Tag: EGOS

EGOS2023 ST76: Organizing in Historically Marginalized Societies

Steph

Hi friends and colleagues,

If you are to attend EGOS 2023 in Cagliari, we would like to attract your attention to our EGOS sub-theme: “Theorizing Organizing in ‘Historically Marginalized Societies’: Embracing, Calibrating or Distancing from Mainstream Organizational and Management Theories?“

Format: Hybrid | Deadline for submitting the abstract: January 10, 2023, 23:59:59 CET.

Convenors: Sofiane Baba (University of Sherbrooke), Innan Sasaki (Warwick University) and Taïeb Hafsi (HEC Montréal).

Link to the CfP: www.egos.org/2023_Cagliari/…

Should you have any questions, please send us an email at sofiane.baba@usherbrooke.ca, innan.sasaki@wbs.ac.uk, or taieb.2.hafsi@hec.ca.

All the best,

The convenors

****

Historically marginalized societies are those societies that have experienced oppression, marginalization, and cultural genocide from a more dominant force at some point in their recent history through colonization, wars, and other forms of domination (e.g., Baba, Sasaki, & Vaara, 2021). Despite gaining their freedom and independence, many of these societies are coping with historical marginalization’s long-term psychological and sociological effects (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015). As a result, these societies continue to be tied with colonial legacy and institutions imposed by the dominant force while deliberately ignoring local identities. This situation generates strong tensions for these societies as they seek to (re)imagine their future ideal society as characterized by their unique identity and values (Djilali, 2017). It is all people’s right to be valued for who they are and for the cultural values and traditions they uphold. However, history and today’s society show that such fundamental human right is not always respected. In this vein, this sub-theme delves into the theorization of organizing in historically marginalized societies where cultural survival is vital, both in developing and developed countries. In particular, this sub-theme seeks to understand how actors navigate through these historical legacies, how they become who they really are, and how they try to influence the future of their society.
 
These societies are scattered worldwide, from the First Nations of Canada to those of Australia, from Northern Africa to Southern Africa, including Latin American countries and many more. These societies tend to have strong ontological differences from the Western view, i.e., circular view of time rather than linear, a strong role of traditions, religious beliefs and spirituality, collectivist societies rather than individualistic (Baba & Fortin-Lefebvre, 2021; Cilliers, 2018). While they are different, these societies are also simultaneously searching for themselves and their uniqueness (Stora, 2021). Historically marginalized societies have lost both material and symbolic resources due to colonization, wars, and other forms of domination (Bourdieu, 1962). Such loss is often followed by coping mechanisms like mourning, resistance, escaping, or accepting and adapting to survive (e.g., Alkhaled & Sasaki, 2021; Martí & Fernández, 2013). However, these losses have long-lasting effects, which scholars are still discovering. From what we know, they lead to instability in the society marked by historically deeply rooted ideological and political conflicts, to institutional voids, and overall, to identity issues (Harbi, 2001). But a common objective in these societies is usually the struggle to culturally survive and uphold their unique traditions, cultures, and way of life while being influenced by more dominant cultural values and systems, especially emanating from the dominant forces and former colonizers (Fortin-Lefebvre & Baba, 2021).
 
The Age of Enlightenment, the pivotal period of modernity, is probably still central to our vision of management and organizations: effectiveness, efficiency, rationality being the mottoes. In this quest to rationalize the behavior of organizations, management, and organizational theories have never been so abundant and popular. Paradoxically, these theories have never been so criticized for their questionable utility, the process that shapes them (Filatotchev, Ireland, & Stahl, 2022), their Western hegemony (Bruton et al., 2022), and their impacts on ecosystems (Parker, 2002). We build on Petriglieri’s (2020) insight that we need to put “to rest the way we conceive and portray and practice management” and that we “need a truly human management, one that makes room for our bodies and spirits alongside our intellect and skills”.
 
All in all, theoretically, it is worthwhile theorizing how actors in such historically marginalized societies organize themselves because management and organization theories remain considerably colored by Western realities and phenomena and this, for a long time (Kiggundu, Jørgensen, & Hafsi, 1983). Overall, we are interested in studies from around the world that explore and unpack how the culture, worldviews, and everyday life (individual, social and institutional) of historically marginalized contexts (re)shape our understanding of organizing and organizations. More specifically, with such an idea in mind, we suggest (but should not be limited to) the following possible research questions. Empirical, conceptual, as well as methodological papers are welcomed. Examples of research questions of interest are listed in the CfP.

EGOS2023 ST64: Archival Data

Steph

Sub-theme 64: Qualitative Research with Archival Data

We continue our series of history-relevant sub-themes at next year’s EGOS.

Convenors:

Call for Papers

Qualitative researchers have developed an arsenal of tools for theory development, including techniques for research design, data collection, and data analysis (Grodal et al., 2021). In years past, archival qualitative data – textual traces that actors (e.g,. people, organizations or markets) leave behind when they go about their daily business – was often used as a side dish to field work – interviews and ethnographic observations – and was thus not given much methodological consideration (Yates, 2014). Today, archival research is becoming more prominent in organization studies (e.g., Aversa et al., 2021; Grodal, 2018). This recent growth has been largely spurred by the digitalization of “texts” – for example, written documents, visual representations, and physical designs (Kahl & Grodal, 2016). Some of this digitalization pertains to recent events: as our social and work lives increasingly move online, we leave digital traces of interactions both within and across organizations. Yet digitalization of data is not limited to contemporaneous data. Textual sources have been produced for centuries, and these older archives are increasingly being digitalized, providing us with unprecedent access to textual data that span both time and space. For example, all New York Times articles are now available with the touch of a keyboard, and The Library of Congress’ is steadily expanding the digitalization of its entire content. The time is thus ripe to give this important tool for theory development its deserved attention.
 
Drawing on archival materials presents researchers with an opportunity to extend our theories by studying phenomena from unique and unexplored angles. First, archives reflect the actions, cognitions, and meanings produced outside of the research context. In this respect, archives act as ethnographic materials in which actions and sensemaking can be observed as they occur in their natural setting . Archives can simultaneously span multiple temporal or spatial locations, allowing the researcher to transcend the physical limitations of being in multiple places at the same time. Thus we can trace organizational phenomena across longer time periods, as well as historical events no longer accessible to us, thus enriching longitudinal and process studies (Bansal et al., 2018; Langley, 1999). Lastly, archival data allows us to trace aggregate phenomena that are not readily observed with an ethnographic gaze, such as field-level studies (Ventresca & Mohr, 2002).
 
While archival research is increasing in prominence, we lack adequate techniques to tackle each stage of research, from sampling to collection to analysis, and lastly theory development. New challenges arises both from the heterogeneity and abundance of the archival data. First, qualitative researchers have historically drawn on snowball sampling (Biernacki & Waldorf, 1981), convenience sampling, or direct observation. These techniques arose out of the limited availability of possible sources. But the surge in archival materials now confronts us with the problem of abundance rather than scarcity. There is a nearly infinite availability of data, but our capacity to collect, analyze and theorize these data are finite. While quantitative techniques can hande such large data sets, as qualitative scholars we need to consider how we can manage this abundance throughout the research cycle, from collecting and sampling to analyzing large data sets.
 
Second, traditional qualitative research emphasizes data created and collected first-hand by one or a few researchers. Archival sources instead confront us with heterogeneity: Out data may have been created by multiple authors or stakeholders (sometimes anonymous), for different audiences, and presented in multiple genres (Orlikowski & Yates, 1994). In addition, digital “texts” are not only written materials; they include videos, audio, visuals; moreover, they can be paired with physical objects as well (Kahl & Grodal, 2015; Phillips & Hardy, 2002). Each text is imbued with cultural meanings that cannot be separated from its medium (Meyer et al., 2013). For example, the meaning of an emoji cannot be adequately captured through verbal description. Archival data are situated social products (Prior, 2003); they may be the subject of study (their contents) or the object of study (who created them, why, under what conditions). For this reason, archival analysis foregrounds epistemological considerations that have become taken-for-granted in qualitative field research. Heterogeneity additionally brings up questions for how we can collect and analyze such data while developing rigorous and parsimonious theories.
 
