Overview
Background
Professor Pitsis is a globally renowned expert in the strategic design and management of complex and high-risk projects. These projects range from Olympic infrastructure, deep tech quantum computing, and, most recently, AI adoption and its role in decision-making under extreme conditions. He is an ideal person to speak on making the impossible possible, and the strategic and managerial constraints of opportunities of engaging and investing in high-risk, but high-reward, projects.
He is the recipient of several awards for his research, including the Emerald Science Citation of Excellence and, Sage Paper of the Year award for Human Relations. Most recently, he and his co-authors were Finalists for the 2025 Responsible Research in Management Award, co-sponsored by the Academy of Management Fellows Group and the Community for Responsible Research in Business and Management (RRBM) at The Academy of Management Annual Conference for their research on ColaLife, a temporary organisation that successfully eradicated childhood mortality due to diarrhoea in Zambia.
He has published in several FT50 and other highly regarded academic and practitioner journals (including Academy of Management Learning and Education, Organization Science, Organization Studies, Long Range Planning, Journal of Management Studies, Human Relations, California Management Review, amongst others. He is also a co-author of critically acclaimed and best-selling texts in management and innovation.
He has appeared on radio (ABC) and television (BBC), in addition to podcasts. He has also provided strategic advice and leadership development for several major projects and organisations, including the Royal Air Force (Plan Astra), Royal Australian Air Force (Air Force Improvement Program), Reserve Bank of Australia, Reserve Bank of India, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, BorgWarner (Sevcon), TNT, KONNE, just to name a few.
Availability
- Honorary Professor Tyrone Pitsis is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Research interests
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The Study of Rare and Risky Projects
I research and advise of the strategic design and management of complex, highly risky and projects that rely on rare resources and capabilties. My projects vary from deep technology (Quntum), and AI, all the way to complex medical and social change projects.
Works
Search Professor Tyrone Pitsis’s works on UQ eSpace
2025
Journal Article
Social entrepreneurs as ecosystem catalysts: the dynamics of forming and withdrawing from a self‐sustaining ecosystem
Savaget, Paulo, Ozcan, Pinar and Pitsis, Tyrone (2025). Social entrepreneurs as ecosystem catalysts: the dynamics of forming and withdrawing from a self‐sustaining ecosystem. Journal of Management Studies, 62 (1), 246-278. doi: 10.1111/joms.13055
2022
Journal Article
In search of scholarly impact
Haley, Usha C. V., Cooper, Cary L., Hoffman, Andrew J., Pitsis, Tyrone S. and Greenberg, Danna (2022). In search of scholarly impact. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 21 (3), 343-349. doi: 10.5465/amle.2022.0327
2022
Conference Publication
How fear can affect the pursuit of novel technologies in incumbent firms
Golding, Christopher, Pitsis, Tyrone and Mount, Matthew (2022). How fear can affect the pursuit of novel technologies in incumbent firms. Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, United States, 5-9 August 2022. Briarcliff Manor, NY, United States: Academy of Management. doi: 10.5465/ambpp.2022.17110abstract
2020
Journal Article
From ideas of power to the powering of ideas in organizations: reflections from Follett and Foucault
Carlsen, Arne, Clegg, Stewart R., Pitsis, Tyrone S. and Mortensen, Tord F. (2020). From ideas of power to the powering of ideas in organizations: reflections from Follett and Foucault. European Management Journal, 38 (6), 829-835. doi: 10.1016/j.emj.2020.03.006
2020
Journal Article
Conceptualizing the de–materializing characteristics of internal inclusion in crowdsourced open strategy
Mount, Matthew P., Clegg, Stewart R. and Pitsis, Tyrone S. (2020). Conceptualizing the de–materializing characteristics of internal inclusion in crowdsourced open strategy. Long Range Planning, 53 (5) 101986, 1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.lrp.2020.101986
2020
Journal Article
Identifying the antecedents of megaproject crises in China
Wang, Aimin and Pitsis, Tyrone S. (2020). Identifying the antecedents of megaproject crises in China. International Journal of Project Management, 38 (6), 327-339. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2019.05.003
2020
Journal Article
We are projects: narrative capital and meaning making in projects
Carlsen, Arne and Pitsis, Tyrone S. (2020). We are projects: narrative capital and meaning making in projects. Project Management Journal, 51 (4), 357-366. doi: 10.1177/8756972820929479
