Thomas J. Roulet FAcSS is a French-British social scientist, management thinker and professor at the University of Cambridge where he holds the Chair of Organisational Sociology and Leadership.[1][2][3][4] He has advanced the concept of negative social evaluations[5] and is known for his research on wellbeing in the context of remote work.[6][7] He is a Faculty at the Judge Business School,[8] and a Fellow of King's College Cambridge.[9]

Thomas Roulet
NationalityFrench, British
Known fornegative social evaluations
Academic background
Alma materHEC Paris, Sciences Po, Audencia Business School
Academic work
Disciplineorganization theory, leadership
Sub-disciplineinstitutional theory, stakeholder theory
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge

Roulet is a regular commentator on workplace issues, leadership and management education for a variety of media including the BBC,[10][11] the Telegraph,[12][13][14] the Financial Times,[15][16][17][18] ITV News,[19][20] Le Monde,[21][22][23] The Washington Post[24][25] or The Guardian[26][27] among others. He writes a column on strategic leadership for Forbes.[28]

In 2024, he was elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.[29] In 2020, he was elected as one of the trustees and council members of the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies.[30] He is also a Mid-Career Fellow of the British Academy[31] and Fellow of the British Higher Education Academy. He serves as the co-director of the King's Entrepreneurship Lab[32] at King's College Cambridge, which he co-founded in 2021.

Academic career

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Before becoming an academic, Roulet was an investment banker during the 2007 financial crisis,[33] an experience that spurred a curiosity to study the culture of investment banks and how organizations react under public pressure.[34] In 2017, in a documentary for Die Zeit, he discussed the experience of European academics who immigrated to the United Kingdom in the aftermath of Brexit.[35]

He received his Master's in management at Audencia Nantes (France), MPhil in Economic Governance at Sciences Po and completed his PhD in management at HEC Paris. He was Chazen Visiting Scholar at Columbia University from 2011 to 2012. Previously, Roulet lectured at the University of Oxford (Pembroke College), the University of Bath, and at King's College London.[36]

From 2017 to 2020, he was Co-Editor in chief of M@n@gement, which was founded as the first open-access and bilingual journal in the field of management and organization theory,[37] a journal of the French Academy of Management and sponsored by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

Research and academic work

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Roulet pioneered work in the area of negative social evaluations, articulating phenomena at different levels of analysis such as social stigma, scandals, or negative reputation, in particular through his 2020 book, “The Power of Being Divisive: Understanding Negative Social Evaluations” (Stanford University Press)[38] which was reviewed in Organization Studies[39] and Administrative Science Quarterly.[40] According to its review in the Financial Times, the book outlines the mechanism through which negative social evaluations can have positive implications.[41] The Economist labelled it as a book about "stigma in business" and focused on the book's explanation of how employees of vilified companies are nonetheless proud of their employer.[42] The book was shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Bracken Bower Prize,[43] a runner up for the George Terry Award of the Academy of Management and the Axiom Medal.

In 2016, before the US election, Roulet predicted in an op-ed in the Telegraph that Trump would be elected, despite being underestimated by polls because his supporters were the subject of a “spiral of silence”.[44][45] They felt like they were in the minority while being a majority, and thus their voices were not heard. In the Power of Being Divisive, he labels such political strategy as divisive leadership, a strategy aimed at polarizing opinion to build a strong support base.[46]

In his work, he explains how the negative behaviors of the investment banking industry persisted during and after the financial crisis: in coverage by Matt Levine for Bloomberg[47] and by the Economist,[48] it is explained how Roulet showed the media reporting of banks’ misconduct signaled their proximity to the core values of their field and brought them more business.

This stream of work got him to study social movements' contestation strategies, from the Gilet Jaunes[49] to the whisky industry.[50] He also explored how apparently unpopular and counterintuitive ideas, such as degrowth, can anchor themselves in behaviors and be considered attractive even for capitalist firms.[51][52]

With colleagues, Roulet also wrote a piece on covert participant observation – rehabilitating the method as an important tool to uncover social phenomena that have ethical implications.[53][54]

Roulet is also known for his research [55][56][57] on wellbeing and mental health, and how it is impacted by hyperflexibility, hybrid- and remote work.[58][59][60]

Honors

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In 2024, he was elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences,[61] and named one of the Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum,[62] and on the Thinkers50 Radar for emerging management thought leaders.[63] In 2023, he was selected as a Mid-Career Fellow of the British Academy,[31] and he received the Pilkington Prize for Teaching Excellence awarded annually by the University of Cambridge.[64][65] In 2020, he was named "40 under 40 Best Business School professors” (Poet&Quants)[66] and “MBA professors to look out for” (Business Because).[67] In 2017, he was awarded the “Best paper in Organizational Research Methods” by the Academy of Management.[54]

