Organizational Theory Development: Displacement of Ends?

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
William McKinley
Keyword(s):  
Organization Theory ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Theory Testing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Intellectual Activity ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Organization Science ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

In this essay I argue that organization theory has witnessed a significant displacement of ends over the last 30 years. Whereas in the 1960s and 1970s the dominant goal of the discipline was achieving consensus on the validity status of theories, today the overriding goal appears to be development of new theory. Formerly new theory development was considered a means to the end of attaining consensus on theory validity, but was not the only activity deemed necessary to accomplish that goal. In addition, instrumental standardization and replication were viewed as important. The contemporary displacement of ends toward new theory development creates the paradox that organization theory today is both epistemologically simpler (in terms of the intellectual activity deemed desirable) and more complex theoretically than it was 30 years ago. I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the displacement of ends toward new theory development in organization theory, and offer some possible remedies that are designed to reallocate priorities and resources toward the instrumentation, theory testing, and replication components of the research process. I also propose an agenda of future research in the history and sociology of organization science that would study the displacement of ends hypothesized here, with a view to improving our understanding of how organization theory has evolved and how its knowledge could be made more useful to managers.

scholarly journals Going virtual: youth attitudes toward and experiences of virtual mental health and substance use services during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa D. Hawke ◽  
Natasha Y. Sheikhan ◽  
Karen MacCon ◽  
Joanna Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Youth Mental Health ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Substance Use Services ◽  
Youth Attitudes ◽  
Virtual Services

Abstract Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, youth mental health and substance use services rapidly moved to virtual modalities to meet social distancing requirements. It is important to understand youth attitudes toward and experience of virtual services. Objective This study examined the attitudes toward and experiences of virtual mental health and substance use services among youth drawn from clinical and non-clinical samples. Method Four hundred nine youth completed a survey including questions about their attitudes toward and experience of virtual services. The survey included quantitative and open-ended questions on virtual care, as well as a mental health and substance use screener. Results The majority of youth with mental health or substance use challenges would be willing to consider individual virtual services, but fewer would consider group virtual services. However, many have not received virtual services. Youth are interested in accessing a wide variety of virtual services and other supportive wellness services. Advantages and disadvantages of virtual services are discussed, including accessibility benefits and technological barriers. Discussion As youth mental health and substance use services have rapidly gone virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential that we hear the perspectives of youth to promote service utilization among those in need. Diverse, accessible, technologically stable virtual services are required to meet the needs of different youth, possibly with in-person options for some youth. Future research, engaging youth in the research process, is needed to evaluate the efficacy of virtual services to plan for the sustainability of some virtual service gains beyond the pandemic period.

Workplace Discrimination, Equal Pay, and Sexual Harassment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen Boris ◽  
Allison Louise Elias
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Workplace Discrimination ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Equal Pay ◽  
Women In The Workplace ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Racialized Gender

This chapter traces the changing status of women in the workplace by focusing on the individual and collective battles of the 1960s and 1970s that resulted in legal protections for working women. It considers new names for old problems—like sexual harassment—as well as new remedies for workplace discrimination that drew on equal employment law, unionization, and other organizational forms. Race, motherhood, age, and citizenship status distinguished women’s experiences in paid work, and thus this chapter takes an intersectional approach to understanding workplace developments based on women’s diverse identities. Anti-discrimination law has generated single-axis frameworks, which fail to address harms experienced by women of color that stem from their racialized gender and their holding low-paying, sex segregated jobs excluded from many labor standards. After providing an overview of these developments, the chapter ends with some directions for future research.

scholarly journals Why People Perceive Messages Differently: The Theory of Cognitive Mapping

10.28945/4629 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 089-106
Author(s):  
Eli Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Building Block ◽  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Theory Testing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Message Processing ◽  
New Concepts

Aim/Purpose: The paper introduces new concepts including cognitive mapping, cognitive message processing, and message resonance. Background: This paper draws upon philosophy, psychology, physiology, communications, and introspection to develop the theory of cognitive mapping. Methodology: Theory development Contribution: The theory offers new ways to conceptualize the informing process. Findings: Cognitive mapping has a far-reaching explanatory power on message resonance. Recommendation for Researchers: The theory of cognitive mapping offers a new conceptualization for those exploring the informing process that is ripe for exploration and theory testing. Future Research: This paper forms a building block toward the development of a fuller model of the informing process.

