Management And Organization Studies Research Articles

Alternative organization without vertical hierarchies of spatial scale?

Vertical hierarchies of spatial scale—where society in general, and organizations in particular, are differentiated into levels of spatial size—have often been criticized by those encouraging alternatives to capitalist organizing. These vertical scalings are said to promote authoritarianism, a monolithic capitalist economic system, uneven concentrations of social and organizational power and wealth, and ecologically destructive organizational growth. Consequently, so the argument goes, alternative organizing must scale horizontally whereby smaller organizations autonomously associate together into loose networks or federations. The aim of this contribution is to problematize such critiques of vertical hierarchies of scaling for alternative organization. To do so, I combine Management and Organization Studies (MOS) scholarship on scaling alternative organization with two theorizations of the politics of scale in human geography—namely those derived from Neo-Marxist Political Economy and Actor-Network Theories. My argument is that all those looking to understand and encourage the scaling of alternatives to capitalist organizing should engage with and not simply reject vertical scalar hierarchies.

Exploring Religious Practice in Crisis: A non-Western tension-centred approach to meaningful work

This study develops a religious practice(s) approach to explore the tensional nature and process of meaningful work. We first problematize existing workplace spirituality approaches to management and organization studies (MOS) generally and meaningful work specifically. Our focus is the individual-organizational and positive-critical divides and overlooked tensions and in-betweenness within these divides. We propose a religious practice(s) approach as an alternative lens to address this in-betweenness, drawing on the theory and practices of Buddhist emptiness to theorize meaningful work as a tensional process unfolding at the intersection between the gaining and losing of meaningfulness. We explore this tensional in-betweenness empirically through 51 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Buddhist practitioners on their lived experiences of meaningful work during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our findings reveal two realization processes that manifest the tensional in-betweenness of meaningful work during the Covid-19 pandemic, and which entrap and emancipate individuals in their pursuit of meaningful work. Our contribution is threefold. First, we develop a religious practice(s) approach to MOS by addressing the existing divides in workplace spirituality perspectives and the resulting overlooked tensions inherent in experiencing meaningful work. In doing so, we also extend the existing understanding of ‘tension’ in meaningful work, which has predominantly been treated as self-evidential and not yet fully integrated into the theorization of meaningful work. Third, we move away from the over-reliance on Western-centred theories through contextualized theory-building. This, we hope, will develop non-Western theorization in MOS and in turn prompt a more enriched, multidimensional understanding of meaningful work.

Is Management and Organizational Studies divided into (micro-)tribes?

Many claims have been made in the past that Management and Organization Studies (MOS) is becoming increasingly fragmented, and that this fragmentation is causing it to drift into self-reference and irrelevance. Despite the weight of this claim, it has not yet been subjected to a systematic empirical test. This paper addresses this research gap using the tribalization approach and diachronic co-citation analyses. Based on 22,430 papers published in 14 MOS journals between 1980 and 2019, we calculate local and global centrality measures and the flow of cited articles between co-citation communities over time. In addition, we use a node-removal strategy to test whether only ritualized citations ensure MOS cohesion. Rather than tribalization, our results suggest a center–periphery structure. Furthermore, more peripheral papers are integrated into the central co-citation communities, but the lion's share of the flow of cited papers occurs over time to only a small number of large clusters. An increase of fragmentation and crowding-out of smaller clusters in MOS in seen in the polycentrically organized core 2014–2019.

Environmental Racism and Climate (In)Justice in the Anthropocene: Addressing the Silences and Erasures in Management and Organization Studies

In this paper, we are situated in postcolonial, decolonial, and feminist epistemologies to study environmental racism in the Anthropocene—a new geological epoch where human activity has changed the functioning of the earth. Drawing from critiques of the Anthropocene, the concept of racial capitalism, as well as environmental justice and racism scholarship, we show how proposed solutions to the climate crisis overlook and may even exacerbate racial injustices faced by communities of color. We contend that a climate justice agenda that is grounded on racial justice is necessary for our scholarship to develop a racially just management and organization studies (MOS). To accomplish this agenda, we propose three shifts: from studying elite institutions to researching grassroots organizations concerned with climate and racial justice, from uncritical endorsement of global technologies to studying local adaptation by communities of color, and from offering decontextualized climate solutions to unraveling racial histories that can help us address racial and climate injustices. We discuss the implications of these shifts for management research and education and argue that MOS cannot afford to ignore climate justice and racial justice—they are both inextricably linked, and one cannot be achieved without the other.

