Paul Hemphill

Research student

Paul Hemphill is affiliated with The Open University's Department of People and Organisations.

You can email Paul Hemphill directly; but for media enquiries please contact a member of The Open University's Media Relations team.

Biography

Paul’s research is engaged with organisational sense-making and is specifically focussed on interactional dynamics in global, multi-functional, multi-cultural virtual teams. The area of interest within his thesis is how impression management, based on a performative model (Goffman, 1959), influences the creation of organisational “truth” and the creation of what is accepted as organisational knowledge, within the locus of the contextually-identified organisation.

As a part-time researcher Paul is currently employed as a subject expert within a global virtual team operating within the Telecommunications industry.

Paul has a BA (Hons) from the University of Reading in English Literature, an MA from the same university in The Body and Representation. This dissertation examined the representational dynamics of Nazi ideology as related to a corporeal sign system. He also has a MBA from the Open University. The study of intercultural relationships encountered during the MBA laid the foundations for the current programme of research.

Paul's research interests include: Interactional dynamics across a virtual boundary; Phenomenology; Organisational ethnography; Organisational sense-making; and Knowledge creation.