scholarly journals The Contemporary Resonances of Classical Pragmatism for Studying Organization and Organizing

2021 ◽  
pp. 017084062199168
Author(s):  
Barbara Simpson ◽  
Frank den Hond
Keyword(s):  
Organization Theory ◽  
Process Philosophy ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
American Pragmatism ◽  
Process Views ◽  
Empirical Stance ◽  
Opening Up

The legacy of classical American Pragmatism – Peirce, James, Dewey, Addams, Mead, Follett and others – in organization theory is significant, albeit that much of its influence has come through implicit and indirect routes. In light of recent calls for an empirical stance as an alternative to the prevailing metaphysical stance in organizational research, we reread Pragmatism as a process philosophy that can profoundly inform process views of organization and organizing. Our particular reading highlights Pragmatism’s emphasis on process and emergence, its theory of knowing as fallible and experimental, its denouncing of dualisms, its future-oriented meliorism, its sensitivity to ethics and democracy, and its positioning of experience as both the start and end of inquiry, arguing that these features lay invaluable groundwork for the study of organization and organizing. We advocate a reappraisal of this legacy, mobilizing seven articles from the back catalogue of this journal in a virtual special issue that demonstrates how classical American Pragmatism can reinvigorate the field while also opening up new questions and new ways of questioning.

scholarly journals An Introduction to Video Methods in Organizational Research

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Curtis LeBaron ◽  
Paula Jarzabkowski ◽  
Michael G. Pratt ◽  
Greg Fetzer
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Video Data ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
The World ◽  
Methodological Tool

Video has become a methodological tool of choice for many researchers in social science, but video methods are relatively new to the field of organization studies. This article is an introduction to video methods. First, we situate video methods relative to other kinds of research, suggesting that video recordings and analyses can be used to replace or supplement other approaches, not only observational studies but also retrospective methods such as interviews and surveys. Second, we describe and discuss various features of video data in relation to ontological assumptions that researchers may bring to their research design. Video involves both opportunities and pitfalls for researchers, who ought to use video methods in ways that are consistent with their assumptions about the world and human activity. Third, we take a critical look at video methods by reporting progress that has been made while acknowledging gaps and work that remains to be done. Our critical considerations point repeatedly at articles in this special issue, which represent recent and important advances in video methods.

scholarly journals Metaphor in Organizational Research: Context, Modalities and Implications for Research — Introduction

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joep P. Cornelissen ◽  
Cliff Oswick ◽  
Lars Thøger Christensen ◽  
Nelson Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Organizational Development ◽  
Organizational Communication ◽  
Group Decision Making ◽  
Organization Theory ◽  
Group Decision ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Organizational Behaviour ◽  
Research Context

We provide a general overview of previous work which has explored the use of metaphors in organizational research. Differences in focus and form of research on metaphors are noted. Work in organization theory (OT) and organizational communication (OC) generally features prescriptive metaphors that aid the practice of theorizing and research; research in organizational development (OD) tends to use metaphors for intervention in individual and group decision-making; while studies of organizational behaviour (OB) emphasize the metaphors-in-use within individuals' sensemaking accounts of critical events within their organization. Alongside these differences in focus, the form of metaphor analysis also differs across these contexts, ranging from text- and discourse-based analysis to the analysis of non-linguistic modalities such as pictorial signs, gestures and artefacts. Based on our overview of previous work, we call for greater attention to methodological issues around metaphor identification and analysis and outline a number of directions for further research.

scholarly journals Pained publics

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 3-6
Author(s):  
Donovan Conley ◽  
Benjamin Burroughs
Keyword(s):  
Quarterly Journal ◽  
Collective Modes ◽  
Civic Life ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Modes Of Engagement ◽  
Opening Up

In her contribution to the Quarterly Journal of Speech’s centennial issue, “Pathologia,” Jenny Rice suggests, “pathology does not only or always reveal something broken. Rather, the experience of pathology also reminds us that rhetoric’s sensorium is working—really working” (p. 35). Yes, and in a time of pandemic turbulence, we are reminded that the sensorium of civic life works in ways that shape, even threaten, our collective modes of engagement and relationality. Rice offers “the wound” as a response to pathological publicness, noting, “I propose that we begin to theorize the wound itself as the beginning of dialogue. Only the wound can stand as pathology’s counterpart” (p. 40). Wounds focalize and materialize the pathogenic, opening up possibilities for redress while also remediating their own contaminants. Accordingly, our special issue aims to grapple with the ways contemporary publicness affects, and is affected by, civic wounds: how they are discursively produced, and productively discursive. What emergent forms of expression or composition do wounds make possible or foreclose? And, how might critical communication scholarship ad/dress the pathogenic constitution of civic wounds? Each of the essays in “Ad/Dressing Civic Wounds” thus situates particular ways in which wounds are “really working” to produce the conditions that open or foreclose possibilities in the never-finished work of finding shared grounds of togetherness we might call civic life.

scholarly journals New Roles of Government in the Governance of Business Conduct: Implications for Management and Organizational Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
pp. 1101-1123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arno Kourula ◽  
Jeremy Moon ◽  
Marie-Laure Salles-Djelic ◽  
Christopher Wickert
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Government Regulation ◽  
New Governance ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Organization And Management ◽  
Introductory Paper ◽  
Governance Roles ◽  
Management Scholarship