These are just some of the questions pertaining qualitative research using archival data that we hope to address in this sub-theme. The first goal of this sub-theme is to create a community of qualitative scholars engaged in with archival methods. Second, we aim to begin a collective conversation about the tools, techniques, and best practices that we need to tackle to collect, analyze, and theorize archival data. Studies in this track may include, but are not restricted to theoretical or empirical papers that cover these topics:

  • Reflections and/or proposed techniques for using archival methods;
  • Studies drawing on historical archives;
  • Studies that rely on contemporaneous and dynamic archives, such as a currently unfolding or ongoing event, e.g., “whistleblower files”;
  • Studies drawing on digital data, such as online discussion forums, social media, “digital ethnographies” or other sources;
  • Studies that focus on archives from a single organization, place, or single event; as well as studies that draw from multiple organizations, broad industries or field, or connect various events together;
  • Studies that use archives as a primary data source, and supplement or combine it with first-hand sources (interviews or ethnographies).

References

  • Aversa, P., Bianchi, E., Gaio, L., & Nucciarelli, A. (2021): “The Grand Tour: The Role of Catalyzing Places for Industry Emergence.” Academy of Management Journal, first published online on September 10, 2021, https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2019.1303.
  • Bansal, P., Smith, W.K., & Vaara, E. (2018): “New ways of seeing through qualitative research.” Academy of Management Journal, 61 (4), 1189–1195.
  • Biernacki, P., & Waldorf, D. (1981): “Snowball Sampling: Problems and Techniques of Chain Referral Sampling.” Sociological Methods Research, 10 (2), 141–163.
  • Grodal, S. (2018): “Field expansion and contraction: How communities shape social and symbolic boundaries.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 63 (4), 783–818.
  • Grodal, S., Anteby, M., & Holm, A.L. (2021): “Achieving rigor in qualitative analysis: The role of active categorization in theory building.” Academy of Management Review, 46 (3), 591–612.
  • Kahl, S.J., & Grodal, S. (2015): “Multilevel Discourse Analysis: A Structured Approach to Analyzing Longitudinal Data.” In: K.D. Elsbach, R. Kramer (eds.): Handbook of Qualitative Organizational Research. New York: Routledge, 373–381.
  • Kahl, S.J., & Grodal, S. (2016): “Discursive strategies and radical technological change: Multilevel discourse analysis of the early computer (1947–1958).” Strategic Management Journal, 37 (1), 149–166.
  • Langley, A. (1999): “Strategies for theorizing from process data.” Academy of Management Review, 24 (4), 691–710.
  • Meyer, R.E., Höllerer, M.A., Jancsary, D., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2013): “The visual dimension in organizing, organization, and organization research: Core ideas, current developments, and promising avenues.” Academy of Management Annals, 7 (1), 489–555.
  • Orlikowski, W.J0,. & Yates, J. (1994): “Genre repertoire: The structuring of communicative practices in organizations.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 39 (4), 541–574.
  • Phillips, N., & Hardy, C. (2002): Discourse Analysis: Investigating Processes of Social Construction. New York: SAGE Publications.
  • Prior, L. (2003): Using Documents in Social Research. New York: SAGE Publications.
  • Ventresca, M.J., & Mohr, J.W. (2002): “Archival Research Methods.” In: J.A.C. Baum (ed.): The Blackwell Companion to Organizations. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 805–828.
  • Yates, J. (2014): “Understanding historical methods in organization studies.” In: M. Bucheli & R.D. Wadhwani (eds.): Organizations in Time: History, Theory, Methods. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 265–283.
  •  

Stine Grodal is a Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, USA. Her research focuses on the emergence and evolution of markets, industries and organizational fields with a specific focus on the role categories and their associated labels play in this process. Stine’s work is interdisciplinary and blends theories from sociology and psychology with strategy. She mostly draws on qualitative methods but combines qualitative analysis with quantitative analysis and experiments when necessary. Her work has, among others, been published in ‘Administrative Science Quarterly’, ‘American Sociological Review’, ‘Organization Science’, and ‘Academy of Management Journal’.

Anders Dahl Krabbe is an Assistant Professor at King’s College London, UK. His research focuses the evolution of markets and industries, often with attention to technological change and broader cultural trends in society. In terms of methods, Anders opts for inductive, qualitative approaches, often drawing on archival material. His research has been published or is forthcoming in ‘Research Policy’ and ‘Research in the Sociology of Organizations’.

Micah Rajunov is a PhD candidate in the Management & Organizations Department at Boston University, USA. Trained in qualitative methods, his research experience encompasses fieldwork, archival methods, and digital ethnography. Theoretically, Micah is interested in occupations, technology, and the future of work; current projects include an analysis of physicians during the AIDS epidemic, and a study on the careers of competitive video gamers.

EGOS tracks relevant to history

Steph

And as the end of the year nears, so do the January deadlines for AOM and EGOS. EGOS 2021 offers bountiful opportunities for submitting history-based and history-inspired pieces of organizational scholarship this year. Below a quick summary of the main tracks that are likely interested in historical perspectives:

Sub-theme 01: [SWG] Organization & Time: The Situated Activity of Time Enactment

Convenors:
Tor Hernes Copenhagen Business School, Denmarkth.ioa@cbs.dk
Joanna Karmowska Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdomjkarmowska@brookes.ac.uk
Claus Rerup Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Germanyc.rerup@fs.de

Call for Papers

The third sub-theme of Standing Working Group (SWG) 01 will concern the more situated, on-going activity of time enactment in organizations. The on-going time enactment is crucial for understanding a host of issues, including the very agency of the moment, the roles of temporal structures, and the on-going interplay between evoked pasts and projected futures. It will lend focus to temporal structure, including routines, practices and materiality, through which time is enacted in organizations. It will connect the situated time enactment to different variations and combinations of near and distant pasts and futures, while considering factors such as agency, emotions and aesthetics. The empirical focus invites, but not exclusively, papers on topics such as digitalisation, creative organizations and start-ups.

Sub-theme 24: Craft in Modern Society

Convenors:
Jochem Kroezen University of Cambridge, United Kingdomj.kroezen@jbs.cam.ac.uk
Innan Sasaki University of Warwick, United Kingdominnan.sasaki@wbs.ac.uk
Pursey P.M.A.R. Heugens Erasmus University, The Netherlandspheugens@rsm.nl

Call for Papers

The last two decades have witnessed an extraordinary resurgence of interest in craft and craftsmanship. Once thought to be an obsolete mode of organizing and producing for modern society, now craft movements appear to be reconfiguring entire sectors, with examples ranging from beer brewing (Kroezen & Heugens, 2019), to watchmaking (Raffaelli, 2019), to barbering (Ocejo, 2017) and to maker spaces (Browder et al., 2019). In addition to the transformative powers of craft production, there is also a surprisingly broad range of instances where heritage crafts have managed to survive despite pressures of modernization and globalization, such as the case in musical instrument making (Cattani et al., 2017) or Japanese family firms (Sasaki et al., 2019). Increasingly, management and organization scholars are paying attention to these phenomena across various strands of research and are contributing to a growing understanding of (1) what defines craft as opposed to established theories of organizing and (2) how empirically craft may be valued and organized differently across time and space. This sub-theme intends to offer a setting for scholars interested in craft and craftsmanship to advance our collective understanding of the concept and related phenomena and firmly establish craft as an object of investigation and theorization in its own right.

Sub-theme 33: Historical Organization Studies in Action: Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Social Innovation

Convenors:
Mairi Maclean University of Bath, United Kingdomkmm57@bath.ac.uk
Roy Suddaby University of Victoria, Canadarsuddaby@uvic.ca
Stewart Clegg University of Technology, Sydney, Australiastewart.clegg@uts.edu.au

Call for Papers

Historical organization studies is ‘organizational research that draws on historical sources, methods and knowledge to explore, refine and develop theoretical ideas and conceptual insights’ (Maclean et al., 2016). Put simply, it seeks to blend history and organization studies. Its status is that of emergent academic movement rather than established community of practice. For over two decades, organization theorists have emphasized the need for more and better research recognizing the importance of the past in shaping the present and future (Clegg, 2006; Kieser, 1994). Some have identified a distinct historic turn in organization studies led by scholars who perceive the field to have been constrained by its orientation towards contemporary cross-sectional studies covering limited periods of time (Clark & Rowlinson, 2004; Mills et al., 2016). By historicising organizational research, it is argued, the contexts and forces bearing upon organizations might be more fully recognized and analyses of organizational dynamics might be improved. But how, precisely, might a traditionally empirically-oriented discipline, such as history, be incorporated into a theoretically-oriented discipline such as organization studies? In recent years this has been the topic of extensive debate, giving rise to a number of ground-breaking publications (Bucheli & Wadhwani, 2014; Kipping & Üsdiken, 2014; Rowlinson et al., 2014; Suddaby et al., 2010) and a flurry of Special Issues in journals including, inter alia. Academy of Management Review, Organization Studies, Management Learning, and Organization.

