Joanne Murphy

I was pleased to write a piece for Chartered Accountants Ireland‘s Magazine recently. The article looks at the research behind my new book ‘Management & War’, with a particular focus on the business community in Northern Ireland. It can be accessed in full here and the beginning of the article is reproduced below. Thanks again to Accountancy Ireland for the opportunity to talk about these important issues.

In pursuit of peace: how Northern Ireland businesses provided a glimpse of normality during the Troubles

“We had a door in the bar that squeaked, and I used to think that sometime in my life, that door will squeak and my stomach won’t tighten – I’ll not have that fear in me. The first year was just like hell.”

These are the words of a publican I interviewed, reflecting on his first years in business at the start of the Troubles. While much has been written about this period, few existing accounts reflect the business community’s experience of living and working through violence. From my research in Northern Ireland, the Basque Country, and Bosnia on how leaders and managers adapt to and function in environments of conflict, I have identified four common characteristics among those who share such experiences:

1 The fear, countered by courage, experienced in running a business against a background of the threat and reality of violence;
2 The ability to continue to make decisions in the ‘grey zone’ of an environment where a clear good or positive outcome is often not possible;
3 An acute understanding of the political dynamics at play 4at a community level; and

4 An ability to seize the business opportunities presented by political change and evolution…