Showing papers in "Organization Studies in 2019"
TL;DR: This article traced the development of institutional theory from a marginal topic to the dominant theory and argued that institutional theorists should limit the range of the concept, sharpen their lens, avoid tautologies and problematize the concept.
Abstract: We trace the development of neo-institutional theory in Organization Studies from a marginal topic to the dominant theory. We show how it has evolved from infancy, through adolescence and early adulthood to being a fully mature theory, which we think is now facing a mid-life crisis. Some of the features of this mid-life crisis include over-reach, myopia, tautology, pseudo-progress and re-inventing the wheel. To address these problems, we argue that institutional theorists should limit the range of the concept, sharpen their lens, avoid tautologies and problematize the concept. By doing this, we think institutional theorists could develop a narrower and more focused conception of institutions.
153 citations
TL;DR: If work does not vanish in the age of AI, then poorly paid jobs will most certainly proliferate, and a case is made for the scholarly community to engage with wider social justice concerns.
Abstract: A number of recent high-profile studies of robotics and artificial intelligence (or AI) in economics and sociology have predicted that many jobs will soon disappear due to automation, with few new ones replacing them. While techno-optimists and techno-pessimists contest whether a jobless future is a positive development or not, this paper points to the elephant in the room. Despite successive waves of computerization (including advanced machine learning), jobs have not disappeared. And probably won’t in the near future. To explain why, some basic insights from organization studies can make a contribution. I propose the concept of ‘bounded automation’ to demonstrate how organizational forces mould the application of technology in the employment sector. If work does not vanish in the age of AI, then poorly paid jobs will most certainly proliferate, I argue. Finally, a case is made for the scholarly community to engage with wider social justice concerns. This I term public organization studies.
137 citations
TL;DR: Although the lion's share of scholarship in management and organization studies conceives of organizations as entities within which communication occurs, "Communication Constitutes Organization" (C... as mentioned in this paper ).
Abstract: Although the lion’s share of scholarship in management and organization studies conceives of organizations as entities within which communication occurs, “Communication Constitutes Organization” (C...
112 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a two-dimensional framework of openness, in which content-related and procedural openness are characterized by a combination of open and closed elements, and argue that certain forms of closure may be necessary to achieve desired open qualities in strategy making.
Abstract: A growing number of organizations subscribe to ideals of openness in areas such as innovation or strategy-making, supported by digital technologies and fuelled by promises of better outcomes and increased legitimacy. However, by applying a relational lens of inclusion and exclusion, we argue that, paradoxically, certain forms of closure may be necessary to achieve desired open qualities in strategy-making. Analysing the case of Wikimedia, which called for participation in a globally open strategy-making process, we show that openness regarding participation in crafting strategy content depends on certain forms of closure regarding procedures of the strategy-making process. Against this background, we propose a two-dimensional framework of openness, in which content-related and procedural openness are characterized by a combination of open and closed elements.
94 citations
TL;DR: The influence of Foucault's oeuvre has had a remarkable and continuing influence on the field of Organization Studies and has been traced over the past thirty years or so as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Since the establishment of Organization Studies in 1980, Michel Foucault’s oeuvre has had a remarkable and continuing influence on its field. This article traces the different ways in which organizational scholars have engaged with Foucault’s writings over the past thirty years or so. We identify four overlapping waves of influence. Drawing on Foucault’s Discipline and Punish, the first wave focused on the impact of discipline, and techniques of surveillance and subjugation, on organizational practices and power relations. Part of a much wider ‘linguistic’ turn in the second half of the twentieth century, the second wave led to a focus on discourses as intermediaries that condition ways of viewing and acting. This wave drew mainly on Foucault’s early writings on language and discourse. The third wave was inspired by Foucault’s seminal lectures on governmentality towards the end of the 1970s. Here, an important body of international research investigating governmental technologies operating on subjects as ...
