Call for Papers
Time in Organizations

23rd Colloquium in the History of Management and Organizations
Paris, Cité Internationale Universitaire

May 22th-23rd 2018

Organizations, such as firms, professions, institutions, etc. are exposed to management
constraints (e.g. accounting terms) and political horizons (e.g. election of professional
association’s chairman, terms of office) that are engaged in a short-time frame.
Yet, the definition of organizations’ strategy is placed on a future strongly dependent on
abilities to imagine forthcoming events. In this sense, organizations’ dynamism is often
linked with the ability to plan for the future.
A third temporality crosses through organizations and refers to a very short period of
time, associated with everyday life. As when one plans for the future, this temporality is
uncertain and unpredictable and often implies to make decisions in emergency
situations.
A fourth temporality consists of looking at the past. Probably “less conscious” than other
temporalities, it still gives a chance to take action and appears to be central to
organizations. It is in this temporality that organization gets enough experience to face
actual situations, to deal with medium-term perspectives and to plan for the future. Put
differently, this fourth temporality shapes the organizational future. In turn, it can also
be shaped by the organization itself that writes/ rewrites its own history and use it to
legitimate specific decisions and broader strategies. Still, this fourth type of temporality
is the one, which probably attracts the least interest in organizations. This lack of
interest is worth scrutinizing.
This conference aims at questioning different types of temporalities within
organizations. In particular, its objectives are to combine different temporalities and to
discuss further the relevance of the past, especially to deal with present and to better
plan for the future. We invite diverse contributions to stress the importance of the past,
to assess the relevance of history for organizations and to seek evaluating its imprint on
current decisions.
The use of history by organizations will be discussed and better specified: to what extent
are organizations interested by their past? Which records are available and which tracks
are used to this effect? Which archives are accessible to write organizational history?
What is the role of archives, the relevance of oral and written evidence as well as the
place of family dynasties in the understanding of organizations?

Three main sub-themes could be discussed in a critical perspective:

• The use of the past: What is history used for and who could use it? This question has to be placed within specific political, economic, social and family contexts (these could be wars, periods of social conflicts, contexts of filing for bankruptcy, etc.). Historical manipulations, propaganda or advertising analysis, critical outlooks on narratives at the company’s (or its founder) glory written for anniversaries are many potential topics to explore.
• The sources of the past: Which archival material is accessible to write organizational histories in the case of small or big companies, stable or past businesses? The objective here is to challenge archives and archivists, question the missions of business historians, assess the opportunity to conduct transdisciplinary research and relevant methods to combine different temporalities.
• The limits of organizational history: In a period of globalization and financialization, what is the point of conducting business history for organizations that are often developed at the national level? To what extent can past events help these organizations to better plan for their future? Why are organizations often that little interested by their past?

All communications that address a critical perspective on temporalities are welcome.
Topics related with the domains of accounting, management as well as strategy, public
management, marketing, and (financial) communication are particularly expected.
More generally and like in previous years, all projects of communications involved with
a historical dimension are welcome.
References:
Brunninge, O., 2009. Using history in organizations: How managers make purposeful reference to history in strategy processes, Journal of organizational Change Management, 22 (1) 8-26.
Bucheli, M., Wadhwani, R.D., 2014. Organizations in Time: History, Theory, Methods, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Cailluet, L., Lemarchand, Y., 2013. Introduction. L’école d’Orvault ? in L. Cailluet, Y. Lemarchand & M.-E. Chessel (Eds.), Histoire et sciences de gestion. Paris, FNEGE, Vuibert.
Cerutti, M., Fayet, J.-F., Porret, M. (Eds.), 2006. Penser l’archive. Histoires d’archives – archives d’histoire, Lausanne, Editions Antipodes.
Clark, P., Rowlinson, M., 2004. The Treatment of History in Organisation Studies: Towards an “Historic Turn”? Business History. 46, 331–352.
Lipartito, K., 2014. Historical sources and data. in M. Bucheli & R. D. Wadhwani (Eds.),
Organizations in time. History, theory, methods, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Potin, Y., 2013. L’historien en «ses» archives. in C. Granger (Ed.), A quoi pensent les historiens ? Faire de l’histoire au XXIe siècle, Paris, Editions Autrement.
Prost, A., 2010. Douze leçons sur l’histoire, Paris, Editions du Seuil.
Schultz, M., Hernes, T., 2013. A Temporal Perspective on Organizational Identity. Organization. Science. 24, 1–21.
Suddaby, 2016. “Carte blanche” – Toward a Historical Consciousness: Following the Historic Turn in Management Though. M@n@gement 19, 46–60.
6
Suddaby, R., Foster, W.M., Quinn Trank, C., 2010. Rhetorical history as a source of competitive advantage, in Joel A.C., B., Lampel, J. (Eds.), The Globalization of Strategy Research. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, p. 147–173.
Whetten, D., Foreman, P., Dyer, W.G., 2014. Organizational identity and family business.
Sage handbook in family business, 480–497
Deadlines
Submission and Review of Papers: Short papers (3.000 signs) written either in English or
French should be submitted no later than January 29th, 2018. Full texts will be accepted.
Notification of Acceptance: Notification of papers accepted for inclusion in the conference program will be made by March 19th, 2018.
All papers will be subject to a double-blind refereeing process and will be published on the Conference Web site, unless otherwise advised.
Definitive version of Papers (30.000 in 50.000 signs): April 9th, 2018. Definitive papers should be written either in English or French with summaries in French and English.
Proposals should be sent to: jhmo2018@univ-lr.fr

Scientific Committee
David Alexander, University of Birmingham
Lise Arena, Université Côte d’Azur
Régis Boulat, Université de Haute-Alsace
Eugénie Briot, Université de Marne-la-Vallée
Ludovic Cailluet, EDHEC Business School
Garry Carnegie, RMIT University. Editor for Accounting History
Mathieu Floquet, Université de Lorraine
Patrick Fridenson, EHESS, Chief Editor for Entreprises et Histoire
Éric Godelier, Ecole Polytechnique
Hélène Gorge, Université de Lille-Skema Business School
André Grelon, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
Pierre Labardin, Université de Paris-Dauphine
Eve Lamendour, Université de la Rochelle
Yannick Lemarchand, Université de Nantes
Cheryl Mc Watters, University of Alberta. Editor for Accounting History Review (to be confirmed)
Laurence Morgana, CNAM
Marc Nikitin, Université d’Orléans
Éric Pezet, Université Paris X – Nanterre
Andrew Popp, University of Liverpool. Chief Editor for Enterprise and Society
Nicolas Praquin, Université Paris-Sud
Paulette Robic, Université de Nantes
Jean-Luc Rossignol, Université de Franche-Comté
Béatrice Touchelay, Université de Lille
Organizing Committee
Lise Arena, Université Côte d’Azur
Régis Boulat, Université de Haute-Alsace
Mathieu Floquet, Université de Lorraine
Hélène Gorge, Université de Lille
Pierre Labardin, Université de Paris-Dauphine
Eve Lamendour, Université de la Rochelle
Eric Pezet, Université Paris X – Nanterre
Paulette Robic, Université de Nantes
Béatrice Touchelay, Université de Lille