Where is the patriarchy?: A review and research agenda for the concept of patriarchy in management and organization studies

AbstractIn this paper I analyze 30 years of research on patriarchy in top management and organization studies (MOS) journals, and I map out an agenda for (re)igniting patriarchy as both a topic of study and lens for viewing key MOS issues in a new light. I organize my review (175 articles) around three themes: intersections, subjects, and contexts. By intersections I refer to the nuanced ways that scholars define patriarchy, adopting interdisciplinary and intersectional perspectives to understand the diversity of women's experiences under patriarchal domination. By subjects I refer to the primary focus on women's experiences, and on the ways that women's subjectivities are socially constituted and negotiated within patriarchal discourses of work and organizational life. By contexts I refer to the sites where MOS research has investigated patriarchy, as well as the ways this research has framed patriarchy itself as a context. Based on this thematic review, I outline a future research agenda to further refine the concept in MOS in three key ways. I call for increased research approaches that center the structural/political forces of patriarchy and gender, increased focus on the experiences of men as agents and subjects of patriarchal domination, and increased attention on patriarchy in Western contexts to redress the overrepresentation of research on patriarchy in the Global South. I conclude that patriarchy is an important line of inquiry for MOS, and that further attention to the concept would enable MOS research to contribute more fully to contemporary debates on gender.

Decolonial identities in the leadership coaching space: against neoliberal leader identity regulation.

The study uses the decolonial lens to disrupt the contentious dominance of whiteness in leadership development, not to mention in coaching, in management and organization studies (MOS). It contributes insights into how a decolonizing coaching space enables and guides a coachee to reflect and rethink the navigation of the realities of her decolonial identity. The decolonial identity encapsulates the authentic self and the neoliberal identity is the plastic self in a neoliberal university context. Universities' pervasive and normalized neoliberal discourse has become a "paradigm"-the overarching worldview through which universities' visions, missions, strategic objectives, and values are constructed. For academics to thrive in their performance and "walk on water" in achieving performance targets, they ought to embrace being academic capitalists, which shapes idealized neoliberal identities-conforming identities, complicit in undermining social, economic, and epistemic justice. Qualitative research methods were utilized to conduct a reflexive study, and data collected from the reflections and reflexive dialogues in leadership development coaching sessions and journals were thematically analyzed. The study reveals that the coach and coachee's shared decolonial identity offered counter-narratives that unmask the dominant great "white" man leadership in organizations. It also illuminates insights into the significance of black feminist pedagogy in the coaching process to honor the coachee's decolonial identity and rich cultural experiences. It enabled her to explore them critically and derive meanings from developing decolonizing, critically conscious leadership strategies for emerging transformation challenges. Meaningful dialogue dimensions emerged, which served as lenses that steered a decolonial approach in supporting the coachee to reflect and rethink the leadership performance vision, strategic objectives, action plans, implementation, and monitoring.

Rising to the Challenge: Embedding Environmental Justice in Management and Organization Studies

Management and organization studies (MOS) scholars have recently brought attention to the lack of engagement with social equity and justice in tackling grand challenges. We argue that environmental justice (EJ) can deepen MOS’ engagement with social equity in addressing grand challenges, particularly climate change. Through a bibliometric analysis and qualitative review, we explore scholarly communities within EJ literature and draw connections to MOS research. We develop three bridges between EJ and MOS scholarship: (a) investigating organizational roles and processes in distributing environmental benefits and burdens within socioecological systems, (b) situating the firm within structural and historical contexts that create and perpetuate environmental injustices, and (c) prioritizing the goals, perspectives, and agency of activists and neglected voices within environmental conflicts and solutions. Ultimately, this review aims to build meaningful pathways to embed EJ in MOS research on grand challenges.

What’s up with our obsession with the theoretical contribution: A means to an end or an end in and of itself?

Knowledge production in the discipline of management and organization studies (MOS) is in a labyrinth of its own making. Over the last 30 years, scholars in the discipline have exhibited an intransigent obsession with the theoretical contribution. At this juncture, with Organization about to commence its fourth decade in publication, I would like to take the opportunity to pause as well as to reflect on some of the implications and the consequences that emanate from this obsession. Drawing on specific examples from MOS, I focus my analysis on three mechanisms through which the discipline’s obsession with the theoretical contribution poses unintended but detrimental outcomes on knowledge production: (1) unnecessary proliferation of theoretical constructs, (2) building theory upon theory rather than empirical validation, and (3) making theory for theory’s sake.