90 citations
TL;DR: Identities scholarship, in particular that focused on self-identities, has burgeoned in recent years as mentioned in this paper, with dozens of papers on identities in organizations published in this journal by a substantial...
Abstract: Identities scholarship, in particular that focused on self-identities, has burgeoned in recent years. With dozens of papers on identities in organizations published in this journal by a substantial...
88 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on government as an institution in the business conduct and its implications for management and organization, focusing on government and the Governance of Business Conduct: Implications for Management and Organization.
Abstract: In this introductory paper for the special issue “Government and the Governance of Business Conduct: Implications for Management and Organization”, we focus on government as an institution in the b...
74 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the usage of the term "institutional void" to characterize non-western contexts in organizational studies is criticised, and the conceptual stretching of institutional voids is explored.
Abstract: In this essay, we critique the usage of the term ‘institutional void’ to characterize non-Western contexts in organizational studies. We explore how ‘conceptual stretching’ of institutional voids –...
62 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored the dialogical dimensions of discursive legitimation in social media sites to understand how organisations produce knowledge of legitimacy in concert with their stakeholders, and explored how organizations produce knowledge knowledge of legitimate knowledge of their stakeholders.
Abstract: This paper explores the dialogical dimensions of discursive legitimation in social media sites to understand how organisations produce knowledge of legitimacy in concert with their stakeholders. Dr...
59 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a notion of sensemaking that is decentred is proposed, where sense is always and already given and made simultaneously, where every human attempt at framing is itself already enframed, significantly.
Abstract: This paper proposes and argues for sensemaking practices as fundamentally decentred. Sensemaking has been, at least since the late 1980s, an enduring subject for organisation studies researchers, and much longer for organisational practitioners. This research tradition has, however, tended to have a particular understanding of temporality (as divisible), tended to be centred on the human sense-makers, and privileged as more valid that which can be made present, through deliberative sensemaking practices, at the expense of that which is absent, and perhaps ineffable. In short, by locating sensemaking in the deliberative sensemaking practices of humans other significant constitutive conditions of sensemaking became obscured from view. The main thrust of the paper is to develop a notion of sensemaking that is decentred – not simply at the disposal of human subjects – and where sense is always and already given and made simultaneously. That is, where every human attempt at framing is itself already enframed, significantly. We show how this reimagining of sensemaking, as decentred, has the potential to open up new avenues of research in sensemaking practices – avenues that are more sensitive to temporal flow, the more-than-human, immanence, and the precarity of such practices. This shift is significant theoretically but also practically.
53 citations
TL;DR: Scholars are increasingly seeking to develop theories that explain the underlying processes whereby leadership is enacted as mentioned in this paper, which shifts attention away from the actions of 'heroic' individuals and to...
Abstract: Scholars are increasingly seeking to develop theories that explain the underlying processes whereby leadership is enacted. This shifts attention away from the actions of ‘heroic’ individuals and to...
TL;DR: While the majority of research promotes the idea of transparency and puts all efforts into refining existing concepts, critical studies emphasize the performativity of measures to increase visibili... as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: While the majority of research promotes the idea of transparency and puts all efforts into refining existing concepts, critical studies emphasize the performativity of measures to increase visibili...
TL;DR: The mass migration of refugees in the fall of 2015 in Europe posed an immense humanitarian and logistical challenge: exhausted from their week-long journeys, refugees arrived in Vienna in need of c...
Abstract: The mass migration of refugees in the fall of 2015 in Europe posed an immense humanitarian and logistical challenge: exhausted from their week-long journeys, refugees arrived in Vienna in need of c...
TL;DR: The authors discusses solidarity economy initiatives as instances of grassroots organizing, and explores how values practices are performed collectively during times of crisis, focusing on the value practices of individuals during the crisis, rather than the values themselves.
Abstract: This article discusses solidarity economy initiatives as instances of grassroots organizing, and explores how ‘values practices’ are performed collectively during times of crisis. In focusing on ho...