References

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  1. ^ "Thomas Roulet - Thinkers50". thinkers50.com. 2024-01-29. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  2. ^ "Thomas Roulet". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  3. ^ Witz, Anna (2024-02-15). "Thomas Roulet, professeur à Cambridge, a été désigné comme l'un des grands penseurs de l'avenir du travail". French Morning London (in French). Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  4. ^ World Economic Forum. "Biography of Thomas Roulet".
  5. ^ Hill, Andrew; Berwick, Isabel; Conboye, Janina; Lee, Dave; Jack, Andrew (2020-09-08). "Review of business books". Financial Times. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  6. ^ Swiers, Karin (2024-04-20). "Vergeet Sinek en Covey, dit zijn 8 nieuwe leiderschapsgoeroes met inspirerende ideeën". MT/Sprout (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  7. ^ "15 top future of work speakers & authors you need to follow right now l on the nexxworks blog". www.nexxworks.com. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  8. ^ "Roulet, Thomas". SAGE India. 2022-11-13. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  9. ^ "Thomas Roulet". King's College Cambridge. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  10. ^ Bishop, Katie. "Will workers continue to pay a price for flexibility?". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  11. ^ Bishop, Katie. "Why some work environments breed toxic cultures". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  12. ^ Titcomb, James (2021-07-03). "New frontiers beckon for Amazon as Bezos heads up and away". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  13. ^ Roberts, Lizzie (2019-12-09). "Only in the tech industry can you be written off as a dinosaur at the age of 29". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  14. ^ Roulet, Thomas (2018-12-04). "Voters just want Brexit done, so Remainers should be wary of trying to stop it in another vote". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  15. ^ Murray, Seb (2021-02-07). "Making digital MBA learning add up". Financial Times. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  16. ^ Noyen, Maria (2021-01-11). "How MBA students have faced a year of uncertainty". Financial Times. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  17. ^ Berwick, Isabel (2019-11-15). "Filthy colleagues are here to stay, in even the best offices". Financial Times. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  18. ^ Raval, Anjli. "The retirees heading back to work". Financial Times.
  19. ^ "Business boom for Suffolk garden office company as more people work from home". ITV News. 2021-04-19. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  20. ^ "The home working revolution: what does it mean for the office?". ITV News. 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  21. ^ "Coronavirus : " Qui aurait cru que les discussions autour de la machine à café manqueraient tant ? "". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2020-04-12. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  22. ^ "" Voyager en avion, c'est aujourd'hui prendre le risque d'être labellisé comme "pollueur" "". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2019-06-16. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  23. ^ "" Gilets jaunes » : « Le recours à des hackathons citoyens constitue une piste d'action locale "". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  24. ^ "Busting Three Modern Myths of Diversity in the Workplace". Washington Post Jobs. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  25. ^ Griffe, Witte. "After Trump's Victory the World is Left to Wonder". The Washington Post.
  26. ^ Roulet, Thomas (2014-05-09). "Unpicking the link between laissez-faire economics and corporate greenwashing". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  27. ^ "The lesson from the ruins of Notre Dame: don't rely on billionaires | Aditya Chakrabortty". the Guardian. 2019-07-18. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  28. ^ "Thomas Roulet". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  29. ^ Sciences, Academy of Social. "Professor Thomas Roulet". Academy of Social Sciences. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
  30. ^ "Current". Society for the Advancement of Management Studies. 8 February 2024.
  31. ^ a b "Mid-Career Fellowships awards 2023". The British Academy. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
  32. ^ "King's College launches 'Entrepreneurship Lab'". Varsity Online. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  33. ^ Poets&Quants (2020-04-30). "Best 40 Under 40 Professors: Thomas Roulet". Poets&Quants. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  34. ^ Hansen, Louise Fogh (2023-03-27). "Moralsk fallit". www.weekendavisen.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2023-04-09.
  35. ^ Die Zeit (8 June 2017). ""In Oxford kann man die Realität leicht ignorieren"".
  36. ^ University of Cambridge. "CV Roulet Thomas" (PDF).
  37. ^ "M@n@gement". management-aims.com.