Local population studies using parish registers: ideas for future research

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-63
Author(s):  
Andrew Hinde ◽  
Paul Tomblin
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Population Studies ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Short Note ◽  
Future Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
New Research

This short note discusses possible ideas for future research using parish register data and ways in which local and amateur historians might contribute to a new research agenda. In this, it is an attempt to resurrect and strengthen the links between amateur and professional historians that were integral to the work of the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure in the 1960s and 1970s, and which led to the foundation of the journal Local Population Studies. The ideas discussed here are not fully formed, and should be seen as a contribution to a research agenda which is likely to be fluid, open-ended and responsive to initiatives from local and family historians.

scholarly journals Going Virtual: Youth Attitudes Toward and Experiences of Virtual Mental Health and Substance use Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa D Hawke ◽  
Natasha Y Sheikhan ◽  
Karen MacCon ◽  
Joanna Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Youth Mental Health ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Substance Use Services ◽  
Youth Attitudes ◽  
Virtual Services

Abstract Background. During the COVID-19 pandemic, youth mental health and substance use services rapidly moved to virtual modalities to meet social distancing requirements. It is important to understand youth attitudes toward and experience of virtual services. Objective. This study examined the attitudes toward and experiences for virtual mental health and substance use services among youth drawn from clinical and non-clinical samples.Method. 409 youth completed a survey including questions about their attitudes toward and experience of virtual services. The survey included quantitative and open-ended questions on virtual care, as well as a mental health and substance use screener. Results. The majority of youth with mental health or substance use challenges would be willing to consider individual virtual services, but fewer would consider group virtual services. However, many have not received virtual services. Youth are interested in accessing a wide variety of virtual services and other supportive wellness services. Advantages and disadvantages of virtual services are discussed, including accessibility benefits and technological barriers. Discussion. As youth mental health and substance use services have rapidly gone virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential that we hear the perspectives of youth to promote service utilization among those in need. Diverse, accessible, technologically stable virtual services are required to meet the needs of different youth, possibly with in-person options for some youth. Future research, engaging youth in the research process, is needed to evaluate the efficacy of virtual services to plan for sustainability of some virtual service gains beyond the pandemic period.

Adapted Physical Education Research Trends; 1970-1990

1986 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey D. Broadhead
Keyword(s):  
Physical Education ◽  
Least Restrictive Environment ◽  
Adapted Physical Education ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Evaluation Of Performance ◽  
Dissemination Of Research ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Restrictive Environment

It may be that important happenings during the 1960s and 1970s have helped to bring about the increased amount of published research in adapted physical education (APE), Three major research thrusts were identified which advanced the APE knowledge base: the evaluation of performance, physical education in the least restrictive environment, and effective programming. Specific suggestions were made for improving the quality of future research, and for the dissemination of research results.

4. Arup’s adhocracy and projects in theory

2017 ◽  
pp. 62-82
Author(s):  
Andrew Davies
Keyword(s):  
Organization Theory ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Changing Environment ◽  
New Model ◽  
Adaptive Structure ◽  
Opera House ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
The Difference ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

‘Arup’s adhocracy and projects in theory’ considers how the spread of adaptive project structures in the 1960s and 1970s encouraged management scholars to develop new ways of thinking about organizations. It begins with Ove Arup’s work on the Sydney Opera House, which established a new model of architect and engineer collaborating in project teams to innovate and solve challenging problems. It then goes on to discuss some of the theoretical insights and perspectives introduced by organizational scholars to help us think about projects as an adaptive structure in a complex, unstable, and rapidly changing environment. It explains organization theory and adhocracy, the difference between stable and flexible project teams, and the contingent dimension of projects.

The Turn toward Socialist, Radical, and Lesbian Feminisms

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth E. Schneider ◽  
Janelle M. Pham
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Liberal Feminism ◽  
Lesbian Feminism ◽  
Its Analysis ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Second Wave

The emergence of socialist, radical, and lesbian feminisms during the 1960s was a reaction to, and critique of, liberal feminism. Activists in this women’s liberation branch of the second wave strongly agreed that liberal feminism, with its focus on rights, choice, and personal achievement, was insufficient in its analysis of women’s status and condition. Each of the three strands differed in their analysis of the roots of the problem and in their approaches to social change. This chapter details “the turn” to socialist, radical, and lesbian feminism during the 1960s and 1970s with a focus on the ideological underpinnings, strategies, and organizations, examining the differences between and within each strand. Each of these strands faced varying levels of criticism for their lack of attentiveness to the diversity of women’s experience beyond the interests of a mostly White, middle-class constituency. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research on these feminisms.

scholarly journals Opportunities and Threats in Reviewing Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 847-860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Rauch
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Theory Testing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Gaps ◽  
Knowledge Accumulation ◽  
Testing Theory ◽  
Entrepreneurship Theory

Reviews have a critical role in knowledge accumulation in entrepreneurship. Good reviews do not just summarize the literature but provide unique contributions on theory testing, theory development, the identification of research gaps, and suggestions for future research. This editorial discusses different forms for reviews, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they best contribute to the field.

Certum Quod Factum: How Formal Models Contribute to the Theoretical and Empirical Robustness of Organization Theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 1289-1301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe A. Csaszar
Keyword(s):  
Closed Form ◽  
Organization Theory ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Formal Model ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Theory Testing ◽  
Formal Modeling ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Improve Theory

The aim of this commentary is to show how the use of formal models—both closed form and computational—can improve theory development and theory testing in organization theory. I also provide practical suggestions (aimed at PhD students and researchers considering developing a formal model) for dealing with challenges in developing and writing a formal modeling paper. By uncovering how formal models contribute to organization theory and presenting the constraints that formal modeling papers are subject to, this commentary can also help consumers of modeling papers to extract more value from this research method.

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