February 2016 – Organizational History Network

CfP: European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy

February 29, 2016February 18, 2016 Steph

We are happy to announce the final Call for Papers for this year’s main event of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy.

Please have in mind that electronic Abstract Submission is already open here:
http://eaepe.org/?page=events&side=annual_conference&sub=eaepe2016_abstract_submission

The 28^th EAEPE Annual Conference will take place in Manchester on 3-5 November 2016. The conference theme is inspired by the historical legacy of the Industrial Revolution that has made Manchester a pre-eminent industrial metropolis of the world. The theme invites contributors to consider social and economic implications of industrialisation, deindustrialisation and transformation with particular attention to those institutions that flourish and decline around industries and manufacturing. Following the usual EAEPE format, prospective participants are invited to submit a paper on either the conference theme or one of the 22 EAEPE Research Areas. Abstracts (300-750 words) should include the following: the name(s), email address, affiliation of the authors, along with the name and code of the relevant Research Area. Following a notification of acceptance, a full paper will be invited.

Background to the 2016 Conference Theme

The organisers intend to celebrate the legacy of Manchester’s status as a cradle of the Industrial Revolution that determined the global path for well-being creation by manufacturing and technologies, and later by services and creative industries. The conference theme also recognises how Manchester has shaped the people’s history and encouraged intellectual advancements on such important issues as workers’ rights, trade unions, co-operatives, civil rights, and liberal critique of the shortcomings of the capitalist system.

The North-West of England is specifically, known for experiencing the consequences of deindustrialisation as well as successful examples of recovery. Many problems have not yet been solved, but the prospects of further regeneration and sustainable progressive long-term development through the opportunities linked to the knowledge economy, creative industry, services and progressive business formats, it is believed, could provide footing for the successful future of the region. Participants are encouraged to engage in a relevant discussion from the angle of regional specificities and challenges through contributions that could shape political and economic discourse on sustainable solutions to socio-economic dynamics.

Sample topics related to the 2016 Conference Theme

De-manufacturing and economic policy; The economic policy and economic analysis related legacy of Marx and Engels; New industrialisation and growth; The use of historical lenses in Economics and Management; The sociology of management; Sustainable counteraction to socio-economic decline; Economic policy for urban regeneration; Industrial specialisation and imbalances within the European Union; Industrial excellence and the business-university ties; Future of Industrial Relations; Business history of manufacturing.

Keynote Speakers:

Prof. Bill Cooke, University of York

The second speaker: to be confirmed at a later date.

Local Organizers and Co-chairs:

Dr. Andrea Bernardi (MMU)

Dr. Olga Kuznetsova (MMU)

Scientific Committee

Andrea Bernardi (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK); Charles Dannreuther (University of Leeds, UK);Wolfram Elsner (University of Bremen, Germany); Damian Grimshaw (University of Manchester, UK); Ismail Erturk (University of Manchester, UK); Hardy Hanappi (Vienna University of Technology, Austria); Olga Kuznetsova (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK); Nathalie Lazaric (University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France); Lukasz Mamica (Krakow University of Economics, Poland); Salvatore Monni (University of Rome III, Italy); Jorge Muñoz (Université Bretagne Occidentale, France); Marco Raberto (University of Genoa, Italy); Michael Rowlinson (Queen Mary University of London, UK); Francesca Romagnoli (British Treasury – OECD, UK); Jill Rubery (University of Manchester, UK); Dimitrios Syrrakos (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK); Pasquale Tridico (University of Rome III, Italy); Caroline Vincensini (ENS de Cachan, France); Hugh Willmott (Cass Business School, UK).

Special sessions

Special parallel sessions and roundtables with academics, practitioners and policymakers will be organised. These will include “Manchester Industrial Relations-ADAPT”, “The Northern business powerhouse”, “Co-operative business model for the future”, “OECD special session on Cities”, and “Manchester Devolution and local economic policy”.

The conference also wishes to reflect on the variety of national and regional approaches to the structural socio-economic changes through the use of historical and institutional perspectives. To achieve this, the organisers call for proposals for a limited number of special sessions. Please, submit your session proposal to the organisers by February 2016 outlining the focus and objectives with a minimum of five abstracts.