TL;DR: Callon's performativity thesis has illuminated how economic theories and calculative devices shape markets, but has been challenged for its neglect of the organizational, institutional and politica....
Abstract: Callon’s performativity thesis has illuminated how economic theories and calculative devices shape markets, but has been challenged for its neglect of the organizational, institutional and politica...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the words of people who they view as increasingly powerful institutional actors in the field of organization theory and what they signify about "what needs to be done" and "how it should be done", in order to rectify the many failings they identify.
Abstract: In this piece of provocation we focus on the words of people who we view as increasingly powerful institutional actors in the field of organization theory and what they signify about ‘what needs to be done’ and ‘how it needs to be done’ in order to rectify the many failings they identify. We suggest that their actions reflect a desire for an integrated, general theory of organizations and the conception of organization studies as a nomothetic science to which they (and perforce we) are philosophically and ideologically committed. These are seen to be intellectual and ideological forces at work on both sides of the Atlantic. We provide a critique of this emerging orthodoxy within contemporary organization theory, briefly drawing on Swift’s metaphor of Lilliputian ‘big enders’ and ‘little enders’ but also offer contemplation of the architectural metaphors of ‘cathedral’, ‘mystery house’ and ‘the tower of Babel’ (conceived of as ruination) to consider the alternative imaginary edifices that may influence the structure of our studies. Finally, we specify an alternative research agenda for organization theory which focuses upon ‘the organization of destruction’ rather than ‘the organization of production’ or ‘the organization of consumption’. Rather than seeing any contestation of intellectual traditions, analytical frameworks and methodological strategies as mental manacles and shackles which we need to ‘throw off’ to rediscover our true vocation as organization scientists, we contend that organization theory needs to reignite a fierce dialogue over ‘organization’ and its relation to order and disorder that has stretched over, at least, two millennia and still speaks to our lives today and tomorrow.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the shifting balance between business and government in CSR and highlight the importance of the political involvement of corporates in global governance, and the role of CSR in this balance.
Abstract: Political CSR has made great strides towards a better appreciation of the political involvement of corporations in global governance. However, its portrayal of the shifting balance between business...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest new possibilities for queer theory in management and organization studies, and they use it as a conceptual resource for studing and analysis of gender, race, and gender.
Abstract: This article suggests new possibilities for queer theory in management and organization studies. Management and organization studies has tended to use queer theory as a conceptual resource for stud...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the role of experimental spaces as a source of institutional innovation and investigate the case of an experimental space that was instrumental in initiating the institutionalization of the Internet.
Abstract: This paper examines the role of experimental spaces as a source of institutional innovation. We investigate the case of an experimental space that was instrumental in initiating the institutionaliz...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the rhetorical strategies that energy incumbents employ to gain legitimacy for their investments in renewable and non-renewable technologies during periods of institutional and technological transition, and find that incumbents utilize two different types of hybrid rhetoric to justify their investments.
Abstract: How organizations legitimate their actions under conditions of institutional change is a central yet little understood question. To address this gap, this paper investigates how incumbent firms legitimate investments in both novel and conventional technologies during periods of institutional and technological transition. We examine the rhetorical strategies that energy incumbents employ to gain legitimacy for their investments in renewable (legitimacy-gaining or novel) and non-renewable (legitimacy-losing or conventional) technologies. Employing a mixed-method content analysis of 483 press releases on strategic energy investments, published by the world’s largest energy firms during the time period 2010 to 2015, we find that incumbents utilize two different types of hybrid rhetoric to justify their investments. For investments in non-renewables, incumbents use pragmatic blending, appropriating the clean rhetoric traditionally associated with challenger technologies and combining it with justifications hig...
TL;DR: This article explore the notions of "post-truth" and "alternative facts" for management studies, and argue that there is no intrinsically accurate language in the post-truth language.