Sub-theme 49: Organizational Memory Studies: Toward an Inclusive Research Agenda

Convenors:
Hamid Foroughi University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom foroughi.hamid@gmail.com
Sébastien Mena City, University of London, United Kingdom sebastien.mena.1@city.ac.uk
William M. Foster University of Alberta, Canada wfoster@ualberta.ca

Call for Papers

Collective memories are powerful factors in shaping both individual perceptions and social behaviour, and as such, are important for organizing processes. Organizations are also arenas for the engagement of various social actors in collective processes of remembering and forgetting. While organizational research has tended to adopt a psychological metaphor of storage and retrieval of knowledge to understand organizational memory (e.g., Walsh & Ungson, 1991; Ren & Argote, 2011), recent advances have also engaged with sociological perspectives on memory (e.g., Hatch & Schultz, 2017; Foroughi, 2019; Mena et al., 2016; Ravasi et al., 2019). For instance, the interest in the social construction of organizational mnemonics (Coraiola et al., 2015) has fuelled the development of theoretical approaches on the practices of remembering and the uses of the past in achieving organizational strategies (e.g., Foster, et al., 2017; Wadhwani et al., 2018). Others have also looked at the importance of organizations for broader processes of social remembering and forgetting, such as the perpetuation of inequalities or the collective forgetting of corporate irresponsibility (e.g., Cutcher et al., 2019; Mena, et al., 2016). Yet, others have highlighted the role of diverse stakeholders, such as employees, customers and investors/donors, in shaping an organizational memory (Bell & Taylor, 2016; Foroughi & Al-Amoudi, 2019). Altogether, these examinations of memory in and around organizations from various perspectives have been called ‘Organizational Memory Studies’ (OMS) (Rowlinson et al., 2010).

Sub-theme 59: Organizing in the Age of Nationalism

Convenors:
Alexei Koveshnikov Aalto University, Finland alexei.koveshnikov@aalto.fi
Sally Riad Victoria Universiy of Wellington, New Zealand sally.riad@vuw.ac.nz
Eero Vaara University of Oxford, United Kingdom eero.vaara@sbs.ox.ac.uk

Call for Papers

Nationalism is a fundamentally important dynamic force in contemporary society (Billig, 1995; Gellner & Breuilly, 1983; Wodak, 2017). There are different interpretations of what nationalism is and a multitude of approaches to study it (Delanty & Kumar, 2006). Among these, Benedict Anderson’s (1983) idea of nations as “imagined communities” is based on the assumption that people in societies can imagine their unity and develop a sense of belonging by way of myths, symbols, and stories that help them to identify with and as a community that is (seen as) the nation. It applies well to studying contemporary nationalism in its multiple forms, and it has proved to be useful for moving discussions from objectivist to subjectivist conceptions of national unity (Segal & Handler, 2006). It is especially relevant today as we enter an era of “post-truth” politics and “alternative facts” (Knight & Tsoukas, 2019) where nationalism and constructions of nationalism become increasingly prominent parts of language games played by powerful societal actors such as politicians and corporate executives for the purposes of political mobilization and legitimation.

EGOS Subtheme 31 CFP: Imprints, Path Dependencies and Beyond

Dan

The second EGOS track devoted to history is on the theme of “Intricacies of Organizational Stability and Change: Historical Imprints, Path Dependencies, and Beyond.” For more information, see below or click here.

Sub-theme 31: Intricacies of Organizational Stability and Change: Historical Imprints, Path Dependencies and Beyond

To upload your short paper, please log in to the Member Area.
Convenors:
Christopher Marquis
Cornell University, USA
Georg Schreyögg
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, & University of Graz, Austria
Jörg Sydow
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Call for Papers

This sub-theme seeks to bring together researchers from all over the world who study how organizations deal with change when they are confronted with processes that promote stability, including imprinting, path dependence and inertia more generally. The aim is to foster exchange of fresh empirical insights and new theoretical ideas to further understand stabilizing and destabilizing mechanisms in organizations and inter-organizational relations. The sub-theme connects to the general theme of the 36th EGOS Colloquium – “Organizing for a Sustainable Future: Responsibility, Renewal & Resistance – by examining the dynamics of resistance and renewal in and between organizations. It focuses on the dialectics of making use of routines, its reinforcement and unintended consequences in terms of rigidities, dysfunctional flips, organizational conservatism, and related processes.

The field of stabilizing dynamics – or more generally, the tension between stability and change – provides a particularly advantageous context for exploring the consequences of change efforts as they are developing on different levels: group, organizational, inter-organizational and organizational field, embedded in different institutional environments and numerous strategic contexts. At the same time, research on such types of processes and the evolution of organizational dynamics could benefit from EGOS, as the Colloquium provides a particularly fruitful context for bringing together research from a wide variety of disciplines, theoretical backgrounds, and institutional settings.

The sub-theme wishes to attract both high-quality contributions that are ready to be submitted to a research journal as well as research in progress that explores these challenging issues. It seeks to provide an opportunity for engaging in constructive dialogue and to encourage mutual learning among participating scholars.

We particularly invite contributions that focus on one or more of the following issues:

  • The role of initial conditions, internal and external to an organization, for triggering stabilizing dynamics in terms of imprinting, path dependence and inertial alignments
  • Making stabilizing dynamics reflexive in everyday organizing
  • Stabilizing processes as systemic forces that transcend individual routine compliance
  • Self-reinforcing processes as drivers of stabilizing dynamics
  • Diffusion of stabilizing and change dynamics and contextual factors that foster their emergence
  • Processes and interventions likely to modify or to stop stabilizing dynamics (e.g. external shocks, paradoxical interventions, charismatic leadership or unlearning)
  • Re-conceiving the tension between stabilizing and change dynamics as multi-level-phenomena

Papers studying such issues and related topics, empirically or conceptually, comparatively or monographically, with regard to recent or historical developments, are cordially invited.

References

  • Farjoun, M. (2010): “Beyond Dualism: Stability and Change as a Duality.” Academy of Management Review, 35 (2), 202–225.
  • Gilbert, C.G. (2005): “Unbundling the Structure of Inertia: Resource versus Routine Rigidity.” Academy of Management Journal, 48 (5), 741–763.
  • Kremser, W., & Schreyögg, G. (2016): “The Dynamics of Interrelated Routines. Introducing the Cluster Level.” Organization Science, 27 (3), 698–721.
  • Marquis, C., & Kunyuan, Q. (2018): “Waking from Mao’s Dream: Communist Ideological Imprinting and the Internationalization of Entrepreneurial Ventures in China.” Administrative Science Quarterly, first published online on September 14, 2018; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0001839218792837
  • Marquis, C., & Tilcsik, A. (2013): “Imprinting: Toward a Multilevel Theory.” Academy of Management Annals, 7 (1), 195–245.
  • Schreyögg, G., & Sydow, J. (2010): “Organizing for Fluidity? Dilemmas of New Organizational Forms.” Organization Science, 21 (6), 1251–1262.
  • Sydow, J., Schreyögg, G., & Koch, J. (2009): “Organizational Path Dependence: Opening the Black Box.” Academy of Management Review, 34 (4), 689–709.
  • Tripsas, M. (2009): “Technology, Identity, and Inertia Through the Lens of ‘The Digital Photography Company’.” Organization Science, 20 (2), 441–460.
Christopher Marquis is currently Samuel C. Johnson Professor in Sustainable Global Enterprise at Cornell University, USA. His recent research focuses on global sustainability and imprinting, especially how these processes have unfolded in China and emerging markets.
Georg Schreyögg is Professor emeritus at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, and Professor of Managment und Organizational Capabilities at the University of Graz, Austria. He was a member of the editorial board of several national and international journals. Georg’s current research interests include organizational change, routines, organizational capabilities and path dependence.
Jörg Sydow is Professor of Management and Inter-firm Cooperation at the School of Business & Economics of Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. His recent research focuses on creative industries, inter-firm networking, especially in service and science-based industries.
To upload your short paper, please log in to the Member Area.

