Emeritus Professor Dennis Turner honoured

DATE: 01.05.07   ISSUE 1, 2007
Emeritus Professor Dennis Turner was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in this year’s Australia Day Honours list. Professor Turner was honoured for his service to management education and to the community through contributions to economic research and charitable organisations.

“I would like to congratulate Professor Turner on this considerable achievement,” said Professor Alec Cameron, Dean of the Australian School of Business™. “The Award recognises his work in the creation and management of executive programs in the AGSM and his tireless action to bring the benefits of research and learning to organisations and individuals. He is a great ambassador for both AGSM and UNSW; one who demonstrates and delivers the value that can be created by a university.”

Professor Turner said: “I am very pleased with the Award. It means to me that my efforts to make a difference, however small, have been recognised and valued.”


Emeritus Professor Dennis Turner received the award in recognition of his service to management education and to the community through contributions to economic research and charitable organisations.
Photo: Professor Dennis Turner

Professor Turner joined the academic staff of the University of New South Wales in 1981, initially as an Industrial Fellow and Visiting Professor at AGSM and then as a Professor of Management. He is a leading expert on the topics of managing people and the effective management of corporate change.

Professor Turner’s 20 years of senior management experience prior to joining AGSM made him aware of the importance of both personal and corporate capabilities and the distinctions between the two. Research in his co-authored book Change Power: Capabilities that Drive Corporate Renewal showed that managing change and managing a business require different capabilities. These are now well-established ideas, but back in the mid 1980’s when he first introduced them into his teaching they were true innovations in management thinking.

Professor Turner is currently finishing a book on managing people, stemming from his 30 years of experience in the corporate world, and 22 years of being ‘surrounded by creative and talented colleagues’ at the AGSM.