As in the past, early career researchers’ Pre-Conference and early career researchers’ special sessions will be organised.

Important dates

January 31, 2016: abstract submission opens

May 15, 2016: abstract submission deadline

June 18, 2016: notification of acceptance; registration opens

July 31, 2016: early registration closes

September 14, 2016: late registration closes (for authors to be included in the scientific programme).

October 01, 2016: full papers submission deadline.

Conference Fees

The conference fees and the EAEPE membership fees are denominated in Euros and are paid on the website of the association.

Members’ regular rate:

by 15^th July 2016 – 190 €

after 15^thJuly 2016 – 250 €

Non-members’ regular rate:

by 15^th July 2016 – 270 €

after 15^thJuly 2016 – 330 €

Members’ special rates:

PhD/Masters students 90 €

Subsidized fee – 100 €

For participants from developing countries and regions particularly affected by crisis Please apply in advance to Pasquale Tridico (tridico@uniroma3.it) and Oliver Kessler (oliver.kessler@uni-erfurt.de).

Venue

The conference will take place at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, All Saints Campus, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M15 6BH. This is a 5 minutes walk from Oxford Road train station or a 15 minutes walk from Piccadilly station.

Contacts

Academic queries: Dr. Andrea Bernardi (a.bernardi@mmu.ac.uk), Dr. Olga Kuznetsova (o.kuznetsova@mmu.ac.uk).

Administrative queries: eaepe2016@mmu.ac.uk.

Video Games & Historians

February 26, 2016February 12, 2016 Steph2 Comments

I cannot say that I am a big gamer (or a gamer, full stop…), but even I have heard of “Sons of Rome” and other video games that are built around a historical epoch. But as this is increasingly falling into the remit of what is now known as Public History, it is perhaps not surprising that historians and “Assassin’s Creed” are now mentioned in one headline. Though having done my PhD in a department of history, I am still quietly amazed by this article:

Bob Whitaker, a historian of modern Britain at Louisiana Tech and the host of the YouTube series History Respawned, recommends Assassin’s CreedSyndicate, the entertaining new Ubisoft game set in Victorian London. He likes the way it successfully captures the feel of the British capital in the 19th century, and he particularly likes the way the game depicts the Thames River as crowded with industrial traffic. But he still has some nits to pick.

Whitaker fact-checked the game from a historian’s perspective during an interview I conducted for my podcast, Shall We Play a Game?. You can listen to the podcast here. The excerpts below have been condensed and edited.

Minor spoilers for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate follow here.

CfP: Histories of Capitalism 2.0

February 22, 2016February 12, 2016 Steph2 Comments

Conference: Histories of Capitalism, v2.0

CALL FOR PAPERS

Histories of Capitalism, 2.0

Cornell University

September 29 to October 1, 2016

In 2014, Cornell’s History of Capitalism Initiative hosted a conference on the “Histories of American Capitalism” to showcase the deep connection between traditional subfields of social history (race, gender, sexuality and class) and the new history of capitalism. Building on the success of that conference and on developments in this rapidly-growing field, we invite proposals for panels that continue to illustrate the diversity of the histories of capitalism(s) through a variety of perspectives, including intellectual, legal, gender, environmental history, as well as the history of science and technology.

We hope that the previous conference’s focus, which sought to bring social and cultural history categories into dialogue with capitalism, will continue to infuse the conversation this year. We would also especially like to see panels and papers that incorporate non-U.S., regional, transnational, or global histories.

For the 2016 conference we are open to all proposals and particularly encourage submissions on:

Science and Technology
Migration
Unfree Labor
Family and Home
Environment and Built Environment
Criticizing, Defending and Defining Capitalism
Regulation and the State

Plenary Speakers include:

Jedidiah Purdy (Duke)
Marcus Rediker (Pittsburgh)
Emma Rothschild (Harvard University)
Juliet Walker (University of Texas-Austin)

Submission:

Our invitation is open to scholars at any stage of their careers. We will accept both panels and individual papers.
- For each panel, please include a 500 word description of the panel, a 250 word description of each paper in the panel and a short c.v. for each paper giver.
- For each paper, please submit a 250 word description of the paper and a short c.v.
To submit the paper proposals please go to http://hoc.ilr.cornell.edu/fall-2016-conference
Submissions are due by March 1, 2016

Call for Papers

We are currently accepting proposals for the 2016 conference.