Organization & Time: Understanding the Past (and Future) in the Present

Steph

EGOS Conference Hamburg, 2-4 July 2020

Sub-Theme 1 (SWG)

Convenors:

David Chandler
University of Colorado Denver, USA
david.chandler@ucdenver.edu

Majken Schultz
Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
ms.ioa@cbs.dk

Roy Suddaby
University of Victoria, Canada, & University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
rsuddaby@uvic.ca

Call for Papers

Contemporary organizations operate increasingly according to a logic of speed and instantaneity, while at the same time increasing their temporal spans to either draw upon their histories or to cope with distant future challenges (Schultz & Hernes, 2013). Within widely varying “temporal depths” (Bluedorn, 2002), different organizational actors carve out wide combinations of temporal structures (Ancona et al., 2001) and trajectories (Lawrence et al., 2001) that shape the organizations themselves and their relationships with other organizational actors. Recent work in organization theory has begun the search for ways to analytically and empirically handle the temporal complexity that organizational actors face (Hussenot & Missonier, 2016). This sub-theme aims to extend this work through joint inquiry.

Within organization theory, many of the actions and outcomes we study are the result of processes that occur over long periods of time (Bluedorn & Denhardt, 1988; Goodman et al., 2001; Lee & Liebenau, 1999). These processes reach into the distant past, but also stretch into the unknown future. In spite of this, within much macro-level research, temporal issues are rarely theorized rigorously. As such, we seek to host a discussion among colleagues from across the range of organization theories to (a) more comprehensively theorize the past, present, and future in relation to organizations and organizing, and (b) stimulate work on theories of time itself (Pierson, 2004). This discussion, we believe, will have profound implications for our understanding of organizations and how they evolve. In particular, this sub-theme builds on the first sub-theme of the SWG (in 2019) to focus on the various ways the past are used in organizations and enacted in the present. We also include topics related to how expectations for the future intersect with uses of the past. Organizations draw upon their own past across widely different timespans, which may extend from a few days to centuries; they also draw upon past practices and symbols from craft, traditions, regions, or myths (e.g., Dacin et al., 2018; Schultz & Hernes, 2013).

Our goal for this sub-theme, therefore, is twofold – to more comprehensively theorize the past, present, and future in relation to organizations and organizing (e.g., fostering more complete analyses of complex temporal processes), but also to stimulate theory about the past, present, and future in a phenomenological sense. We seek to build an inclusive conversation that appeals to many theories and methods within organization theory. For example, we are not simply interested in understanding long periods of time as path-dependent processes, but in understanding things like temporal trajectories, time as a social construct, the past as a resource in the present, and the cumulative evolution of institutions and their underlying values.

The resulting discussion presents the opportunity for an exciting avenue of research that includes, but is not limited, to the following:

  • To explore the effects of “ancestry” and “legacy” on the founding, evolution, and dissolution of descendent organizations (Walsh & Bartunek, 2011).
  • To understand the role of rhetoric in constructing history that serves as a source of competitive advantage for organizations (Suddaby et al., 2010).
  • To focus on the nature of the distant past, exploring how organizations draw on historical artifacts and narratives to build authenticity and shape identity (Hatch & Schultz, 2017).
  • To understand how organizations and other social actors use history strategically to foster identification with key stakeholders (Suddaby et al., 2015).
  • To study character and values as historically-accreted commitments that create meaning for individuals within institutional contexts (Chandler, 2014; Kraatz & Flores, 2015).
  • To conceptualize how distant pasts and distant futures connect, in the present (Chandler & Foster, 2015; Schultz & Hernes, forthcoming). Distant pasts can be evoked in the present, but in a processual or pragmatist view any evoking of the past has a future orientation.

 
In this spirit, researchers across the range of organization theories are encouraged to apply for this sub-theme to help place the past, present, and future on a firmer theoretical footing. Our goal is to foster discussions that encompass theory (e.g., path dependence, sedimentation) and methodology (e.g., qualitative analysis, rhetorical analysis) to enable the more effective theorization and empirical study of the essential role of the past, present, and future in understanding organizations and organizing processes.

 

References

  • Ancona, D.G., Goodman, P.S., Lawrence, B.S., & Tushman, M.L. (2001): “Time: A New Research Lens.” Academy of Management Review, 26 (4), 645–663.
  • Bluedorn, A.C. (2002): The Human Organization of Time: Temporal Realities and Experience. Stanford, CA: Stanford Business Books.
  • Bluedorn, A.C., & Denhardt, R.B. (1988): “Time and Organizations.” Journal of Management, 14 (2), 299–320.
  • Chandler, D. (2014): “Morals, Markets, and Values-based Businesses.” Academy of Management Review, 39 (3), 396–406.
  • Chandler, D., & Foster, W.M. (2015): “A Present Past: A Historical Perspective on Institutional Maintenance and Change.” Academy of Management Annual Meeting. Vancouver, Canada.
  • Dacin, T.M., Dacin, P.A., & Kent, D. (2018): “Tradition in Organizations: A Custodianship Framework.” Academy of Management Annals, 13 (1), 342–373.
  • Goodman, P.S., Lawrence, B.S., Ancona, D.G., & Tushman, M.L. (2001): “Introduction to the Special Issue: Time in Organizations.” Academy of Management Review, 26 (4), 507–511.
  • Hatch, M.J., & Schultz, M. (2017): “Toward a Theory of Using History Authentically: Historicizing in the Carlsberg Group.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 62 (4), 657–697.
  • Hussenot, A.&, Missonier, S. (2016): “Encompassing Stability and Novelty in Organization Studies: An Events-based Approach.” Organization Studies, 37 (4), 523–546.
  • Kraatz, M.S., & Flores, R. (2015): “Reinfusing Values.” In: M.S. Kraatz (ed.): Institutions and Ideals: Philip Selznick’s Legacy for Organizational Studies. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 44. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 353–381.
  • Lawrence, T.B., Winn, M.I., & Jennings, P.D. (2001): “The Temporal Dynamics of Institutionalization.” Academy of Management Review, 26 (4), 624–644.
  • Lee, H., & Liebenau, J. (1999): “Time in Organizational Studies: Towards a New Research Direction.” Organization Studies, 20 (6), 1035–1058.
  • Pierson, P. (2004): Politics in Time: History, Institutions, and Social Analysis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Schultz, M., & Hernes, T. (forthcoming): ““Temporal interplay between strategy and identity: Punctuated, subsumed and sustained modes.” Strategic Organization, first published online on April 30, 2019; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1476127019843834
  • Suddaby, R., Foster, W., & Quinn Trank, C. (2010): “Rhetorical history as a source of competitive advantage.” In: B. Joel A.C. & J. Lampel (eds.): The Globalization of Strategy Research. Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. 27. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 147–173.
  • Suddaby, R., & Foster, W.M., & Quinn Trank, C. (2015): “Organizational Re-Membering: The Use of Rhetorical History to Create Identification.” In: M. Pratt, M. Schultz, B. Ashforth & D. Ravasi (eds.): Oxford Handbook of Organizational Identity. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 297–316.
  • Walsh, I.J., & Bartunek, J.M. (2011): “Cheating the Fates: Organizational Foundings in the Wake of Demise.” Academy of Management Journal, 54 (5), 1017–1044.

David Chandler is Associate Professor of Management at the University of Colorado Denver, USA. His research focuses on understanding how organizations interact with their complex institutional environments. This research has been published in ‘Administrative Science Quarterly’, ‘Organization Science’, ‘Academy of Management Review’, and ‘Journal of Management’. He has also written the book “Corporate Social Responsibility: A Strategic Perspective” (Business Expert Press, 2015) as part of the UN PRME book collection and is author of the textbook “Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation” (5th edition, SAGE Publications, 2020).

Majken Schultz is Professor of Management and Organization Studies at Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Denmark, and member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. She is co-founder of the Center for Organizational Time at CBS. Her recent research focuses on temporality in organizations, including how history is used for the future, as well as how future strategy becomes meaningful through identity. She has published in ‘Academy of Management Journal’, ‘Academy of Management Review’, ‘Administrative Science Quarterly’, ‘Human Relations’, ‘European Journal of Marketing’ and co-written/edited more than a dozen books.

Roy Suddaby is Professor & Winspear Chair at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria, Canada. He is also Research Professor at Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University, United Kingdom. His research focuses on organizational and social change and has been published in ‘Academy of Management Journal’, ‘Academy of Management Review’, ‘Administrative Science Quarterly’, ‘Human Relations’, ‘Journal of Business Venturing’ and related leading management journals.

EGOS sub-theme 30 programme

Featured Steph

The final programme for the EGOS sub-theme on Historical Organization Studies is out now!