Book Review François-Xavier DeVaujany, Jeremy Aroles, Mar Péretz (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of phenomenologies and organization studies, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2023

The recently edited The Oxford Handbook of phenomenologies and organization studies looks at the world of phenomenologies as they apply to the world of organizations while focusing on both the theoretical tension and its relevance for scholars of Management and Organization Studies (MOS). In this review, I concentrate on the concept of ‘circularity’ and of ‘precession’ to show how philosophy can arise from the bottom of practices and ultimately reveal itself as a practice, as the editors of this Handbook suggest.

Deferring Difference No More: An (im)modest, relational plea from/through Karen Barad

The field of management and organization studies (MOS) regularly invokes the relational theories of Karen Barad in sociomaterial and new materialist scholarship. Taking the increasing influence of this work as our point of departure, we witness once again the deferral of difference as organizational scholars grapple with Barad’s oeuvre but gloss the work’s feminist, queer, and decolonial impetus. As a consequence, relational scholarship in MOS circulates without its commentary on gender, race, sexuality, and related axes of inequity. This article recenters these aspects of relational approaches in three steps: (1) identifying the scholarly practices through which they disappear, (2) “re-relationalizing” relational theory in its radical roots, and (3) envisioning scholarly practices that better actualize the potential of relational theories. Our goal is to cultivate the constitutive relations of MOS such that we cease the deferral of difference, both in the study of power and in studies of “generic” organizational practice.

An Essay about a Philosophical Attitude in Management and Organization Studies Based on Parrhesia

Management and organization studies (MOS) scholarship is at a crossroads. The grand challenges (such as the climate emergency) humankind must face today require an improved contribution from all knowledge fields. The number of academics who criticize the lack of influence and social impact of MOS has recently grown. The scientific field structure of MOS is based on its members’ accumulation of symbolic capital. This structure hinders speaking truth to the elite dominating neoliberal society. Our literature review suggested that a deeper interaction between MOS and philosophy could aid in improving the social impact of MOS. Specifically, an attitude by MOS scholars based on parrhesia (παρρησíα, to speak truth to power) could revitalize the field through heterodox approaches and, consequently, allow them to utter sound criticisms of the capitalist system. Parrhesia would lead MOS scholars towards a convergence of ethics and politics. We investigate whether daring to speak inconvenient truths to the powerful (some peers in the field and some individuals and corporations in society) can be a straightforward tool for revitalizing MOS. Boosting a candid philosophy-MOS interaction requires the fulfilment of three objectives: practical dialogue between these fields, reconsideration of the fields’ structures based on symbolic capital, and a post-disciplinary approach to philosophy. That fulfilment implies the delimitation of the MOS-philosophy interaction, a respectful mutual framework, mutual curiosity, and moving from prescriptive theoretical reflection towards more socially useful MOS. Ethical betterment through parrhesia could be the key to surpassing MOS stagnation.

Balancing Breadth and Depth in Qualitative Research: Conceptualizing performativity through multi-sited ethnography

While performativity, as a theoretical concept, has gained much purchase in the field of management and organization studies (MOS), there remains a dearth of empirical work operationalizing the idea. In this article, we argue that empirical studies on performativity in organizational settings have been scarce mainly due to two methodological challenges: (1) the problem of breadth, and (2) the problem of depth. In terms of breadth, to study how a cultural/symbolic construction becomes performative, researchers need to follow threads of meanings and practices that stretch in time and space beyond the scope of what most methodologies afford. In terms of depth, studying performativity requires an in-depth, contextualized understanding of how people live in and through the symbolic world, which few methodologies possess the analytical resources to unravel. We offer multi-sited ethnography as a promising methodological approach that has the potential to concomitantly overcome both challenges. Through a vignette of a study that one of the authors conducted in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, we illustrate how multi-sited ethnography enables empirical research on performativity in MOS.

Maria Ester de Freitas para além do pioneirismo: crítica e “brasilidade” nos estudos organizacionais