Propose a paper

Register for the Conference

Registration to attend the conference has not yet begun.

Please contact Rhonda Clouse with any questions or concerns.

Book reviews in organizational history

February 19, 2016February 12, 2016 Steph

The NEP-HIS blog features a number of interesting book reviews in the area of business and organizational history, which might be of interest, for example:

How the Internet Became Commercial: Innovation, Privatization, and the Birth of a New Network by Shane Greenstein (2015, Princeton University Press)

Marc Levinson for The Wall Street Journal (November 23, 2015).
Carmen Nobel for Forbes (November 2, 2015).
for Kirkus (November 1, 2015).
Tyler Cowen for Marginal Revolution (October 23, 2015).
(Circulated 2016-06-01)

Faxed: The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine by Jonathan Coopersmith (2015, John Hopkins University Press)

Conor Farrington for Times Literary Supplement(September 18, 2015).
Carla Nappi for New Books in History (podcast, 60 min) (July 17, 2015).
[with thanks to Jonathan Coopersmith]
(Circulated 2015-11-18)

Africa: Why Economists Get It Wrong by Morten Jerven (2015, Zed)

Laura Seay and Kim Ye Dionne for The Washington Post(September 11, 2015).
Katrina Manson for Financial Times (September 6, 2015).
for The Economist (July 25, 2015).
Alex de Waal for African Arguments (June 24, 2015).
(Circulated 2015-09-17)

Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism by Bartow Elmore (2014, W. W. Norton)

Marc Lenvinson in The Wall Street Journal (November 21, 2014).
Beth Macy in The New York Times (January 2, 2015).
(Circulated 2015-01-22)

For more information visit: https://nephist.wordpress.com/book-reviews/

Thoughts About Yesterday’s Seminar at Alliance Manchester Business School

February 18, 2016 Steph

Andrew Smith of The Past Speaks was so kind to write a blog over yesterday’s ESRC seminar at Alliance Manchester Business School, a very successful event that discussed ethnography in conjunction with organizational history. You can read the full blog post below:

The Past Speaks

Yesterday, I was privileged to attend an ESRC-funded seminar at Alliance Manchester Business School on the theme of historicising the theory and practice of organizational analysis. The particular focus on yesterday’s event was on ethnographic and phenomenological approaches. I gained a great deal from this event which saw the exchange of views by org studies scholars, business historians, and people from the discipline of archival science. I was introduced to ethnographic research methods and the associated theoretical debates, which is simply something I didn’t know that much about before. I also learned a great deal from the papers that are closer to my own home research tradition of business history. I would say that I got the most from Stephanie Decker‘s excellent paper on archival ethnography.

Listening to Stephanie discuss her paper made me realize the usefulness to my own research of Stoler (2009)’s concept of “history in the subjunctive,” the use of…

View original post 348 more words

Important New Article

February 18, 2016 Steph

Cross-posted from The Past Speaks …

The Past Speaks

I thought I would draw your attention to an important new business-historical article “Strategic Planners in More Turbulent Times: The Changing Job Characteristics of Strategy Professionals, 1960–2003” by Richard Whittington, Basak Yakis-Douglas, Kwangwon Ahn, and Ludovic Cailluet.