EGOS 2019 Edinburgh Sub-theme 30: Realizing the Potential of Historical Organization Studies: Programme

Convenors:

Stewart Clegg, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

stewart.clegg@uts.edu.au

Mairi Maclean, University of Bath, United Kingdom

kmm57@bath.ac.uk

Roy Suddaby, University of Victoria, Canada

rsuddaby@uvic.ca

Session I: Thursday, July 04, 11:00 to 12:30

– Parallel Stream –

Parallel Stream A: Theory 1 – Room: UEBS – LT 1A

Chair: Roy Suddaby

  1. Gabrielle Durepos and Russ Vince

Toward (an) historical reflexivity: Potential and practice

Discussant: Andrea Bernardi

  • François Bastien, William Foster and Diego M. Coraiola

Historicizing strategy: Exploring differences in three Indigenous communities across Canada

Discussant: Stephanie Decker

Parallel Stream B: Theory 2 – Room: UEBS – Auditorium

Chair: Mairi Maclean

  1. Alistair Mutch

Historical explorations of practices

Discussant: Audrey-Anne Cyr

  • Richard J. Badham, Todd Bridgman and Stephen Cummings

The organisation-as-iceberg metaphor: A strong defence for historical re-surfacing

Discussant: Guy Huber

Session II: Thursday, July 04, 14:00 to 15:30

– Parallel Stream –

Parallel Stream A: Institutional Entrepreneurship – Room: UEBS – LT 1A

Chair: Stewart Clegg

  1. Parisa I. Baig and Andrew Godley

A new perspective on the paradox of embedded agency: Legitimacy and its acquisition in institutional entrepreneurship

Discussant: Trevor Israelsen

  • Micki Eisenman and Tal Simons

A rising tide lifts all boats: The origins of institutionalized aesthetic innovation

Discussant: Ken Sakai

  • Mairi Maclean, Charles Harvey and Roy Suddaby

Entrepreneurial agency and institutional change in the co-creation of the global hotel industry

Discussant: Tom McGovern

Parallel Stream B: Rhetorical History 1 – Room: UEBS – Auditorium

Chair: Roy Suddaby

  1. Henrik Koll and Kim Esmark

Rhetorical history as managerial strategizing: The past as an object of struggles during organizational change in a Scandinavian telecom

Discussant: John G.L. Millar

  • Eugene Choi, Ikujiro Nonaka and R. Daniel Wadhwani

Selfless quest for corporate-level oneness: Application of rhetorical history as an essential organizational praxis of wise leadership

Discussant: Stefanie Ruel 

  • Çetin Önder, Meltem Özge Özcanli and Sükrü Özen

When competitors are co-narrators: Contested rhetorical organizational history

Discussant: Simon Oertel

Session III: Friday, July 05, 09:00 to 10:30

– Parallel Stream –

Parallel Stream A: Institutions – Room: UEBS – LT 1A

Chair: Charles Harvey

  1. Pamela A. Popielarz

Organizational legacy and normativity in organizations

Discussant: Gabrielle Durepos

  • Natalia Korchagina

Disrupting oppressive institutions through memory: Interstitial events as catalysts of the official commemoration of alternative memories

Discussant: Anna Soulsby

  • Grégoire Croidieu, Birthe Soppe and Walter W. Powell

How contestation buttresses legitimacy: A historical analysis of the 1855 Bordeaux wine classification

Discussant: Garance Marechal  

Parallel Stream B: Rhetorical History 2 – Room: UEBS – Auditorium

Chair: William Foster

  1. Simon Oertel, Franziska Hein, Karin Knorr and Kirsten Thommes

The application of rhetorical history in crafting an organizational identity

Discussant: Henrik Koll

  • Stefanie Ruel, Linda Dyer and Albert J. Mills

Gendered rhetorical ‘histories’ and antenarratives: The women of the Canadian Alouette I and II satellites

Discussant: Çetin Önder

  • John G.L. Millar

Rhetorical history and the competitive advantage of the Edinburgh fund management cluster

Discussant: Eugene Choi

Session IV: Friday, July 05, 11:00 to 12:30

– Parallel Stream –

Parallel Stream A: Sources and Methods – Room: UEBS – LT 1A

Chair: Charles Harvey

  1. Adam Nix and Stephanie Decker

Between sources and stuff: Using digital historical sources

Discussant: Richard J. Badham 

  • Guy Huber, Andrea Bernardi and Ioanna Iordanou

Critical discourse analysis: At the intersection of sociology and historiography

Discussant: Rohny Saylors

  • Andrew Smith

Corporate archives, history as sensemaking, and strategic decision-making at a multinational bank

Discussant: Andrew Godley 

Parallel Stream B: Applied Theory – Room: UEBS – Auditorium

Chair: Mairi Maclean

  1. Thomas Davis

Two triangles: Putting Lefebvre’s ‘spatial triad’ to work in the Baltic Triangle, Liverpool

Discussant: Nicholas D. Wong

  • Garance Marechal and Stephen Linstead

Kitchen magic! Early media chefs’ reconfiguration of the field of cooking

Discussant: Grégoire Croidieu

  • Sonia Coman and Andrea Casey

The enduring presence of the founder in collection museums: A historical and interdisciplinary perspective

Discussant: Alistair Mutch

Session V: Friday, July 05, 14:00 to 15:30

– Parallel Stream –

Parallel Stream A: Politics and Parliaments – Room: UEBS – LT 1A

Chair: Diego M. Coraiola

  1. Sabina Siebert

‘The Churchill effect’: Parliaments and their history

Discussant: Pilar Acosta

  • Sarah Robinson and Ron Kerr

‘Remember Mackintosh!’ Historical homology in the design of the Scottish parliament

Discussant: Christiane Chihadeh

  • Priscila Almeida and Eduardo Davel

Connecting cultural history to organizational studies: Contributions from the political festivity of Dois de Julho in Salvador (Bahia, Brazil)

Discussant: Diego M. Coraiola

Parallel Stream B: Memory – Room: UEBS – Auditorium

Chair: Gabrielle Durepos

  1. Karan Sonpar, Federica Pazzaglia, Matthew Lyle and Ian J. Walsh

Memory work in response to breaches of trust: The Irish Banking Inquiry

Discussant: Andrew Smith

  • Michel W. Lander

Tainting memories: The impact of stigmatization and institutional legacies on the founding of Scotch Whisky distilleries, 1680–1914

Discussant: Ron Kerr

Rohny Saylors

  • Using microstoria to study (re)membering in the context of (dis)enchantment: Empirical insights from the history of Sears and Walmart

Discussant:  Andrea Casey

Session VI: Saturday, July 06, 09:00 to 10:30

– Parallel Stream –

Parallel Stream A: Processes and Boundaries – Room: UEBS – LT 1A

Chair: Anna Soulsby

  1. Liv Egholm

Drawing the boundaries of the needy. Boundary objects and translation practices

Discussant: Vittoria Magrelli

  • Audrey-Anne Cyr

Deep rootedness: Institutionalization of reciprocity and trust in family firms

Discussant: John G.L. Millar

  • Vittoria Magrelli, Josip kotlar, Alfredo De Massis and Emanuela Rondi

Generations, evolution and rhythm in family firms: The role of mediators

Discussant: Liv Egholm

 Parallel Stream B: Entrepreneurship – Room: UEBS – Auditorium

Chair: Charles Harvey

  1. Nicholas D. Wong and Tom Mcgovern

Entrepreneurial history and firm growth: A case study of Rushworths Music House

Discussant: Micki Eisenman  

  • Trevor Israelsen, J. Robert Mitchell and Dominic Lim

Temporality and stakeholder enrollment: Memory, imagination, and rhetorical history in the context of entrepreneurship

Discussant: Parisa I. Baig

  • Ken Sakai

Confluence of multiple histories in institutional change: A case study on the management of surgical needles in Japanese hospitals (1945–2000)

Discussant: Adam Nix

Session VII: Saturday, July 06, 11:00 to 12:30

-Parallel Stream –

 A: Business and Public Sector Interface – Room: UEBS – Auditorium

Chair: Stewart Clegg

  1. Pilar Acosta and Julio Zuluaga

Rethinking the role of businesses in the provision of public goods: A historical perspective

Discussant: Priscila Almeida

  • Christiane Chihadeh

Critical grounded theory and an imagined history: Thatcherism and the privatisation of the British internal energy market, 1980–2010

