He became known as writer of the 1979 book Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis with Gareth Morgan,[2] and is recognized for introducing the critical management project to the University of Leicester.
In the late 1970s he was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Behaviour in Organizations at the University of Lancaster.
In 2002 he was appointed Professor of Organisation Theory at University of Leicester, where he headed its School of Management from 2002 to 2007.
Burrell is founding co-editor of the international, interdisciplinary journal Organization, together with Linda Smircich, Marta Calàs, and Mike Reed.
"The stated purpose of the reorganization is a proposed disinvestment from ‘critical management studies and political economy’ in order to refocus research expertise on data analytics, entrepreneurship, innovation, operations and logistics, with 6 new appointments to be made in these areas, by those using, we are told, only quantitative skills.