Category: Courses

PhD Course “Historical Approaches in Management and Organizational Research”

31 October – 2 November 2016 at Copenhagen Business School

Deadline for registration: 19 Sept. 2016

Aim

In recent years, management and organizations researchers have begun to use historical sources and approaches in their study of organizations and organizing. Building on earlier pleas for an engagement with historical reasoning about organizations (Zald, 1993; Kieser, 1994; Clark and Rowlinson, 2004), these more recent developments have included efforts to develop historical approaches to studying organizational and institutional theory (Suddaby and Greenwood, 2009), strategy (Kahl et al, 2012; Ingram et al, 2012), innovation and entrepreneurship (Forbes and Kirsch, 2010; Popp and Holt, 2013; Wadhwani and Jones, 2014), international business (Jones and Khanna, 2006) and critical management studies (Rowlinson and Proctor, 1999), among other subfields. The turn towards history, however, has also raised a number of complex questions for researchers about the nature of historical knowledge, how it might be employed to address organizational research questions, and how to analyze historical sources and data (Bucheli and Wadhwani, 2014; Rowlinson, Hassard, and Decker, 2014; Kipping and Usdiken, 2014). This seminar will introduce participants to the core theoretical and methodological issues involved in using historical approaches in organizational and management research, and discuss the variety of ways in which history is being used in organization and management studies today.  The seminar will provide participants with both a broad orientation to the theoretical and practical issues involved in the use of historical approaches, and an opportunity to apply these approaches to their own research using smaller breakout groups and discussions.

Course Content

This PhD seminar will provide an introduction to historical approaches to management and organizational research. Day 1 will be devoted to Historical Theorizing, Day 2 to Historical Methods, and Day 3 to Historical Practice.

Day 1, Historical Theorizing, will examine the advantages and limits of using historical perspective to develop theoretical concepts in management and organizational research. Students will be introduced to the unique perspective that history provides and how it can be used by management and organizational scholars. Specifically, we will examine how history provides unique perspectives for developing conceptualizations of: (a) cause and effect, (b) cognition and power, (c) alternatives and counterfactuals.

Day 2, Historical Methods, will examine the nature of historical sources and methods. We will explore basic methods, such as source criticism, triangulation, and hermeneutics, but also advanced methods, including microhistory, conceptual history, and postcolonial history. Participants will also engage in a methods workshop, designed to provide a hands-on experience with source analysis and interpretation.

Day 3, Historical Practice, will be devoted to discussion and feedback on student research. The day will be organized as a series of workshops.

Learning Objectives

The PhD seminar will be designed to allow participants to:

1. Understand the nature of historical approaches and how they compare to other types of ways of studying management and organizations

2. Understand the range of ways in which historical sources, methods, and perspectives can be engaged, including the epistemological assumptions involved in these choices and their implications for the types of research questions that can be addressed

3. Apply these methodological issues and choices to their own research interests through focused breakout groups.

ECTS and Fees

3 ECTS for participation, 4 ECTS for participation and submission of working paper

Fees: DKK 3,900 (participation) or DKK 5,200 (participation with working paper)

Course Schedule and Registration

http://www.cbs.dk/en/research/phd-programmes/phd-courses-0 and http://phdcourses.dk/Course/48516#.VzLiH7df0Ss

One of the important challenges that Management and Organizational History must face is cultivating the next generation of scholars. There are relatively few established PhD courses that train students in business and management history, and little attention to what constitutes a foundational curriculum in the field.

Last week, I had a chance to test out some ideas for a curriculum when I co-taught a one-week PhD course at Kyoto University with Professor Takafumi Kurosawa. The students included early and mid-stage PhD students from 5 countries. We took a basic introductory orientation to the field. The topics covered: 1. Historiography, 2. Advantages of Historical Conceptualization, 3. Historical Research Processes and Methods, 4. Applications.

Some basic thoughts occurred to us as we taught that I think provide lessons for such efforts in the future. 1. Business, Economic, and Management History tends to engage in relatively little historiographical reflection about the development of historical approaches, and yet it’s crucial to not only the intellectual coherence but also socialization into the field. 2. We tend to place insufficient attention to the historical research process, and particular to the question of why one turns to history at all. But a discussion of the historical research process, and a comparison to research process in other social sciences, is incredibly helpful to students in comprehending and communicating how they are going about their work. 3. Specific examples are worth their weight in gold.

We’d love to hear the experiences of others, and engage in a discussion of how to train PhD students. So, when you get a chance, share your thoughts!