Special Topic Forum Research Articles

A New Look at Stigmatization in and of Organizations

Although stigma has been studied extensively in psychology and sociology, there has been little research on stigmatization in organizational settings. This special topic forum, which includes four articles, builds on previous social science research and expands its coverage both to individuals within organizations and to organizations themselves. As we note here, these four articles provide an opportunity to examine not only the harm caused by stigma but its potential benefits as well.

Corporations as social change agents: Individual, interpersonal, institutional, and environmental dynamics

Over the past two decades, there have been a growing number of corporations, both within and beyond the United States, engaging in activities that promote positive social change. The papers in this special topic forum examine corporate social change agency at the micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis. Through these analyses, the authors of these papers build a richly textured, multidisciplinary conceptual foundation for analysis and research on corporate social change activities.

Commentary: Management education between logics and locations

This commentary complements the articles in the Special Topic Forum by discussing first the changes in the institutional logics that have underpinned higher education for business and management in the USA. It then examines the diffusion of US-based models to other parts of the world with reference to the center–periphery continuum that has emerged in management education in the latter part of the 20th century. The commentary concludes by highlighting the main arguments of the articles and the research directions that they suggest.

New Frontiers in Network Theory Development

This special topic forum, commissioned to stimulate theory development on building effective networks, contains eleven papers spanning the micro, meso, macro, and meta levels of analysis. Each paper breaks new ground; collectively, they suggest that we are at a crossroads in network research. Important opportunities remain, however, for further work in network theory development, and we highlight major gaps relating to network theory's scope and mission, accessibility, integration with other perspectives, and attention to process and internationalization issues.

Meaningful Motivation for Work Motivation Theory

This article discusses the July 2004 “Academy of Management Review” Special Topic Forum on the Future of Work Motivation Theory. The author feels that, while the forum opens up new research directions to help understand what motivates workers to work, it says little about why workers should be motivated to work. There is a direct connection between early developments in motivation theory and the history of philosophical and psychological ethics. It is noted that motivational efforts may exert control over individual moral autonomy. Making the link between meaningful work and work motivation theory will supposedly stimulate further inquiry and research into meaningful work. The author notes the connection between worker motivation and productivity within individual and group performance.

Response to “Meaningful Motivation for Work Motivation Theory”

This article presents a response by Richard M. Steers, Richard T. Mowday and Debra L. Shapiro to Christopher Michaelson's comments on the July 2004 “Academy of Management Review” Special Topic Forum regarding the Future of Work Motivation Theory. Steers and colleagues agree with Michaelson that the articles in the forum did not directly address his desire to see further linkages developed between work motivation theories and people's legitimate desire for meaningful lives. The authors note that no papers were submitted to this special issue directly examining the topic and encouraged Professor Michaelson to develop this linkage. If there are to be any future papers on the subject the line of theory development will need to be differentiated from current constructs in work motivation research which currently focus on intrinsic sources of motivation.

Introduction to Special Topic Forum: Perspectives onHowGoverments Matter

This special topic forum explores how governments matter in a number of ways: the extent to which government action can foster industry creation and economic development, the impact of corrupt governments on firm-level decision making by managers of multinational enterprises, the concept of the attractiveness of political markets and the impacts they can have on firm-level strategies, and how deregulation can affect the governance mechanisms of firms. Here we offer readers four views on research issues intended to complement the STF articles and to suggest other avenues for fruitful research.

Introduction to Special Topic Forum: Language and Organization: The Doing of Discourse

Introduction to Special Topic Forum: Language and Organization: The Doing of Discourse

Corporate Governance: Decades of Dialogue and Data

The field of corporate governance is at a crossroads. Our knowledge of what we know about the efficacy of corporate governance mechanisms is rivaled by what we do not know. This special topic forum is dedicated to continuing the rich tradition of research in this area, with the hope that the models and theories offered will propel corporate governance research to the next level, enhancing our understanding of those governance structures and mechanisms that best serve organizational functioning.

Corporate Governance Special Topic Forum Acknowledgements

Corporate Governance Special Topic Forum Acknowledgements

Corporate Governance Special Topic Forum Acknowledgements

The article acknowledges authors who have contributed articles to the special section about corporate governance.

Paradox, Spirals, Ambivalence: the New Language of Change and Pluralism

The twin foci of change and pluralism in this special issue clearly have extensive research traditions in their own right. Yet, the power of bringing them together is that their combination reveals rich interconnections between the two. Pluralism in ideas, among people, within organizations, and across industries is a crucial driver of change, even as that very change significantly alters pluralism. Several unanticipated themes emerge in the special issue. The most central is paradox. Paradox is the simultaneous existence of two inconsistent states, such as between and efficiency, collaboration and competition, or new and old. Rather than compromising between the two in some sort of Goldilocks fantasy, vibrant organizations, groups, and individuals change by simultaneously holding the two states. This duality of coexisting tensions creates an edge of chaos, not a bland halfway point between one extreme and the other. The management of this duality hinges on exploring the tension in a creative way that captures both extremes, thereby capitalizing on the inherent pluralism within the duality. A second theme that emerges within the special topic forum is self-reinforcing spirals. Positive feedback loops emerge to drive people, groups, and organizations into spirals of increasing or decreasing pluralism and change. These loops can have consequences that occur at different points in time, and so intersect in unpredictable ways. A third theme is ambivalence. Pluralistic and changing organizations have both positive and negative (as well as intended and unintended) outcomes for employees and organizations. The result is a fundamental ambivalence about what is often called innovation and even progress. In contrast, several expected themes do not emerge. For example, punctuated equilibrium is not central within the issue. Perhaps the concept is too well known to capture the interest of researchers. Or perhaps conceptualizing change as a quantum leap from one frozen state to the next is being superseded by viewing it as having a more complicated, continuous scale distribution, such as an inverse power law. Similarly, traditional evolutionary models of variation, selection, and retention are not central to the issue. This could, of course, simply be a random event. But it also could signal that this view of pluralism and change as linear and devoid of emotional content is not compelling. Rather, the authors are favoring conceptions of change and pluralism that are more consistent with nonlinear notions like chaos and complexity, as opposed to a more Newtonian view of the world. In keeping with the focus of the special issue, the editors engaged in their own pluralism and change. We built an editorial team that is decidedly more diverse than those of most special issues. Rather than the de riguer two or three editors, ten editors nurtured this issue. In so doing, we not only increased the variance in perspectives but pragmatically shortened many of the review times. We also changed our own jobs. Instead of staying on the sidelines, we used the scale of our team as a way to heighten variety within the issue and to leverage the insights gained in the editorial process. Many of the editors, most of whom had never written together before, teamed up to write short essays that complement the articles. The result is a special issue that highlights four very compelling papers but also interweaves three short editorial team essays in a repeating rhythm of article/essay. In the first article, Organizational Silence: A Barrier to Change and Development in a Plural-

Introduction to Special Topic Forum Privatization and Entrepreneurial Transformation: Emerging Issues and a Future Research Agenda.

Privatization has become a popular strategy to promote economic development in emerging, developing, and developed economies. Despite its popularity, little attention has been devoted to examination of the organizational and managerial implications of privatization or to the effect of privatization on companies' ability to innovate and engage in entrepreneurial activities. In this article the authors discuss privatization's increasing importance and present a model that links privatization to a firm's entrepreneurial activities. The authors conclude with a discussion of issues that they believe deserve scholars' attention in theory development and subsequent empirical examination.