Discussant: Sabina Siebert

  • Anna Soulsby

Studying the processes of managerial legitimacy and the control of former state-owned enterprises in post-communist societies: A longitudinal study

Discussant: Sarah Robinson 

 B: Religion – Room: UEBS – LT 1A

Chair: Alistair Mutch

  1. Lauri J. Laine and Ewald Kibler

Myth and organizational structure: The case of the Orthodox Christian Valaam monastery (~1200–2018)

Discussant: Jose Bento da Silva

  • Myleen Leary

Regulations, bricolage, and the development of the Jewish ghetto in 16th century Venice

Discussant: Lauri J. Laine

  • Jose Bento da Silva and Paolo Quattrone

Inscribing ambiguity into procedural logics: Insights from the diffusion of the Jesuit Spiritual Exercises (1522–1992)

Discussant: Myleen Leary

EGOS2019: Historical Organization Studies

Steph1 Comment

Historical Organizational Studies at EGOS 2019

Stewart Clegg, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
stewart.clegg@uts.edu.au
Mairi Maclean, University of Bath, United Kingdom
kmm57@bath.ac.uk
Roy Suddaby, University of Victoria, Canada
rsuddaby@uvic.ca
Session I: Thursday, July 04, 11:00 to 12:30
– Parallel Stream –
Parallel Stream A: Theory 1 – Room: UEBS – LT 1A
Chair: Roy Suddaby
Gabrielle Durepos and Russ Vince
Toward (an) historical reflexivity: Potential and practice
François Bastien, William Foster and Diego M. Coraiola
Historicizing strategy: Exploring differences in three Indigenous communities across Canada
Parallel Stream B: Theory 2 – Room: UEBS – Auditorium
Chair: Mairi Maclean
Alistair Mutch
Historical explorations of practices
Richard J. Badham, Todd Bridgman and Stephen Cummings
The organisation-as-iceberg metaphor: A strong defence for historical re-surfacing
Session II: Thursday, July 04, 14:00 to 15:30
– Parallel Stream –
Parallel Stream A: Institutional Entrepreneurship – Room: UEBS – LT 1A
Chair: Stewart Clegg
Parisa I. Baig and Andrew Godley
A new perspective on the paradox of embedded agency: Legitimacy and its acquisition in institutional entrepreneurship
Micki Eisenman and Tal Simons
A rising tide lifts all boats: The origins of institutionalized aesthetic innovation
Mairi Maclean, Charles Harvey and Roy Suddaby
Entrepreneurial agency and institutional change in the co-creation of the global hotel industry
Parallel Stream B: Rhetorical History 1 – Room: UEBS – Auditorium
Chair: Roy Suddaby
Henrik Koll and Kim Esmark
Rhetorical history as managerial strategizing: The past as an object of struggles during organizational change in a Scandinavian telecom
Eugene Choi, Ikujiro Nonaka and R. Daniel Wadhwani
Selfless quest for corporate-level oneness: Application of rhetorical history as an essential organizational praxis of wise leadership
Çetin Önder, Meltem Özge Özcanli and Sükrü Özen
When competitors are co-narrators: Contested rhetorical organizational history
Session III: Friday, July 05, 09:00 to 10:30
– Parallel Stream –
Parallel Stream A: Institutions – Room: UEBS – LT 1A
Chair: Charles Harvey
Pamela A. Popielarz
Organizational legacy and normativity in organizations
Natalia Korchagina
Disrupting oppressive institutions through memory: Interstitial events as catalysts of theofficial commemoration of alternative memories
Grégoire Croidieu, Birthe Soppe and Walter W. Powell
How contestation buttresses legitimacy: A historical analysis of the 1855 Bordeaux wine classification
Parallel Stream B: Rhetorical History 2 – Room: UEBS – Auditorium
Chair: Bill Foster
Simon Oertel, Franziska Hein, Karin Knorr and Kirsten Thommes
The application of rhetorical history in crafting an organizational identity
Stefanie Ruel, Linda Dyer and Albert J. Mills
Gendered rhetorical ‘histories’ and antenarratives: The women of the Canadian Alouette I and II satellites
John G.L. Millar
Rhetorical history and the competitive advantage of the Edinburgh fund management cluster
Session IV: Friday, July 05, 11:00 to 12:30
– Parallel Stream –
Parallel Stream A: Sources and Methods – Room: UEBS – LT 1A
Chair: Charles Harvey
Adam Nix and Stephanie Decker
Between sources and stuff: Using digital historical sources
Guy Huber, Andrea Bernardi and Ioanna Iordanou
Critical discourse analysis: At the intersection of sociology and historiography
Andrew Smith
Corporate archives, history as sensemaking, and strategic decision-making at a multinational bank
Parallel Stream B: Applied Theory – Room: UEBS – Auditorium
Chair: Mairi Maclean
Thomas Davis
Two triangles: Putting Lefebvre’s ‘spatial triad’ to work in the Baltic Triangle, Liverpool
Garance Marechal and Stephen Linstead
Kitchen magic! Early media chefs’ reconfiguration of the field of cooking
Sonia Coman and Andrea Casey
The enduring presence of the founder in collection museums: A historical and interdisciplinary perspective
Session V: Friday, July 05, 14:00 to 15:30
– Parallel Stream –
Parallel Stream A: Politics and Parliaments – Room: UEBS – LT 1A
Chair: Diego Coraiola
Sabina Siebert
‘The Churchill effect’: Parliaments and their history
Sarah Robinson and Ron Kerr
‘Remember Mackintosh!’ Historical homology in the design of the Scottish parliament
Priscila Almeida and Eduardo Davel
Connecting cultural history to organizational studies: Contributions from the political festivity of Dois de Julho in Salvador (Bahia, Brazil)
Parallel Stream B: Memory – Room: UEBS – Auditorium
Chair: Gabrielle Durepos
Karan Sonpar, Federica Pazzaglia, Matthew Lyle and Ian J. Walsh
Memory work in response to breaches of trust: The Irish Banking Inquiry
Michel W. Lander
Tainting memories: The impact of stigmatization and institutional legacies on the founding of Scotch Whisky distilleries, 1680–1914
Rohny Saylors
Using microstoria to study (re)membering in the context of (dis)enchantment: Empirical insights from the history of Sears and Walmart
Session VI: Saturday, July 06, 09:00 to 10:30
– Parallel Stream –
Parallel Stream A: Processes and Boundaries – Room: UEBS – LT 1A
Chair: Anna Soulsby
Liv Egholm
Drawing the boundaries of the needy. Boundary objects and translation practices
Audrey-Anne Cyr
Deep rootedness: Institutionalization of reciprocity and trust in family firms
Vittoria Magrelli, Josip kotlar, Alfredo De Massis and emanuela rondi
Generations, evolution and rhythm in family firms: The role of mediators
Parallel Stream B: Entrepreneurship – Room: UEBS – Auditorium
Chair: Charles Harvey
Nicholas D. Wong and Tom Mcgovern
Entrepreneurial history and firm growth: A case study of Rushworths Music House
Trevor Israelsen, J. Robert Mitchell and Dominic Lim
Temporality and stakeholder enrollment: Memory, imagination, and rhetorical history in the context of entrepreneurship
Ken Sakai
Confluence of multiple histories in institutional change: A case study on the management of surgical needles in Japanese hospitals (1945–2000)
Session VII: Saturday, July 06, 11:00 to 12:30
Business and Public Sector Interface
 A: Business and Public Sector Interface – Room: UEBS – Auditorium
Chair: Stewart Clegg
Pilar Acosta and Julio Zuluaga
Rethinking the role of businesses in the provision of public goods: A historical perspective
Christiane Chihadeh
Critical grounded theory and an imagined history: Thatcherism and the privatisation of the British internal energy market, 1980–2010
Anna Soulsby
Studying the processes of managerial legitimacy and the control of former state-owned enterprises in post-communist societies: A longitudinal study
 B: Religion – Room: UEBS – LT 1A
Chair: Alistair Mutch
Lauri J. Laine and Ewald Kibler
Myth and organizational structure: The case of the Orthodox Christian Valaam monastery (~1200–2018)
Myleen Leary
Regulations, bricolage, and the development of the Jewish ghetto in 16th century Venice
Jose Bento da Silva and Paolo Quattrone
Inscribing ambiguity into procedural logics: Insights from the diffusion of the Jesuit Spiritual Exercises (1522–1992)

EGOS tracks with history

Steph

Next year, the Standing Working Group 8: History in Organization Studies, will no longer run at the European Group for Organization Studies Annual Conference. But since Copenhagen Business School is celebrating its centenary (please see the final call for sub-theme 44), there are in fact three tracks that mention history in their call. Hopefully see you next year at one of these tracks!

