Talking About Organizaton Science: Debates, Discourses, Dialogue, and Direction

This book features some of the most informative and provocative articles to appear in the Crossroads section of Organizational Science. Crossroads is devoted to the publication of papers intended to stimulate conversations across different disciplines, perspectives, and orientations. Written by outstanding scholars, the themes of the book cover a wide range of issues at the heart of the study of organizations. These include debates over the role of economics in strategic management research and the now classic exchanges between Jeff Pfeffer and John Van Maanen over the direction of organizational science studies; discourses that describe, analyze and critique ways to present and understand organizations, including a re-appraisal of Gibson Burrell and Gareth Morgan′s seminal work on sociological paradigms of organizational analysis and views on (organizational) culture expressed by several leading writers on the topic: It includes dialogues on some quite radical or unusual "takes" on organizational life: the role of the tempered radical or unusual "takes" on organizational life: the role of the tempered radical, working inside the organization for fundamental change; the dilemmas facing individuals publishing qualitative research in main stream journals; the implications of adopting a spiritual lens to the study of organizations; and a discussion of ways we might better bridge the gap between academic thinking and business practice.

The articles reveal the authors′ depth of knowledge and passion for their subject. They are an ideal source of information and insight, for both new and mature scholars. These debates can serve as an excellent basis to spark enlightened and enjoyable conversations in research seminars and are very useful for informal study.

Richard L. Daft is Professor of Management in the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. He has published dozens of books and articles, and presented at more than 45 universities around the world. He also developed and managed the Center for Change Leadership, is a former Associate Dean at Owen, served as an editor at two leading journals and is a Fellow of the Academy of Management. He is among the most highly cited academics in the fields of economics and business. He studies high performance mental models, which include cognitive models of high performing managers and examining high performance management systems. He is also studying transactional vs. transformational communication and methods of using transformational communication to engage people in organizational change.

Richard L. Daft is the Brownlee O. Currey, Jr. Professor of Management and Principal Senior Lecturer in the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. Professor Daft specializes in the study of organization theory and leadership and is a fellow of the Academy of Management. He has served on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly and Journal of Management Education. He was the associate editor-in-chief of Organization Science and served for three years as associate editor of Administrative Science Quarterly. Professor Daft has authored or co-authored 14 books and written dozens of scholarly articles, papers and chapters in other books. .