Abstract:

This paper investigates the changing job characteristics of strategic planners in the face of long-run increases in environmental turbulence since the 1960s. We build on contingency theory to examine how growing turbulence may have impacted three aspects of strategic planner jobs: temporal range, processes, and organizational location. Drawing upon job advertisement data between 1960 and 2003, we compare strategic planner jobs over time and relative to a similar managerial function, marketing. We find that the secular increase in environmental turbulence is negatively associated with forecasting (temporal range), economics and analysis (processes) and centralization (organizational location), especially when compared with marketing. These findings broadly support contingency theory…

View original post 74 more words

Debating the history of capitalism & slavery

February 17, 2016February 12, 2016 Steph

History of Capitalism has been an influential take on analyzing the history of business and society in the USA in recent years. However, it has also been criticized as an approach for its failure to clearly define its key concept, capitalism. Recently, the issue of slavery and capitalism has been discussed again as an important issue in order to understand the nature of capitalism (and management, an argument made by Prof Bill Cooke of the University of York).

The following blog by Tom Cutterham picks up these debates in this blog post:

It’s been two and a half years since the new history of capitalism marked its arrival with the full red carpet treatment in the New York Times. So it’s about time we saw some serious and constructive critiques of the project. Robin Blackburn’s lengthy review of Empire of Cotton goes some way to bringing that Bancroft-winner back down to earth, particularly by scrutinising the concept of “war capitalism.” But what I particularly want to share with Junto readers today is an article by the NYU sociologist John Clegg recently published in the Chicago-based journal, Critical Historical Studies.

Anyone who has read Beckert, Baptist, and Johnson, or is eagerly awaiting the forthcoming volume on Slavery’s Capitalism, ought to read what Clegg has to say. In earlier posts at The Junto, I’ve pointed out the way new historians of capitalism have made a feature out of their resistance to defining the primary term. Clegg puts that resistance at the centre of his critique. “None of them,” he writes, “seem interested in asking what capitalism is” (281). As a result, he argues, “these authors fail to explain how the various features of the antebellum economy that they identify form part of a coherent capitalist system” (284). That makes it very difficult for them to “engage scholars in other fields and contribute to contemporary political and economic debates” (282).

To read the full blog, follow this link: https://earlyamericanists.com/2015/10/27/continuing-the-debate-on-slavery-and-capitalism/

Marie S Curie fellows at Aston Business School

February 15, 2016February 8, 2016 Steph

Aston is currently looking for external researchers to work with on Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowships. The current deadline for applications is 14th September 2016, with the next call opening in April 2016.

Eligible Researchers

The Funder requires that the researchers shall be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research

At the time of the deadline for submission, they shall not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc) in the country of their host organisation for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to 14th September

Preferred Researcher Profile

Experience suggests that successful researcher have strong CV’s, with 10+ strong publications (high- ranking, international journals) and a good range of experience (teaching, industry/non-academic, PhD supervision).

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships enable eligible applicants to come to Aston University for a period from 12 to 24 months; the aims are to undertake world class research, undertake career development, and transfer knowledge. If you have the time, read the Guide for Applicants, it will enable you to fully appreciate the aims and objectives of the scheme – http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/doc/call/h2020/h2020-msca-if-2014/1600147- guide_for_applicants_if_2014_en.pdf

If you are interested please contact Prof Stephanie Decker (s.decker@aston.ac.uk). Send a description of your potential theme, Aston host and a description of the potential project (please keep the description to no more than 250 words), accompanied by your full academic CV to r.knobbs@aston.ac.uk .

The current deadline is 14th September 2016. If you are interested you must send the requested documents by the end of July for this call.

Full program ESRC seminar 17 February 2016

February 12, 2016 Steph

ESRC Seminar Series: Historicising the theory and practice of organizational analysis

Seminar 4: Ethnography and Phenomenological Approaches

17 February 2016, Alumni Club Room, Alliance Manchester Business School, Booth Street West, Manchester M15 6PB

Final programme and arrangements

0930-1000 Arrival and Refreshments

1000-1015 Welcome and Introduction

1015-1100 Alan McKinlay (Newcastle U): “Foucault and the archive”

1100-1145 Bill Cooke (York U): “The affect of the archive”

1145-1200 Coffee/Tea

1200-1245 Andrea Whittle (Newcastle U): “History-in-action”

1245-1330 Buffet Lunch

1330-1415 Andrea Bernardi (Manchester Metropolitan U): “Auto-ethnography”

1415-1500 Stephanie Decker (Aston U) “Archival ethnography”

1500-1515 Coffee/Tea

1515-1600 Lucy Newton (Reading U): “Corporate identity”

1600- Discussion and Closing Remarks

Registration and attendance: The workshop is basically “full” but we have been allocated a few extra free places and these will be allocated on a “first come first served” basis. A conference registration fee of £30.00 will be charged on additional places and this will include refreshments and buffet lunch.