Abstract Our objective is to investigate and highlight the contributions of Maria Ester de Freitas to the development of the Brazilian field of Management and Organization Studies (MOS). Ester wrote pioneering work in the development of impacting themes in this field - such as organizational culture, intercultural management, diversity, and moral harassment. This Global South scholar’s approach to such themes was shaped by a peculiar criticism that found an echo amongst Brazilian scholars and practitioners. Ester knew how to produce and reproduce complex and often controversial topics courageously, with intellectual refinement and an impressive cultural repertoire embedded in elements of “Brasilidade.” Ester’s main concern was to think about the human condition in organizations and, therefore, to promote the social responsibility of organizations, a concern that continues to demand urgent reflection. Hence, this research question is: in addition to being a pioneer in developing such themes in the Global South, which elements keep Ester’s work relevant today for organization studies in general? We conclude that Ester’s relevance extrapolates the relevance of the topics she addressed, as her academic style is marked by correlating criticism and manifestations of “Brasilidade”. This correlation appears in a kind of “Becoming-Ester” throughout her texts and speeches, an investigative and provocative posture that invites us to reflect and broaden our horizons when approaching our local realities. Finally, we show that the content and style of Ester’s legacy instigates alternative ways to critically reflect on the human condition in organizations through unconventional and unprejudiced eyes, thus, fostering new approaches to imagining and creating more socially responsible organizations.

Indigenous Peoples and Organization Studies.

This essay encourages scholars of management and organization studies (MOS) to critically reflect on how Indigenous peoples and their knowledges have been, and continue to be, systemically discriminated against. This discrimination is the result of colonization; it has deeply impacted and continues to affect which knowledges and practices are valued and embraced. The impact of colonization is mirrored in MOS via processes and actions within the academic setting and our business schools. The result is the continued marginalization of Indigenous peoples and their knowledges. We propose a shift in how MOS scholars approach research in relation to non-western societies to counter, and hopefully end, these continued practices of discrimination in our business schools. Specifically, we argue that demarginalizing Indigenous research in academia and going beyond 'cosmetic indigenization' in our business schools are new, collaborative ways of rethinking indigeneity and breaking down the current barriers in MOS that reinforce and perpetuate the systemic discrimination against Indigenous peoples, their knowledges and practices.

Boredom at work: The contribution of Ernst Jünger

This paper interrogates the phenomenon of boredom at work by considering Ernst Jünger’s potential contribution. We contend that Jünger offers an important yet overlooked alternative to the dominant perspectives of boredom in Management and Organization Studies (MOS), which are largely composed of ‘simple’ psychological diagnoses and managerial prescriptions. Such studies largely understand boredom as a localised experience at work which can be overcome by targeted managerial prescriptions, techniques and interventions. In contrast we show how Jünger understands boredom from a ‘profound’ perspective as a central feature of modernity. This is premised on Jünger’s broader critique of the bourgeois values that define 20th and 21st century managerial work and organization. Jünger’s cultural-historical perspective is therefore aligned to the discrete field of Boredom Studies. By addressing how Jünger understands ‘work’ as the defining feature of the modern age, his critique situates the phenomenon of boredom at work within the broader social, institutional and cultural order of the 21st Century. While Jünger does not set out to provide a theory of boredom as such, we reconstruct such a theory through an exegesis of his writing on ‘work’ and ‘danger’. This reveals boredom and danger as phenomenologically intertwined concepts, which is an understanding of boredom that has not been considered in MOS or Boredom Studies. It is through this, we argue, that Jünger’s conception of work holds the potential for a powerful critique and understanding of boredom at work under the contemporary regime of neoliberal managerialism.

The panopticon, an emblematic concept in management and organization studies: Heaven or hell?

AbstractThe well‐known metaphor of ‘panopticon’, derived from Bentham's project and popularized by Foucault, has long informed scholarly conversations in management and organization studies (MOS). Herein, we question the power of this emblematic metaphor. Through an in‐depth literature review specifying itsform,principleandgoal, coupled to an investigation of Bentham's original writings, we identifytwo readingsof the panopticon. First, we disentangle the uses of this concept in MOS literature and highlight a rather uniform and negative interpretation of the panopticon as a mechanism of social control and surveillance (first reading). Beyond this dominant interpretation, we contend that the panopticon is a richer concept than MOS literature acknowledges. Going back to Bentham's initial project, entailing not only one but plural types of panopticons, we propose a more comprehensive conceptualization of the panopticon (second reading) as: (1) a rewarding functional dispositive based on freedom and autonomy (form); (2) relying on information sharing, transparency and visibility (principle); and (3) striving for harmony and efficiency as ultimate ends (goal). In doing so, we generate a new way of seeing the panopticon in MOS research. We also reveal an inherent tension between both readings, interpreted as dystopia and utopia, and show that their combination allows grasping the ambivalence ofpanopticism in practicein ways that can inform further research on liberal management. As a practice of freedom,panopticism in practicemight indeed turn into an instrument furthering control. To conclude, we highlight some analytical paths to help MOS scholars disentangle such ambivalence.

