Don't Simplify, Complexify: From Disjunctive to Conjunctive Theorizing in Organization and Management Studies

Journal of Management Studies

Volumn 54, Issue 2, 2017, Pages 132-153

  Tsoukas, Haridimos ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS   (Cyprus)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

complexity; epistemology; management; metatheory; ontology; praxeology

Indexed keywords

EID: 84994247395     PISSN: 00222380     EISSN: 14676486     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/joms.12219     Document Type: Article

References (109)

1. Aristotle (2002). Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by Rowe, C. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Ashby, W. R. (1956). An Introduction to Cybernetics. London: Chapman and Hall.
3. BCG (1975). Strategy Alternatives for the British Motorcycle Industry. London: HMSO.
4. Bechky, B. A. (2011). ‘Making organizational theory work: institutions, occupations, and negotiated orders’. Organization Science, 22, 1157–67.
5. Beer, S. (1985). Diagnosing the System for Organizations. Chichester: Wiley.
6. Bettis, R. A., Gambardella, A., Helfat, C. and Mitchell, W. (2014). ‘Theory in strategic management’. Strategic Management Journal, 35, 1411–3.
7. Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic Interactionsim: Perspective and Method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
8. Cerbone, D. R. (2008). Heidegger. London: Continuum.
9. Cilliers, P. (1998). Complexity and Postmodernism. London: Routledge.
10. Cobb, J. B. (2007). ‘Person-in-community: whiteheadian insights into community and institution’. Organization Studies, 28, 567–88.
11. Cohen, B. I. (1994). Interactions: Some Contacts Between the Natural Sciences and the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
12. Deken, F., Carlile, P. R., Berends, H. and Lauche, K. (2016). ‘Generating novelty through interdependent routines’. Organization Science, 27, 659–77.
13. Dillon, M. (2000). ‘Poststructuralism, complexity and poetics’. Theory, Culture & Society, 17, 1–26.
14. Dionysiou, D. and Tsoukas, H. (2013). ‘Understanding the creation and recreation of routines from within: a symbolic interactionist perspective’. Academy of Management Review, 38, 181–205.
15. Dougherty, D. (2016). Taking Advantage of Emergence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
16. Elms, H., Brammer, S., Harris, J. D. and Philips, R. A. (2010). ‘New directions in strategic management and business Ethics’. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20, 401–25.
17. Elster, J. (2007). Explaining Social Behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press.
18. Emirbayer, M. and Miche, A. (1998). ‘What is agency?’. American Journal of Sociology, 103, 962–1023.
19. Etzioni, A. (1988). The Moral Dimension: Toward a New Economics. New York: The Free Press.
20. Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing Discourse. London: Routledge.
21. Farjoun, M. (2010). ‘Beyond dualism: stability and change as a Duality’. Academy of Management Review, 35, 202–25.
22. Feldman, M. S. (2000). ‘Organizational routines as a source of continuous change’. Organization Science, 11, 611–29.
23. Feldman, M. S. and Orlikowski, W. J. (2011). ‘Theorizing practice and practicing theory’. Organization Science, 22, 1240–53.
24. Feldman, M. S. and Pentland, B. T. (2003). ‘Reconceptualizing organizational routines as a source of flexibility and change’. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48, 94–118.
25. Feldman, M. S. and Rafaeli, A. (2002). ‘Organizational routines as sources of connection and understandings’. Journal of Management Studies, 39, 309–31.
26. Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making Social Science Matter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
27. Fredrickson, B. L. (2009). Positivity. New York: Three Rivers Press.
28. Garud, R., Gehman, J. and Kumaraswamy, A. (2011). ‘Complexity arrangements for sustained innovation: lessons from 3M corporation’. Organization Studies, 32, 737–67.
29. Garud, R., Simpson, B., Langley, A. and Tsoukas, H. (2015). ‘How does novelty emerge?’. In Garud, R., Simpson, B., Langley, A. and Tsoukas, H. (Eds), The Emergence of Novelty in Organizations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1–24.
30. Gehman, J., Trevino, L. K. and Garud, R. (2013). ‘Values work: a process study of the emergence and performance of organizational values practices’. Academy of Management Journal, 56, 84–112.
31. Gioia, D. A. (1992). ‘Pinto fires and personal ethics: a script analysis of missed opportunities’. Journal of Business Ethics, 11, 379–89.
32. Goold, M. (1992). ‘Design, learning and planning: a further observation on the design school debate’. Strategic Management Journal, 13, 169–70.
33. Guerlac, S. (2015). ‘Time of emergence/emergence of time: Life in the age of mechanical (re)production’. In Garud, R., Simpson, B., Langley, A. and Tsoukas, H. (Eds), The Emergence of Novelty in Organizations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 27–55.
34. Harré, R. (1985). The Philosophies of Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
35. Hernes, T. (2014). A Process Theory of Organization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
