Bill Harley

Professor Bill Harley is a Professor of Management in the Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne. He earned a BA (Hons) and a PhD in industrial relations from the University of Queensland, following his first degree in political science. His career at the University of Melbourne spans several decades, advancing from Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management to Associate Professor and subsequently to full Professor. Harley has held significant administrative roles, including Associate Dean (Global Engagement), and currently serves as Chair of the Council for the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS). He has also been associated with the James Riady Chair of Asian Business.

Harley's research focuses on human resource management, work organisation, high performance work systems, qualitative research methods, and critical perspectives on management scholarship. He has contributed to key debates on methodological rigor, the crisis of confidence in management studies, collegiality in business schools, and the societal relevance of elite management journals. Notable publications include 'Rigor With or Without Templates? The Pursuit of Methodological Rigor in Qualitative Research' (Organizational Research Methods, 2020), 'Confronting the Crisis of Confidence in Management Studies: Why Senior Scholars Need to Stop Setting a Bad Example' (Academy of Management Learning & Education, 2019), 'Not Even Trying to Change the World: Why Do Elite Management Journals Ignore the Major Problems Facing Humanity?' (Journal of Management Inquiry, 2021), and 'Collegiality as Control? How Uncounted Work Gets Done in the Neoliberal Business School' (Academy of Management Learning & Education, 2023). His scholarship appears in top-tier journals such as Journal of Management Studies and Organization Studies, amassing over 3,900 citations. Harley has received the Dean's Certificate of Good Undergraduate Teaching (1991) and an Australian Postgraduate Research Award. He participates in the editorial team of Academy of Management Learning & Education, leads professional development workshops on publishing qualitative research, and has directed projects including Research on Organizational Discourse and Employee Participation, Involvement and Democracy at Work.

Professional Email: bharley@unimelb.edu.au