  38. ^ "The Human Risk Podcast: Dr Thomas Roulet on Negative Social Evaluations: the science behind the ways we judge each other on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2022-07-03.
  39. ^ Forgues, Bernard (2021-05-28). "Media Review: The Power of Being Divisive: Understanding Negative Social Evaluations". Organization Studies. 43 (3): 465–468. doi:10.1177/01708406211018792. ISSN 0170-8406. S2CID 236404124.
  40. ^ Elsbach, Kimberly D. (2023-02-24). "Thomas J. Roulet. The Power of Being Divisive: Understanding Negative Social Evaluations". Administrative Science Quarterly. 68 (2): NP43–NP45. doi:10.1177/00018392231159572. ISSN 0001-8392. S2CID 257212888.
  41. ^ Hill, Andrew; Berwick, Isabel; Conboye, Janina; Lee, Dave; Jack, Andrew (2020-09-08). "Financial Times' Review of Business Books for September". Financial Times.
  42. ^ "Why employees want to work in vilified industries". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  43. ^ "Financial Times: Bracken Bower Prize 2019 - the shortlist". Cambridge Judge Business School. 25 October 2019.
  44. ^ Roulet, Thomas (2016-11-03). "Pious progressives have created a spiral of silence which could yet conceal a Donald Trump victory". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  45. ^ "Researcher in the Spotlight - Dr Thomas Roulet". Bath Business and Society. 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2022-07-03.
  46. ^ Newman, Ruth (2020-11-17). "The legacy of Trump's divisive politics (Opinion piece) - News & insight". Cambridge Judge Business School. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  47. ^ Levine, Matt (13 November 2018). "It's good to be bad if you are a bank - Bloomberg Opinion". Bloomberg News.
  48. ^ "Naughty investment banks win more IPO business". The Economist. 2018-11-08. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  49. ^ Yellow Vest Crisis: "The strength of the movement is its broad appeal", retrieved 2022-07-30
  50. ^ Lander, Michel W.; Roulet, Thomas J; Heugens, Pursey P. M. A. R. (2022-07-26). "Tempering Temperance? A Contingency Approach to Social Movements' Entry Deterrence in Scottish Whisky Distilling, 1823–1921". Academy of Management Journal. 66 (5): 1384–1410. doi:10.5465/amj.2019.1411. ISSN 0001-4273. S2CID 251117159.
  51. ^ Roulet, Thomas; Bothello, Joel (2020-02-14). "Why "De-growth" Shouldn't Scare Businesses". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2022-07-06.
  52. ^ "Degrowth will accelerate as consumers change — companies should adapt now: Thomas Roulet". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2022-07-06.
  53. ^ Roulet, Thomas J.; Gill, Michael J.; Stenger, Sebastien; Gill, David James (2017-03-23). "Reconsidering the Value of Covert Research". Organizational Research Methods. 20 (3): 487–517. doi:10.1177/1094428117698745. ISSN 1094-4281. S2CID 151656543.
  54. ^ a b "Covert Research & Consent: Winning Paper". Methodspace. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  55. ^ Bhatti, Kiran; Roulet, Thomas (2023-09-01). "Helping an Employee in Distress". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  56. ^ Roulet, Shaun Subel, Martin Stepanek, and Thomas (18 April 2022). "How Shifts in Remote Behavior Affect Employee Well-Being". MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved 2022-11-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  57. ^ Roulet, Zahira Jaser and Thomas (5 January 2022). "How Hyperflexibility Can Benefit — or Burn Out — Your Team". MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  58. ^ Hartmans, Samantha Delouya, Avery. "Resentment is mounting as some employees are forced back to the office and some are allowed to work from home". Business Insider. Retrieved 2022-11-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  59. ^ "Nike closed its offices for a week-long mental health break". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  60. ^ Gooding, Matthew (2020-12-11). "Productivity monitoring or workplace surveillance? Let us know your views". Tech Monitor. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  61. ^ Sciences, Academy of Social (2024-09-09). "The Academy of Social Sciences welcomes 45 outstanding social scientists to its Fellowship". Academy of Social Sciences. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
  62. ^ World Economic Forum. "From Paralympian to Water Security Specialist: Meet the 2024 Class of Young Global Leaders".
  63. ^ "Thinkers50 Radar Class 2024 - Thinkers50". thinkers50.com. 2023-01-20. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  64. ^ inergency (2023-03-13). "Teaching excellence prize for Cambridge MBA's Dr Thomas Roulet". Inergency. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
  65. ^ "King's Fellows awarded Pilkington Prize for teaching". King's College Cambridge. Retrieved 2023-04-09.
  66. ^ ALLEN, Nathan (29 April 2020). "2020 Best 40 Under 40 Professors: Thomas Roulet, Cambridge Judge Business School". Poets and Quants.
  67. ^ "MBA Professors To Look Out For". www.businessbecause.com. 2020-03-02. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
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