Travel & accommodation: Expenses should be covered by participants (except speakers, whose travel and accommodation costs will be covered). Accommodation for speakers (for night of 16 February) is at the Pendulum Hotel, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3BB (note: the Pendulm Hotel is approximately 10 minutes’ walk from Manchester Piccadilly station and 10 minutes walk from Alliance Manchester Business School). Workshop organisers will be in the lobby of the Pendulum Hotel at 0900-0915 on 17 February to walk delegates to AMBS (West Building).

Pre-conference dinner: A preconference dinner will be held for speakers and organisers at Evuna NQ, 79 Thomas Street, Manchester M4 1LQ. The dinner is scheduled to start at 8pm. The restaurant is in the “Northern Quarter” district of the city. Speakers and organisers will meet at 1930 in the lobby of the Pendulum Hotel and walk to the restaurant (weather permitting). Can anyone who has specific dietary requirements (vegetarian, vegan, diabetic, etc) please advise Nighat Din in advance.

Venue: The workshop will be held in the Alumni Club Room, Alliance Manchester Business School, Booth Street West, Manchester M15 6PB. Alliance Manchester Business School is approximately 15 minutes walk from Manchester Oxford Road station (20 minutes from Manchester Piccadilly). See University of Manchester website for details. The entrance to AMBS is the main door (West Building) on Booth Street West (note: there is currently current building work in operation connected with the refurbishment of the School but this does not affected access from Booth Street West).

For further enquiries: Please contact the conference administrator (Nighat Din: nighat.din@mbs.ac.uk] or members of the organizing team: John Hassard (john.hassard@mbs.ac.uk) and Damian O’Doherty (damian.odoherty@mbs.ac.uk), both at Manchester Business School); Stephanie Decker (s.decker@aston.ac.uk) at Aston Business School; or Mick Rowlinson (m.rowlinson@qmul.ac.uk) at Queen Mary University London.

Dean’s scholarships for PhD at Aston Business School

February 9, 2016February 8, 2016 Steph

This year there will be a number of Dean’s scholarships available for doctoral study at Aston Business School (ABS). The scholarship offers £17.000 for 3 years + cover of PhD fees (same condition for Home/EU and Overseas students).[1] The deadline for applications is March 14^th 2016.

If you are interested in doing a PhD in organizational history, please contact Prof Stephanie Decker, s.decker@aston.ac.uk.

Application Criteria for Dean’s Scholarship

All applicants for the Dean’s Scholarships must meet the standard entry requirements for the PhD programme at the Aston Business School:

UG Degree 2:1 or above
MSc Degree – 65% in taught and dissertation elements.
English Language requirements (TOEFL 101, IELTS 7)

Additionally, all applicants must have:

GRE/GMAT[2] at 70% (i.e. this means that the applicant has obtained a better score than 70% of all tested participants).

[1] Teaching is not required as a condition of this scholarship. All PhD students will be able to undertake paid teaching work should they wish to, where available, subject to a number of conditions. Students can only undertake teaching on successful completion of their Qualifying Report and must take the Aston Certificate: An Introduction to Learning and Teaching in HE. To ensure that research time is not affected, the total amount of teaching and/or research assistance hours a PhD student can undertake will be limited to 110 hours per year and will be agreed and monitored by the RDP office.

[2] GRE/GMAT is an independently administered test that assesses quantitative, analytical and verbal skills. This test allows for a rigorous degree of bench marking between applicants. The minimum requirement of 70% applies to each section. For candidates having additional English Language requirements (TOEFL/IELTS), these results will count instead of the verbal reasoning section.

The applicant must provide evidence of: