Nick ButlerAssociate Professor
About me
Nick Butler joined Stockholm Business School in 2016. He previously worked at Lund University as a postdoctoral researcher and St Andrews University, Scotland as a lecturer. Prior to this, he trained at the universities of Warwick, Sussex, and Leicester in the UK. Nick researches in the field of organization studies, focusing on the sociology of work and critical perspectives on management. He is particularly interested in the fusion of social theory, philosophy, qualitative methods, and interpretive analysis. He is a member of the editorial collective of Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization and an Associate Editor of Organization.
Nick is currently working on a project about algorithmic leadership, alongside Dr Sverre Spoelstra (Copenhagen Business School) and Dr Emilie Hesselbo (Lund University). Funded by Vetenskapsrådet, the project examines the development and application of digital leadership tools in high performance organizations. Nick also writes on other topics including workplace gamification, research ethics, stand-up comedy, and the philosophy of jokes.
Teaching
Course leadership
Business, Politics and Culture (BPC) - bachelor's level
Management Theory and Analysis (MTA) - Master's level
Leadership and Management in Organizations (LMO) - Master's level
Master's Thesis in Management (EXMAN) - Master's level
Programme leadership
International Business and Politics (IBP) - bachelor's level
Research
Journal articles
Butler, N. and S. Spoelstra (2024) 'Redemption through Play? Exploring the Ethics of Workplace Gamification', Journal of Business Ethics, online first.
Butler, N. and S. Spoelstra (2024) '"You Just Earned 10 Points!": Gaming and Grinding in Academia', Organization, 31(4).
Butler, N. and S. Spoelstra (2023) 'What is the Point of Method Sections?', Organization, 30(6).
Spoelstra, S., N. Butler and H. Delaney (2021) 'Measures of Faith: Science and Belief in Leadership Studies', Journal of Management Inquiry, 30(3).
Butler, N. and S. Spoelstra (2020) 'Academics at Play: Why the "Publication Game" is More than a Metaphor', Management Learning, 51(4).
Collins, D. and N. Butler (2020) 'Success and Failure in Professional Projects: The Nature, Contours and Limits of Consulting Professionalism', British Journal of Management, 31(3).
Butler, N. and D. Stoyanova Russell (2018) 'No Funny Business: Precarious Work and Emotional Labour in Stand-Up Comedy', Human Relations, 71(12).
Butler, N. (2018) 'Fantasies of Strategy: Žižek, Discourse and Enjoyment', Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 53.
Butler, N., H. Delaney and S. Spoelstra (2018) 'Risky Business: Reflections on Critical Performativity in Practice', Organization, 25(3).
Butler, N., H. Delaney and S. Spoelstra (2017) ‘The Grey Zone: Questionable Research Practices in the Business School’, Academy of Management Learning and Education, 16(1).
Spoelstra, S., N. Butler and H. Delaney (2016) 'Never Let a Good Academic Crisis Go to Waste: Leadership Studies in the Wake of Journal Retractions', Leadership, 12(4).
Butler, N. (2016) ‘Functional Stupidity: A Critique’, Ephemera, 16(2).
Butler, N. and D. Collins (2016) ‘The Failure of Consulting Professionalism? A Longitudinal Analysis of the Institute of Management Consultants’, Management & Organizational History, 11(1).
Butler, N., H. Delaney and S. Spoelstra (2015) ‘Problematizing “Relevance” in the Business School: The Case of Leadership Studies’, British Journal of Management, 26(4).
Butler, N (2015) ‘Joking Aside: Theorizing Laughter in Organizations’, Culture and Organization, 21(1).
Butler, N. and S. Spoelstra (2014) ‘The Regime of Excellence and the Erosion of Ethos in Critical Management Studies’, British Journal of Management, 25(3).
Butler, N. and S. Spoelstra (2012) ‘Your Excellency’, Organization 19(6).
Butler, N. and S. Dunne (2012) ‘Duelling with Dualisms: Descartes, Foucault and the History of Organizational Limits’, Management & Organizational History, 7(1).
Academic Monographs
Butler, N. (2024) The Trouble with Jokes. Bristol University Press.
Book chapters
Butler, N. and S. Spoelstra (2017) 'How to Become Less Excellent', in T. Huzzard, M. Benner and D. Kärreman (eds.) The Corporatization of the Business School: Minerva Meets the Marketplace. London and New York: Routledge.
Butler, N. (2016) ‘Humour and Organization’, in R. Mir, H. Willmott and M. Greenwood (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Philosophy in Organization Studies. London and New York: Routledge.
Editorials
Butler, N. and B. Loacker (2022) 'Capitalist Unrealism: Countering the Crisis of Critique and Imagination', Ephemera, 22(2).
Butler, N., H. Delaney, E. Hesselbo and S. Spoelstra (2020) 'Beyond Measure', Ephemera, 20(3).
Butler, N., H. Delaney and M. Sliwa (2017) 'The Labour of Academia', Ephemera, 17(3).
Butler, N., C. Hoedemaekers and D. Stoyanova Russell (2015) ‘The Comic Organization’, Ephemera, 15(3).
Butler, N., E. Jeanes and B. Otto (2014) ‘Diagrammatics of Organization’, Ephemera, 14(2).
Butler, N., S. Chillas and S.L. Muhr (2012) ‘Professions at the Margins’, Ephemera, 12(3).
Butler, N., L. Olaison, M. Sliwa, B.M. Sørensen and S. Spoelstra (2011) ‘Work, Play and Boredom’, Ephemera, 11(4).
Butler, N., C. Land and M. Sliwa (2009) ‘Throwing Shoes’, Ephemera, 9(3).