Summary: Organization And Power

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• 1 Lecture 1

• 1.1 Reading questions

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• According to the article by Bartunek, Rynes and Ireland (2006), what makes Management Research interesting and why? Name three different aspects and explain them briefly.

  1. Relevance to Real-World Problems
     
  2. Theoretical Contribution
     
  3. Methodological Innovation
     

• The authors (bartunek) also make reference to the Article by Murray Davis (1971) “That’s Interesting!” What was the core argument of this article?

  What researchers find interesting in their research is shaped by social and cultural influences, as well as the intellectual trends and paradigms of their academic community.

• Haimowitz suggests that some studies can be quite interesting to scholars, but not to other people. Why is that? (bartunek)

  The public is interested in findings (news) but lots of empirical articles don’t produce new findings
  
  Researchers find articles interesting because of the focus on processes, but the public is more interested in outcomes
  
  Most academic articles report data from unnamed companies or anonymous case studied which limits reporters’ interest because they are interested in names

• According to the Cornelissen et al. (2021, why is a lack of discussion about theory and theorizing problematic?

  It may lead to  implicit views and intuitions about theory rather  than informed views and more considered per spectives.

• How is ‘theory’ understood in the academic realm as opposed to how it is used in everyday language? What are academics most interested in, according to the text? Cornelissen et al. (2021)

  Everyday language: knowledge that is speculative or untested (‘theory versus practice’), in the academic realm ‘theory’  refers to the scholarly work that researchers do  in pursuit of making informed knowledge  claims.
  
  - Researchers are interested in the general structure or character of events in the social  world, whereas practitioners and journalists are  interested in specific cases
  
  As Makadok  and colleagues (2018) describe this difference, academics are focusing on the ‘forest’, whereas  practitioners and journalists are understandably more focused on the ‘trees’.

• Why is conceptualization seen as core to all forms of theorizing? Cornelissen et al. (2021)

  conceptualization is the act of researchers naming and framing the ‘topic’ that they are interested in, or studying, in terms of specific theoretical concepts, as the ‘resource’. This inference, or ‘conceptual leap’, from topic to resource is one that is foundational to all forms of theorizing.

• Why do the authors argue for pluralism in forms of theorizing? Cornelissen et al.

  It's important to have different ways of thinking about things because each way brings something valuable to the table. When we use these different ways together, it helps us learn more and come up with new and exciting ideas for research.
  Achieving openness to ‘different forms and styles of theorizing’  not privileging one form

• How do the authors explain “normative control” with reference to “corporate culture” and the study conducted by Gideon Kunda (1992) Mumby & Plotnikof (2019, (pp. 42-44)

  "Normative control" means organizations want employees to think and feel the same way they do, creating strong commitment. It's not just about telling employees what to do; it's about making them think and feel in a way that matches the company's values.It was part of the 1980s corporate culture movement. Employees can still resist by using humor and alternative views.

• According to the authors, how does power operate in twenty-first century neoliberal capitalism? Try to explain the concept of ‘governmentality’ as well as possible in your own words.

  • Shift from Homogenization to Differentiation: While earlier forms of power, like power through consent, aimed to ideologically interpellate all employees into the same organizational reality, governmentality operates on a logic of differentiation. It proliferates individual differences rather than seeking sameness and conformity.
    
  • Neoliberal Capitalism: Governmentality is closely linked to neoliberal capitalism, which emerged as a response to classical liberalism and emphasizes minimal state intervention in favor of free markets and individual entrepreneurial freedoms. Under neoliberalism, individuals are seen as "entrepreneurs of themselves."

• What are the main elements of bureaucracy? Monteiro, & Adler (2022)

  Hierarchies of authority, specialized functions, formalized processes