are you interested in applying for a PhD?