Abstract: In this essay, we explore the notions of ‘post-truth’ and ‘alternative facts’ for management studies. Adopting a pragmatist perspective, we argue that there is no intrinsically accurate language in...
TL;DR: In this article, large-scale innovative projects (LSIPs) play a central role in arranging for exploratory and strategic opportunity seeking that transcends organizational and disciplinary boundaries, and they play an important role in organizing large scale innovative projects.
Abstract: Large-scale innovative projects (LSIPs) play a central role in arranging for exploratory and strategic opportunity seeking that transcends organizational and disciplinary boundaries. This paper out...
TL;DR: The extent to which state authorities can regulate the externalities and the behaviour of multinational corporations (MNCs) is limited as discussed by the authors, especially when MNCs operate in or do business with states.
Abstract: The extent to which state authorities can regulate the externalities and the behaviour of multinational corporations (MNCs) is limited. This is especially true when MNCs operate in or do business w...
TL;DR: A recent survey on resilience has shed light on the processes by which organizations absorb strain and maintain functioning in the face of adversity as discussed by the authors, however, these theories often focus on the...
Abstract: Recent scholarship on resilience has shed light on the processes by which organizations absorb strain and maintain functioning in the face of adversity. These theories, however, often focus on the ...
TL;DR: The authors investigated how multi-centenary family firms in the area of Kyoto collectively known as shinise maintain a high social status in the community and revealed a dark side of high status, by showing how their commitments lock shinise in a position of "benign entrapment" that may impose sacrifices on family members and severe limitations to their personal freedom.
Abstract: Our study investigated how multi-centenary family firms in the area of Kyoto – collectively known as shinise – maintain a high social status in the community. Our analysis unpacks the socio-cultural practices through which the ongoing interaction among these actors re-enacts and reproduces the social order that ascribes shinise a distinct social standing in exchange for their continued commitment to practices and structures that help the community preserve its cultural integrity and collective identity. By doing so, our findings trace a connection between status maintenance and the expressive function that a category of firms performs within a community. At the same time, our study reveals a dark side of high status, by showing how their commitments lock shinise in a position of ‘benign entrapment’ that may impose sacrifices on family members and severe limitations to their personal freedom.
TL;DR: It is proposed that hostile behaviour towards breastfeeding women could be seen as a form of ‘abjection as practice’, displaying a purposeful intent to exclude breast milk production from workplace contexts.
Abstract: This paper contributes to theory on maternity, embodiment and organizations through advancing a contemporary theory of ‘abjection as practice’ in relation to breastfeeding and employment. Drawing u...
TL;DR: In this article, different understandings of bullshit and their significance in organizational life are discussed and discussed. But they do not discuss the relationship between bullshit and organizational life. And they focus on different types of bullshit.
Abstract: Bullshit is a ubiquitous communication practice that permeates many dimensions of organizational life. This essay outlines different understandings of bullshit and discusses their significance in t...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors trace the compounding and escalation of frames to try and encompass the reality of climate change, revealing new contours and extreme forces of change in the world.
Abstract: In this paper, we trace the compounding and escalation of frames to try and encompass the reality of climate change. These frames capture significant aspects, revealing new contours and extreme org...
TL;DR: Although innovation studies in developing countries acknowledge the importance of resources for firm innovation, their emphasis tends to be on bottlenecks created by resource constraints and instit... as discussed by the authors, the authors of this paper
Abstract: Although innovation studies in developing countries acknowledge the importance of resources for firm innovation, their emphasis tends to be on bottlenecks created by resource constraints and instit...
TL;DR: More than 100 years ago, Robert Michels laid out his theory of the 'iron law of oligarchy' as discussed by the authors, which states that oligarchy will always emerge; even in the case of genui...
Abstract: More than 100 years ago, Robert Michels laid out his theory of the ‘iron law of oligarchy’. The main, and crucial, point Michels made is that oligarchy will always emerge; even in the case of genui...