Sub-theme 04: (SWG) Long-shots and Close-ups: Organizational Ethnography, Process and History

… Ethnography – or, to emphasize its processual nature: ethnographying (Tota, 2004) – typically means, first, having a prolonged and intensive engagement with the research setting, following actors, issues, materials as they move through time and space (fieldwork). Second, ethnography embraces a sensibility towards overt, tacit and/or concealed processes of meaning-making (sensework). Third, ethnographic analyses are commonly presented through a written text, which places both author and reader at the scene, in the midst of a process, while also placing the day-to-day happenings within a social, political, and historical context (textwork). This allows organizational ethnographers to capture the unfolding of organizational life and its dynamism in at least two different ways (van Hulst et al., forthcoming; Ybema et al., 2009): taking ‘long shots’ that follow developments over an extended period of time (long-term dynamics) and making ‘close-ups’ of the dynamics of day-to-day organizational life (short-term dynamics). Some ethnographic researchers stretch their fieldwork over many months or years of present-time work; others include historical analysis and archival data. Both of these allow researchers to follow slow-paced developments or sudden transformations over long periods of time. These longitudinal ethnographies offer in-depth accounts of organizational life across time. A second potential strength of ethnography for studying organizational processes lies in its quality of eyeing the moment-to-moment details of everyday organizing. Having a shorter term focus, these studies bring into view, for instance, situational dynamics or organizational bricolage. …

For more details, please see the EGOS website.

Sub-theme 43: Theorizing the Past, Present and Future in Organization Theory

We have already posted the full call, but here just a quick introduction:

“Many organizational outcomes are the result of processes that occur over long periods of time. In spite of this, within much macro-level research the passage of time tends to be assumed or ignored, rather than theorized rigorously (Bluedorn & Denhardt, 1988; Goodman et al., 2001; Lee & Liebenau, 1999). One way in which we exclude time from our theories is by studying climactic moments of change. Although these “moments of institutional choice” are inherently interesting, focusing on them risks privileging the instance of change at the expense of the essential groundwork that generated the conditions under which the opportunity for change emerged (Pierson, 2004, p. 136). That is, our preference for studying dramatic instances of revolutionary change means that we know relatively little about processes of evolutionary change.”

For more details, please see the EGOS website.

Sub-theme 44: Rethinking History, Rethinking Business Schools

The EGOS Colloquium in 2017 coincides with the 100th anniversary of Copenhagen Business School (CBS), which will be commemorated in part by the publication of a history of the Business School written by members of the Centre for Business History at CBS. This coincidence provides an opportunity to rethink both the role of history in business schools, as well as the history of business schools themselves, along with the part played by management and organization studies within that history.

Both business schools and organization studies have sought to legitimate themselves through history in relation to older disciplines in the university. Textbooks regularly claim Max Weber as a founder for the so-called “Classical School” of management and organization studies even though Weber himself could never have been an adherent of such a school because it was only invented, along with organization studies, long after he died (Cummings & Bridgman, 2011). When Harvard Business School was facing criticism in the 1930s for the banality of management research, one response from the Dean, Wallace B. Donham, was to hire a historian to study management and to use a donation from the retailer Gordon Selfridge to buy historical business documents from Italy relating to the Medici family during the Renaissance (O’Connor, 2012, p. 58). …

For more details, please see the EGOS website.

EGOS SWG8 Final Program

Steph

Sub-theme 08: (SWG) History and Organization Studies: The Ways Forward

Convenors:

Daniel Wadhwani, University of the Pacific, USA, and Copenhagen Business School, Denmark; dwadhwani@pacific.edu

Matthias Kipping, Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada; mkipping@schulich.yorku.ca

Stephanie Decker, Aston Business School, UK; s.decker@aston.ac.uk

Session I: Thursday, July 07, 11:00 to 12:30, T5

Organizational History: The Past and the Future
Chair: Matthias Kipping

Peter Miskell
Management historians and public perceptions of the past: A neglected area?
Presenter/Discussant: Talia Pfefferman

Michael Rowlinson, John Hassard and Stephanie Decker
Organizational memory, history, and forgetting
Presenter/Discussant: Mairi MacLean

 Session II: Thursday, July 07, 14:00 to 15:30
– Parallel Stream –

 Parallel Stream A: Contextualizing Sensemaking & Identity – Room: T5
Chair: Stephanie Decker

Christian Stutz
Elaborating the strategic cognition view of issue salience: A historical case study
Presenter/Discussant: Rasmus Nykvist

Lars Geschwind, Rómulo Pinheiro and Bjørn Stensaker
To be or not to be: Institutional complexity and identity formation in the organizational field of higher education
Presenter/Discussant: Ron Kerr

 Parallel Stream B: Entrepreneurial Dynamics – Room: T6
Chair: Dan Wadhwani

 Andrew Smith and Eugene Choi
A Constitutive Historicism Approach Towards Understanding Sensemaking and Sensegiving in Japanese FabLabs
Presenter/Discussant: Tristan May

Giovanni Favero, Vladi Finotto and Anna Moretti
Resisting entrepreneurs: A conceptual framework of entrepreneurial imprinting
Presenter/Discussant: Charles Harvey

Mirko Ernkvist and Rasmus Nykvist
History in the regulatory legitimation of novel organizational forms by new organization
Presenter/Discussant: Fanny Simon

 Session III: Thursday, July 07, 16:00 to 17:30, T5
Corporate Uses of History

Chair: Stephanie Decker

 Mairi Maclean, Charles Harvey, John Sillince and Benjamin Golant
Intertextuality in organizational transition
Presenter/Discussant: Joeri Mol

Jan Frederik de Groot and Nachoem Wijnberg
Corporate art collections and organizational history
Presenter/Discussant: Elena Giovannoni

Ihar Sahakiants, Marion Festing and Thomas Steger
Organizational continuity and founder narrative: The role of primary stakeholders in sustaining a socially responsible corporate culture
Presenter/Discussant: Diego Coraiola

 Session IV: Friday, July 08, 09:00 to 10:30
– Parallel Stream –

 Parallel Stream A: Historical Construction of Cultural Goods – Room: T5
Chair: Stephanie Decker

Shiona Chillas, Melinda A. Grewar and Barbara Townley
Capitalising on history: The case of Scottish textiles
Presenter/Discussant: Jan Frederik de Groot

Tristan May
If 6 was 9: Rhetorical history and the multimodal reissuing of a glorious past
Presenter/Discussant: Michelle Mielly

Michelle Mielly, Gazi Islam and Maria Laura Toraldo
Alliance française in India & rhetorical uses of history
Presenter/Discussant: Mirko Ernkvist

 Parallel Stream B: New Methods, New Frontiers – Room: T6
Chair: Matthias Kipping

Zoi Pittaki
Walking a tightrope: business, the tax system and tax conscience in Greece, 1955-1989
Presenter/Discussant: Christian Stutz

Diego M. Coraiola, William M. Foster and Roy Suddaby
What is a historical case study?
Presenter/Discussant: Giovanni Favero

Wim van Lent and Matthijs den Besten
The Multiple Faces of the Span of Control: a Multilevel Analysis of the Dutch East India Company
Presenter/Discussant: Stephan Leixnering

Session V: Friday, July 08, 14:00 to 15:30, T5
The Sociohistorical Construction of Value
Chair: Dan Wadhwani

Michal Frenkel and Talia Pfefferman
On gendered justifications: Resource acquisition and worlds of worth in establishing small enterprises in Palestine, 1930–1947
Presenter/Discussant: Liv Egholm

Elena Giovannoni and Christopher Napier
The making of material objects through accounting re-presentations: The Founder’s Building at Royal Holloway, 1887-1897
Presenter/Discussant: Karim Ben Slimane

Joeri Mol, Graham Sewell, Miya Tokumitsu and Gerhard Wiesenfeldt
The institutionalization of signs of value: Icons, indexes and symbols in art markets
Presenter/Discussant: Pamela A. Popielarz

Session VI: Saturday, July 09, 09:00 to 10:30
– Parallel Stream –

Parallel Stream A: Industry Dynamics – Room: T5
Chair: Dan Wadhwani

Karim Ben Slimane, Damien Chaney, Eero Vaara and Tao Wang
Between memories and market. Relegitimation of absinthe in France since 1980s
Presenter/Discussant: Shilo Hills

