PhD Workshop: Organization Studies Will Eat Itself
If there is an attempt to discern ‘signs of the future’ within organization studies, then one would do well to turn towards the research currently being conducted in its name by PhD students. In the years to come, the young upstarts of organization studies may find themselves as part of a new orthodoxy. Some might even be asked to take part in a nostalgic retrospective celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism. In any case, there is little doubt that the work of the doctoral community will, in some way or another, impact on the future direction of organization studies.
PhD students are already challenging the conventional frontiers of organization studies through their various avenues of research. Previously marginalized or excluded traditions of thought are being examined in doctoral theses, which will in most cases emerge as a series of published articles. It is certainly true that there has long been a ‘critical’ tradition within organization studies. But there is a sense that increasingly diverse and experimental perspectives on management and organization are being thrown into the mix. In the process, the concept of ‘organization’ (and, by consequence, the very idea of ‘organization studies’) is being radically redefined by PhD students. To what extent will it be possible in the future to even speak of an ‘organization studies’, an academic discipline with its own specific identity and history, if it is constantly being reinvented and transformed beyond recognition by PhD students? The question is, will organization studies eventually eat itself? Must one then answer: bon appetit?
We propose to discuss the twin problem of inheritance and innovation within management and organization studies. On the one hand, PhD students are instructed to engage sensitively with the established canon of management literature, whether ‘critical’ or ‘mainstream’. On the other hand, PhD students are also expected to conduct pioneering work which must amount to an original ‘contribution to knowledge’. Is it possible to have one’s cake and eat it? Or should PhD students work towards baking an altogether different cake with much fresher ingredients? If the business schools of today are the cook-shops of the future, we would like to ask what new kinds of recipes doctoral researchers are developing at present.
The forum will be organised by PhD students, for PhD students, with only PhD students in attendance. Attendees will be asked to reflect on the above and offer their own insights in an open forum – there will be no paper presentations in the strict sense, aside from a five-minute opener to the discussion from its facilitators.
Please don’t hesitate to contact Nick Butler (nb115@le.ac.uk) or Stephen Dunne (sd142@le.ac.uk) with questions, comments or suggestions. We look forward to hearing from you soon and to seeing you all in Ljubljana.