36. Howard-Grenville, J., Metzger, M. L. and Meyer, A. D. (2013). ‘Rekindling the flame: processes of identity resurrection’. Academy of Management Journal, 56, 113–36.
37. Howard-Grenville, J., Rerup, C., Langley, A. and Tsoukas, H. (2016). Organizational routines: How they are created, maintained and changed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
38. Hussenot, A. and Missonier, S. (2016). ‘Encompassing stability and novelty in organization studies: an events-based approach’. Organization Studies, 37, 523–46.
39. Joas, H. (1996). The Creativity of Action. Translated by Gaines, J. and Keast, P. Cambridge: Polity.
40. Kuhn, T. S. (2000). The Road since Structure. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
41. Langley, A. and Tsoukas, H. (2010). ‘Introducing perspectives on process organization studies’. In Hernes, T. and Maitlis, S. (Eds), Process, Sensemaking, & Organizing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1–26.
42. Langley, A., Mintzberg, H., Pitcher, P., Posada, E. and Saint-Macary, J. (1995). ‘Opening up decision making: the view from the black stool’. Organization Science, 6, 260–79.
43. Langley, A., Smallman, C., Tsoukas, H. and Van de Ven, A. (2013). ‘Process studies of change in organization and management: unveiling temporality, activity, and flow’. Academy of Management Journal, 56, 1–13.
44. Lewis, M. W. (2000). ‘Exploring paradox: toward a more comprehensive guide’. Academy of Management Review, 25, 760–76.
45. Lok, J. and de Rond, M. (2013). ‘On the plasticity of institutions: containing and restoring practice breakdowns at the Cambridge University Boat Club’. Academy of Management Journal, 56, 185–207.
46. Luckmann, T. (2008). ‘On social interaction and the communicative construction of personal identity, knowledge and reality’. Organization Studies, 29, 277–90.
47. MacIntyre, A. (1985). After Virtue, 2nd edition. London: Duckworth.
48. MacKay, B. and Chia, R. (2013). ‘Choice, chance, and unintended consequences in strategic change: a process understanding of the rise and fall of NorthCo automotive’. Academy of Management Journal, 56, 208–30.
49. March, J. G. and Simon, H. A. (1993). Organizations. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
50. Marti, E. and Scherer, A. G. (2016). ‘Financial regulation and social welfare: the critical contribution of management theory’. Academy of Management Review, 41, 298–323.
51. Maturana, H. and Varela, F. (1980). Autopoiesis and Cognition. London: Reidel.
52. Mesle, R. C. (2008). Process-Relational Philosophy. West Conshohocken, PS: Templeton Press.
53. Mintzberg, H., Pascale, R. T., Goold, M. and Rumelt, R. P. (1996). ‘CMR forum: the “Honda effect” revisited’. California Management Review, 38, 78–117.
54. Moeller, H. G. (2006). Luhman Explained. Chicago, IL: Open Court.
55. Montuori, A. (2008). ‘Foreword: Edgar Morin's path of complexity’. Translated by R. Postel. In Morin, E. (Ed.), On Complexity. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, vii–xliv.
56. Morgan, G. (1997). Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
57. Morin, E. (2008). On Complexity. Translated by R. Postel. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
58. Nelson, R. R. and Winter, S. G. (1982). An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
59. Nicolini, D. (2013). Practice Theory, Work, & Organization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
60. Orlikowski, W. (2007). ‘Sociomaterial practices: exploring technology at work’. Organization Studies, 28, 1435–48.
61. Plotnitsky, A. (2002). The Knowable and the Unknowable. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
62. Rorty, R. (1989). Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity. Cambridge: Cambridge University.
63. Sandberg, J. and Tsoukas, H. (2011). ‘Grasping the logic of practice: theorizing through practical rationality’. Academy of Management Review, 36, 338–60.
64. Sawyer, K. R. (2005). Social Emergence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
65. Sayer, A. (1984). Method in Social Science. London: Hutchinson.
66. Sayer, A. (2011). Why Things Matter to People. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
67. Schön, D. A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books.
68. Schultz, M. and Hernes, T. (2013). ‘A temporal perspective on organizational identity’. Organization Science, 24, 1–21.
69. Segal, L. (2001). The Dream of Reality. New York: Springer.
70. Sen, A. (1987). On Ethics & Economics. Oxford: Blackwell.
71. Shotter, J. (2011). Getting It: Withness-Thinking and the Dialogical in Practice. New York: Hampton Press.
72. Shotter, J. and Tsoukas, H. (2014). ‘In search of phronesis: leadership and the art of judgment’. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 13, 224–43.
73. Simon, H. (1976). Administrative Behavior, 3rd edition. New York: The Free Press.
74. Sonenshein, S. (2016). ‘Routines and creativity: from dualism to duality’. Organization Science, 27, 739–58.
75. Starbuck, W. H. (2006). The Production of Knowledge. The Challenge of Social Science Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
76. Swedberg, R. (2016). ‘Before theory comes theorizing or how to make social science more interesting’. British Journal of Sociology, 67, 5–22.
