Embodied Insights: Broadening the Scope of Management Research with a Bodily Lens

Abstract

This panel symposium is designed to advance critical dialogue about the theoretical and methodological application of embodiment inquiry in organizational studies. Embodiment inquiry refers to research into organizational phenomena that foregrounds the inextricable links between the body, its senses, and actions, as well as cognition and its related processes. Congruent with the conference theme, Broadening Our Sight, the panel symposium will address opportunities embodiment research provides for addressing “dichotomies that stand in the way of producing actionable knowledge to address[ing] monumental challenges…that have emerged over time” (Aguinas, Academy of Management, 2019). Specifically, we aim to focus on two epistemological dichotomies: (1) a long tradition of Cartesian dualism (i.e. the primary identification of the individual with the mind as separate from the body) in scientific inquiry (including the social sciences), psychology and organizational studies (Hindmarsh & Pilnick, 2007; Michel, 2015), and (2) the bifurcation of cognition and emotion in traditional organizational behavior and psychology research (Lazarus, 1982 & 1984; Leventhal & Scherer, 1987). We note that the above epistemological stances ground both theoretical and methodological choices made by researchers who study phenomena in organizations.