From stress to resistance: Challenging the capitalist underpinnings of mental unhealth in work and organizations

AbstractThe worldwide spread of work‐related mental unhealth suggests that this is a major problem affecting organizations and employees on a global scale. In this paper, we therefore provide a thematic review of the literatures that address this issue in management and organization studies (MOS) and related fields. While these literatures examine how employee mental health is affected by organizational and occupational structures and managed by organizations and employees, they have paid relatively little attention to the capitalist labour relations which underpin the unhealthy conditions of contemporary working life. They have paid even less attention to how these conditions may be resisted. To help future scholarship in MOS challenge this state of affairs, we draw on some of the most basic but central notions of exploitation, alienation and resistance in classic and current critiques of capitalism, optimistic that this may help strengthen the field's capacity to confront mental unhealth in settings of work and organization.

Peasants, agriculture and organizations

PurposeIt has been argued that scholars in management and organization studies (MOS) need to take the peasantry into account in their work. This study aims to address the complexity revealed by these arguments, suggesting that one needs clearer definitions and an appreciation of the complexities of historical development if one is to gain appreciation of the impaction of agriculture more generally on MOS.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses historical material to develop a conceptual argument that challenges the homogenous nature of the peasantry. It uses a detailed contrast between two peasant groups in 19th and early 20th century Scotland to suggest divergent patterns of development.FindingsPaying closer attention to definitions and historical development indicates that, as well as the survival of so-called archaic practices alongside highly developed agriculture, the main impact of agriculture on MOS might be the legitimacy it accords, as a cultural resource, to particular forms of organizing. While the issues outlined by previous authors are significant, they need to be discussed with more care to avoid a scattergun approach to analysis.Originality/valueThis study points to the neglect of agriculture more broadly and not just the peasantry, in MOS. It suggests the need to look at not only the economic impact but also the cultural resonance of agriculture in ideas about legitimate forms of organization. It also demonstrates the value and necessity of paying close attention to history in the analyses.

Investigating vicarious trauma: dramaturgical challenges for qualitative research

PurposeThis article examines personal performances of vicarious trauma (VT) related to the Ocean Ranger Disaster. It investigates the extent to which the self is at stake in passionate storytelling about tragic consequences of extreme work.Design/methodology/approachDramaturgical concepts of self-presentation and impression management are used as a qualitative lens to provide an alternative view of published trauma stories arising from emotional research interviews.FindingsThe catastrophic disaster created secondary traumatization for families and friends of extreme workers lost at sea. This article shows that research interviews of these disaster survivors are opportunities for participants to engage in dramatic storytelling. The paper also reflects on related (problematic) storytelling by the trauma researcher.Research limitations/implicationsThe article provides a theory illustration using dramaturgy as an alternative theoretical perspective to document previously under-appreciated aspects of the Ocean Ranger case. The discussion causes us to think about research interviews in a way that past research would not normally suggest.Social implicationsThe Ocean Ranger Disaster continues to be a remarkable source of sorrow for the people of Newfoundland. This research provides a needed contrast to the numerous positivist, and overwhelmingly technological, studies of the disaster.Originality/valueThe research tradition of dramaturgy is a useful lens to apply to the expanding field of trauma studies. VT is rarely a subject of direct discussion in the management and organization studies (MOS) literature. This paper is among the first to consider storytelling interviews from a VT perspective.

Differences in female representation in leading management and organization journals: Establishing a benchmark

In the most prestigious journals of many disciplines, female researchers are underrepresented. To better understand this phenomenon, we compare the proportions of female authors in all leading management and organization studies (MOS) journals, explore underlying gendered publication patterns, and analyze factors explaining differences between journals. We examine the gendered distribution of authorship in these journals using a complete, original time series. The comprehensive data set includes all articles published in fourteen leading journals in the MOS field, comprising 77,472 cases (authors) and 43,673 articles. The findings show that women have been underrepresented in all leading MOS journals until now. However, our findings reveal significant differences between journals, with some journals lagging far behind their peers. We ask why some journals score much higher than others and show that gendered authorship constellations and research topic specialization consistently explain female representation differences between journals. More specifically, we find a dominance of ‘men's clubs’ when it comes to authorship constellations and thriving ‘male islands’ when it comes to research topics. In contrast, ‘women's clubs’ are far less prevalent and no ‘female island’ exists. Interestingly, female authorship and ‘shared islands’ play a particularly powerful role in narrowing the gender gap in leading journals. Our results provide a benchmark for female representation across leading journals and allow for the formulation of concrete research policy goals and directions for change.