77. Tenbrunsel, A. E. and Smith-Crowe, K. (2008). ‘Ethical decision making: where we've been and where we're going’. Academy of Management Annals, 2, 545–607.
78. Tenbrunsel, A. E., Diekmann, K. A., Wade-Benzoni, K. A. and Bazerman, M. H. (2010). ‘The ethical mirage: a temporal explanation as to why we are not as ethical as we think we are’. Research in Organizational Behavior, 30, 153–73.
79. Thomas, A. B. (2006). Research Concepts for Management Studies. London: Routledge.
80. Thompson, E. (2007). Mind in Life. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
81. Toulmin, S. (1982). The Return to Cosmology. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
82. Toulmin, S. (1990). Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
83. Toulmin, S. (2001). Return to Reason. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
84. Tsoukas, H. (1996). ‘The firm as a distributed knowledge system: a constructionist approach’. Strategic Management Journal, 17, 11–25.
85. Tsoukas, H. (2005). Complex Knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
86. Tsoukas, H. (2009a). ‘A dialogical approach to the creation of new knowledge in organizations’. Organization Science, 20, 941–57.
87. Tsoukas, H. (2009b). ‘Craving for generality and small-N studies: A Wittgensteinian approach towards the epistemology of the particular in organization and management studies’. In Buchanan, D. and Bryman, A. (Eds), The Sage Handbook of Organizational Research Methods. London: Sage, 285–301.
88. Tsoukas, H. (2011). ‘How should we understand tacit knowledge? A phenomenological view’. In Easterby-Smith, M. and Lyles, M. (Eds), Handbook of Organizational Learning & Knowledge Management, 2nd edition. Chichester: Wiley, 453–76.
89. Tsoukas, H. (2016). ‘The power of the particular: Towards an organization science of singularities’. In Corcoran, T. and Cromby, J. (Eds), Joint Action: Essays in Honour of John Shotter. London: Routledge, 153–72.
90. Tsoukas, H. and Chia, R. (2002). ‘On organizational becoming: rethinking organizational change’. Organization Science, 13, 567–82.
91. Tsoukas, H. and Chia, R. (2011). ‘Introduction: Why philosophy matters to organization theory’. In Tsoukas, H. and Chia, R. (Eds), Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Philosophy and Organization Theory. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing, 1–22.
92. Tsoukas, H. and Cummings, S. (1997). ‘Marginalization and recovery: The emergence of Aristotelian themes in organization studies’. Organization Studies, 18, 655–83.
93. Tsoukas, H. and Dooley, K. J. (2011). ‘Introduction to the special issue: towards the ecological style: embracing complexity in organizational research’. Organization Studies, 32, 729–35.
94. Tsoukas, H. and Hatch, M. J. (2001). ‘Complex thinking, complex practice: a narrative approach to organizational complexity’. Human Relations, 54, 979–1013.
95. Tsoukas, H. and Knudsen, C. (2002). ‘The conduct of strategy research’. In Pettigrew, A., Thomas, H. and Whittington, R. (Eds), Handbook of Strategy and Management. London: Sage, 411–35.
96. Turner, S. F. and Rindova, V. (2012). ‘A balancing act: how organizations pursue consistency in routine functioning in the face of ongoing change’. Organization Science, 23, 24–46.
97. Vaill, P. (1998). ‘The unspeakable texture of process wisdom’. In Cooperrider, D. L. and Srivastva, S. (Eds), Organizational Wisdom and Executive Courage. San Francisco, CA: New Lexington Press, 25–39.
98. Van de Ven, A. H. (2007). Engaged Scholarship. A Guide for Organizational and Social Research. New York: Oxford University Press.
99. Von Foerster, H. (1984). ‘Principles of self-organization – in a socio-managerial context’. In Ulrich, H. and Probst, G. J. B. (Eds), Self-Organization and Management of Social Systems. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2–24.
100. Von Foerster, H. (2003). Understanding Understanding. New York: Springer.
101. Von Foerster, H. (2014). ‘The Beginning of Heaven and Earth Has No Name’. Edited by Muler, A. and Muller, K. H. Translated by Rooks, E. and Kasenbacher, M. New York: Fordham University Press.
102. Von Foerster, H. and Poerksen, B. (2002). Understanding Systems. Heidelberg: Carl-Auer-Systeme Verlag.
103. Walton, D. (2006). Fundamentals of Critical Argumentation. New York: Cambridge University Press.
104. Weick, K. E. (1979). The Social Psychology of Organizing, 2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
105. Weick, K. E. (1990). ‘Introduction: cartographic myths in organizations’. In Huff, A. S. (Ed.), Mapping Strategic Thought. Chichester: Wiley, 1–10.
106. Weick, K. E. (2003). ‘Theory and practice in the real world’. In Tsoukas, H. and Knudsen, C. (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Organization Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 453–75.
107. Weick, K. E. (2007). ‘The generative properties of richness’. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 14–9.
108. Weick, K. E. and Roberts, K. (1993). ‘Collective mind in organizations: heedful interrelating on flight decks’. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 357–81.
109. Whitehead, A. N. (1929/1978). Process and Reality. New York: The Free Press.