In this introductory paper for the special issue “Government and the Governance of Business Conduct: Implications for Management and Organization”, we focus on government as an institution in the broader context of the governance of business conduct. We review the longevity and heterogeneity of governmental actors along with, and in relation to, the evolving role and place of business and civil society actors under the double challenge of privatization and globalization over the last three to four decades. In so doing we track the evolution of government’s primary governance roles. We suggest that part of the organization and management scholarship builds upon problematic assumptions when it comes to the role(s) of government in the governance of business conduct. We suggest that while governments might be losing some power, they are also acquiring and deploying it in other areas; that governments are taking on new governance roles in relation to business conduct; that government regulation may contribute positively to the governance of business conduct; and that government is an ever-important focus for management and organizational research. We show how the six contributing papers to the Special Issue both illustrate these arguments and reveal new roles for government in the contemporary governance of business conduct. We end by proposing a research agenda for the further exploration of government in governance.

scholarly journals Problematizing the Global: An Introduction to Global Culture Revisited

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 157-167
Author(s):  
Mike Featherstone
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Special Section ◽  
World Order ◽  
New World Order ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Global Knowledge ◽  
Global Culture ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Opening Up

This paper serves as an introduction to the special section on Global Culture Revisited which commemorates the 30th anniversary of the publication of the 1990 Global Culture special issue. It examines the development of interest in the various strands of globalization and the question of whether there can be a global culture. The paper discusses the emergence of alternative global histories and the problematization of global knowledge. It examines the view that the current Covid-19 pandemic signals a turning point, or change of epoch, that marks the end of peak globalization (Gray, Mignolo). The paper also discusses the view that global was always a limited cartographic term which failed to adequately grasp our terrestrial location on the earth (Latour). Currently, there is considerable speculation about the emergent politics of a new world order, with civilizational states set alongside nation-states, opening up an epoch of greater pluriversality, and at the same time greater uncertainty.

scholarly journals Towards an Articulation of the Material and Visual Turn in Organization Studies

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 597-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Boxenbaum ◽  
Candace Jones ◽  
Renate E. Meyer ◽  
Silviya Svejenova
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
Organizational Theory ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Visual Artifacts

Contemporary organizations increasingly rely on images, logos, videos, building materials, graphic and product design, and a range of other material and visual artifacts to compete, communicate, form identity and organize their activities. This Special Issue focuses on materiality and visuality in the course of objectifying and reacting to novel ideas, and, more broadly, contributes to organizational theory by articulating the emergent contours of a material and visual turn in the study of organizations. In this Introduction, we provide an overview of research on materiality and visuality. Drawing on the articles in the special issue, we further explore the affordances and limits of the material and visual dimensions of organizing in relation to novelty. We conclude by pointing out theoretical avenues for advancing multimodal research, and discuss some of the ethical, pragmatic and identity-related challenges that a material and visual turn could pose for organizational research.

The Practice of Theory Borrowing in Organizational Studies: Current Issues and Future Directions

2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 537-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Whetten ◽  
Teppo Felin ◽  
Brayden G. King
Keyword(s):  
Organization Theory ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Organizational Studies ◽  
Individual Identity ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Organizational Social Context ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives

The borrowing and application of concepts and theories from underlying disciplines, such as psychology and sociology, is commonplace in organization theory. This article critically reviews this practice in organizational research. It discusses the borrowing of theoretical perspectives across vertical (cross-level) and horizontal (cross-context) boundaries and makes an associated distinction between theories in organizations and theories of organizations. It also explicates several unintended consequences and metatheoretical challenges associated with theory borrowing and highlights the legitimate reasons and ways for borrowing theories. By way of example, this article reviews how theories and concepts have been borrowed and applied in organizational research from two different literatures: individual identity and social movements. Overall, it is argued that treating organizations as social actors is the key to appropriate horizontal and vertical theory borrowing in organizational studies, in that it highlights the distinctive features of the organizational social form and organizational social context.

scholarly journals The changing face of homicide research: the shift in empirical focus and emerging research trends

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Ioannou ◽  
Laura Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Applied Research ◽  
Criminal Psychology ◽  
School Shootings ◽  
Child Homicide ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Juvenile Homicide ◽  
Opening Up

Purpose – Homicidal behaviour is influenced by a complex interaction of behavioural, situational and environmental factors that raise many challenging psychological questions. A large and continually growing body of research has explored the crime of homicide, its epidemiology, victims and perpetrators. The area is developing rapidly, opening up new avenues of study. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This special issue of the Journal of Criminal Psychology brings together an exciting array of papers on homicidal behaviour, examining a wide range of issues including juvenile homicide perpetrators, school shootings, child homicide, homicide-suicide and differences in offence behaviours and victim characteristics between hard-to-solve one-off homicides and serial homicides. Findings – The range of papers included in this special edition cover a wide range of aspects of homicidal behaviour, reflecting the importance of – and the need for – applied research moving away from examining general homicide to specialised research focusing on subtypes of homicide and subgroups of homicide offenders. A research agenda is proposed. Originality/value – This editorial gives an introduction to the themes explored in this special issue and provides an overview of the selected papers.

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