Fanny Simon and Albéric Tellier
Imitation game: How coopetition can lead to standardization
Presenter/Discussant: Wim Van Lent

Shilo Hills, Maxim Ganzin, Roy Suddaby and William M. Foster
Strategic deployment of history and myth in identity construction: A story of the global wine industry
Presenter/Discussant: Shiona Chillas

Parallel Stream B: Constructing & Crossing Sectoral Divides – Room: T6
Chair: Stephanie Decker

Stephan Leixnering and Renate E. Meyer
Re-discovering an organizational form: Public interest-orientation as corner stone of the modern corporation
Presenter/Discussant: Zoi Pittaki

Pamela A. Popielarz
Moral dividends: Transpositions between business and Freemasonry in nineteenth century America
Presenter/Discussant: Lars Geschwind

Liv Egholm
The messiness of common good. Translation of concepts and practices between non-civil and civil spheres: the Egmont Foundation 1920–2014
Presenter/Discussant: Ihar Sahakiants

Session VII: Saturday, July 09, 11:00 to 12:30, T5
New Directions
Chair: Stephanie Decker

Ron Kerr and Sarah Robinson
Women leaders in the political field in Scotland: Extending the ‘historical turn’ to leadership studies
Presenter/Discussant: Andrew Smith

Rasmus Nykvist, Robin Gustafsson, Mirko Ernkvist, Christian Sandström, Erik Lakomaa and Zeerim Cheung
Towards an integrative digital history approach in organization studies
Presenter/Discussant: Peter Miskell

EGOS SWG8 program

Steph

Please see below for the program for our standing working group on organizational history at EGOS in Naples in July! If you are already at EGOS, we welcome guests.

Sub-theme 08: (SWG) History and Organization Studies: The Ways Forward

Convenors:

  1. Daniel Wadhwani, University of the Pacific, USA, and Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, dwadhwani@pacific.edu
  2. Matthias Kipping, Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada, mkipping@schulich.yorku.ca
  3. Stephanie Decker, Aston Business School, UK, s.decker@aston.ac.uk

 

Session I: Thursday, July 07, 11:00 to 12:30, T5

Organizational History: The Past and the Future
Chair: Matthias Kipping

Peter Miskell
Management historians and public perceptions of the past: A neglected area?
Presenter/Discussant: Andrew Smith

Michael Rowlinson, John Hassard and Stephanie Decker
Organizational memory, history, and forgetting
Presenter/Discussant: Mairi MacLean

 Session II: Thursday, July 07, 14:00 to 15:30

– Parallel Stream –

 Parallel Stream A: Contextualizing Sensemaking & Identity – Room: T5
Chair: Stephanie Decker

Christian Stutz
Elaborating the strategic cognition view of issue salience: A historical case study
Presenter/Discussant: Rasmus Nykvist

Anna Linda Musacchio Adorisio and Asgeir Torfason
Historicizing narratives: Rhetoric and storytelling of the Icelandic financial boom
Presenter/Discussant: Michelle Mielly

Lars Geschwind, Rómulo Pinheiro and Bjørn Stensaker
To be or not to be: Institutional complexity and identity formation in the organizational field of higher education
Presenter/Discussant: Ron Kerr

 Parallel Stream B: Entrepreneurial Dynamics – Room: T6
Chair: Dan Wadhwani

Andrew Smith and Eugene Choi
A Constitutive Historicism Approach Towards Understanding Sensemaking and Sensegiving in Japanese FabLabs
Presenter/Discussant: Tristan May

Giovanni Favero, Vladi Finotto and Anna Moretti
Resisting entrepreneurs: A conceptual framework of entrepreneurial imprinting
Presenter/Discussant: Charles Harvey

Mirko Ernkvist and Rasmus Nykvist
History in the regulatory legitimation of novel organizational forms by new organization
Presenter/Discussant: Fanny Simon

 Session III: Thursday, July 07, 16:00 to 17:30, T5

Corporate Uses of History
Chair: Stephanie Decker

 Mairi Maclean, Charles Harvey, John Sillince and Benjamin Golant
Intertextuality in organizational transition
Presenter/Discussant: Joeri Mol

Jan Frederik de Groot and Nachoem Wijnberg
Corporate art collections and organizational history
Presenter/Discussant: Elena Giovanni

Ihar Sahakiants, Marion Festing and Thomas Steger
Organizational continuity and founder narrative: The role of primary stakeholders in sustaining a socially responsible corporate culture
Presenter/Discussant: Diego Coraiola

 Session IV: Friday, July 08, 09:00 to 10:30

– Parallel Stream –

 Parallel Stream A: Historical Construction of Cultural Goods – Room: T5
Chair: Stephanie Decker

Shiona Chillas, Melinda A. Grewar and Barbara Townley
Capitalising on history: The case of Scottish textiles
Presenter/Discussant: Jan Frederik de Groot

Tristan May
If 6 was 9: Rhetorical history and the multimodal reissuing of a glorious past
Presenter/Discussant: Anna Linda Musacchio Adorisio

Michelle Mielly, Gazi Islam and Maria Laura Toraldo
Alliance française in India & rhetorical uses of history
Presenter/Discussant: Mirko Ernkvist

 Parallel Stream B: New Methods, New Frontiers – Room: T6
Chair: Matthias Kipping

Zoi Pittaki
Walking a tightrope: business, the tax system and tax conscience in Greece, 1955-1989
Presenter/Discussant: Christian Stutz

Diego M. Coraiola, William M. Foster and Roy Suddaby
What is a historical case study?
Presenter/Discussant: Giovanni Favero

Wim van Lent and Matthijs den Besten
The Multiple Faces of the Span of Control: a Multilevel Analysis of the Dutch East India Company
Presenter/Discussant: Stephan Leixnering

 Session V: Friday, July 08, 14:00 to 15:30, T5

The Sociohistorical Construction of Value
Chair: Dan Wadhwani

Michal Frenkel and Talia Pfefferman
On gendered justifications: Resource acquisition and worlds of worth in establishing small enterprises in Palestine, 1930–1947
Presenter/Discussant: Liv Egholm

Elena Giovannoni and Christopher Napier
The making of material objects through accounting re-presentations: The Founder’s Building at Royal Holloway, 1887-1897
Presenter/Discussant: Karim Ben Slimane

 Joeri Mol, Graham Sewell, Miya Tokumitsu and Gerhard Wiesenfeldt
The institutionalization of signs of value: Icons, indexes and symbols in art markets
Presenter/Discussant: Pamela A. Popielarz

 Session VI: Saturday, July 09, 09:00 to 10:30

– Parallel Stream –

 Parallel Stream A: Industry Dynamics – Room: T5
Chair: Dan Wadhwani

Karim Ben Slimane, Damien Chaney, Eero Vaara and Tao Wang
Between memories and market. Relegitimation of absinthe in France since 1980s
Presenter/Discussant: Lars Geschwind

Fanny Simon and Albéric Tellier
Imitation game: How coopetition can lead to standardization
Presenter/Discussant: Wim Van Lent

Shilo Hills, Maxim Ganzin, Roy Suddaby and William M. Foster
Strategic deployment of history and myth in identity construction: A story of the global wine industry
Presenter/Discussant: Shiona Chillas

 Parallel Stream B: Constructing & Crossing Sectoral Divides – Room: T6
Chair: Stephanie Decker

Stephan Leixnering and Renate E. Meyer
Re-discovering an organizational form: Public interest-orientation as corner stone of the modern corporation
Presenter/Discussant: Zoi Pittaki

Pamela A. Popielarz
Moral dividends: Transpositions between business and Freemasonry in nineteenth century America
Presenter/Discussant: Lars Geschwind

Liv Egholm
The messiness of common good. Translation of concepts and practices between non-civil and civil spheres: the Egmont Foundation 1920–2014
Presenter/Discussant: Ihar Sahakiants

 Session VII: Saturday, July 09, 11:00 to 12:30, T5

 New Directions
Chair: Stephanie Decker

Ron Kerr and Sarah Robinson
Women leaders in the political field in Scotland: Extending the ‘historical turn’ to leadership studies
Presenter/Discussant: Talia Pfefferman

Rasmus Nykvist, Robin Gustafsson, Mirko Ernkvist, Christian Sandström, Erik Lakomaa and Zeerim Cheung
Towards an integrative digital history approach in organization studies
Presenter/Discussant: Peter Miskell