System, Actor, and Process: Keywords in Organization Studies

System, Actor and Process: Keywords in Organization Studies is intended as an epistemological ‘compass’ to navigate through the multifaceted key concepts typically used in organizational practice and research.

The book illustrates thirty-four keywords using a tripartite structure: each keyword is briefly discussed from three points of view, namely the system-centered, actor-centered and process-centered conception of organization, which reflects the options emerging from contemporary epistemological debate in organizational studies and, more generally, in social sciences, namely objectivism, subjectivism, and the Weberian "third way".

Primarily addressed to researchers and academics in organization studies, this book is also a useful resource for undergraduate or postgraduate students, for whom it may represent a thorough introduction to organizational concepts. It will also be a valuable tool for managers to apply in their everyday practice.

Roberto Albano, Ph.D. in Sociology is Associate Professor at the Department of Cultures, Politics and Society of the Università degli Studi di Torino, where he teaches Sociology and Methodology of Social Research. His recent research interests include cultural change in European countries, with a special focus on work values; the epistemological background of organizational analysis and research; smart working and coworking. He is member of the Scientific Committee of MU.S.I.C. – Observatory on social change and cultural innovation.

Ylenia Curzi, Ph.D. in Business Science is Associate Professor of Organization and Human Resource Management and member of the Academic Board of the doctoral program in Labour, Development and Innovation at the "Marco Biagi" Department of Economics of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy), where she teaches Business Organization and International HRM. At Marco Biagi Foundation she coordinates the permanent Observatory on Performance Management systems and practices in Italian firms. Her research interests include the relationships between organizational regulation and digitalization, organization and wellbeing at work, performance management and innovative behaviour.

Tommaso Fabbri is Full Professor of Organization and Human Resource Management and Dean of the "Marco Biagi" Department of Economics, Vice Director of the interdisciplinary Doctoral School E4E at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. His main research interests are organizational learning, well-being at work, performance management, people analytics and data-driven human resource management. In his capacity as Scientific Coordinator at Fondazione Marco Biagi he has been focusing on the interdisciplinary study or work regulation, in the light of the digital transformation of work and organization and, as director of Short on Work, an international contest for short videos on contemporary work, he has been promoting research on visual representations of work. He was Visiting Professor at the Pennsylvania State University and he serves as a consultant to several private companies and public institutions.