2020
Journal Article
Design thinking inspired crowdsourcing: toward a generative model of complex problem solving
Mount, Matthew, Round, Heather and Pitsis, Tyrone S. (2020). Design thinking inspired crowdsourcing: toward a generative model of complex problem solving. California Management Review, 62 (3), 103-120. doi: 10.1177/0008125620918626
2020
Journal Article
Designing the Future: Strategy, Design, and the 4th Industrial Revolution—An Introduction to the Special Issue
Pitsis, Tyrone S., Beckman, Sara L., Steinert, Martin, Oviedo, Luciano and Maisch, Bettina (2020). Designing the Future: Strategy, Design, and the 4th Industrial Revolution—An Introduction to the Special Issue. California Management Review, 62 (2), 5-11. doi: 10.1177/0008125620907163
2019
Journal Article
Organizational creativity as idea work: Intertextual placing and legitimating imaginings in media development and oil exploration
Håkonsen Coldevin, Grete, Carlsen, Arne, Clegg, Stewart, Pitsis, Tyrone S and Antonacopoulou, Elena P (2019). Organizational creativity as idea work: Intertextual placing and legitimating imaginings in media development and oil exploration. Human Relations, 72 (8), 1369-1397. doi: 10.1177/0018726718806349
2016
Journal Article
Clash of the Titans: Temporal Organizing and Collaborative Dynamics in the Panama Canal Megaproject
van Marrewijk, Alfons, Ybema, Sierk, Smits, Karen, Clegg, Stewart and Pitsis, Tyrone (2016). Clash of the Titans: Temporal Organizing and Collaborative Dynamics in the Panama Canal Megaproject. Organization Studies, 37 (12), 1745-1769. doi: 10.1177/0170840616655489
2016
Journal Article
The Transformative Power of Network Dynamics: A Research Agenda
Clegg, Stewart, Josserand, Emmanuel, Mehra, Ajay and Pitsis, Tyrone S. (2016). The Transformative Power of Network Dynamics: A Research Agenda. Organization Studies, 37 (3), 277-291. doi: 10.1177/0170840616629047
2015
Journal Article
Temporality in organization studies: implications for strategic project management
Biesenthal, Christopher, Sankaran, Shankar, Pitsis, Tyrone and Clegg, Stewart (2015). Temporality in organization studies: implications for strategic project management. Open Economics and Management Journal, 2 (Suppl 1: M7), 45-52. doi: 10.2174/2352630001502010045
2014
Journal Article
Governing projects under complexity: Theory and practice in project management
Pitsis, Tyrone S., Sankaran, Shankar, Gudergan, Siegfried and Clegg, Stewart R. (2014). Governing projects under complexity: Theory and practice in project management. International Journal of Project Management, 32 (8), 1285-1290. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2014.09.001
2014
Journal Article
“I Used to Care but Things Have Changed”: A Genealogy of Compassion in Organizational Theory
Simpson, Ace V., Clegg, Stewart and Pitsis, Tyrone (2014). “I Used to Care but Things Have Changed”: A Genealogy of Compassion in Organizational Theory. Journal of Management Inquiry, 23 (4), 347-359. doi: 10.1177/1056492614521895
2014
Journal Article
Normal Compassion: A Framework for Compassionate Decision Making
Simpson, Ace Volkmann, Clegg, Stewart and Pitsis, Tyrone (2014). Normal Compassion: A Framework for Compassionate Decision Making. Journal of Business Ethics, 119 (4), 473-491. doi: 10.1007/s10551-013-1831-y
2014
Journal Article
Doing compassion or doing discipline? Power relations and the Magdalene Laundries
Simpson, A. V., Clegg, S. R., Lopes, M. P., e Cunha, M. P., Rego, A. and Pitsis, T. (2014). Doing compassion or doing discipline? Power relations and the Magdalene Laundries. Journal of Political Power, 7 (2), 253-274. doi: 10.1080/2158379X.2014.927684
2013
Journal Article
Uncertainty reduction through everyday performative language work
Nikolova, Natalia, Clegg, Stewart, Fox, Stephen, Bjørkeng, Kjersti and Pitsis, Tyrone (2013). Uncertainty reduction through everyday performative language work. International Studies of Management and Organization, 43 (3), 74-89. doi: 10.2753/IMO0020-8825430305
2013
Book
Handbook of organizational and managerial innovation
Pitsis, Tyrone S., Simpson, Ace and Dehlin, Erlend (2013). Handbook of organizational and managerial innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.. doi: 10.4337/9781781005873
2013
Journal Article
Making strategy matter: Social theory, knowledge interests and business education
Clegg, Stewart R., Jarvis, Walter P. and Pitsis, Tyrone S. (2013). Making strategy matter: Social theory, knowledge interests and business education. Business History, 55 (7), 1247-1264. doi: 10.1080/00076791.2013.838033
Supervision
Availability
- Honorary Professor Tyrone Pitsis is:
- Available for supervision
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Media
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