Digital Reading Room 2.0 -- DDBA 800: Conceptual Foundations of Organizational Research

DDBA 800: Conceptual Foundations of Organizational Research Report a Broken Link

This course will provide DBA students with a basic understanding of the major theoretical perspectives in Organization Behaviour, Organization Theory, and Strategic Organization.

The readings are intended to provide an overview of the most important conceptual insights in these fields rather than examples of the most recent studies. The readings selected constitute either classics or near classics in the field or integrative works that summarize and critique those classics. The course goal is that students examine these theories and their applications with a critical eye to determine the conceptual and practical strengths and limitations of the material and its applicability to different administrative situations.

Required Readings

Lesson 1

Reading 1: Pfeffer, J. (1997). Chapter 1: The development and scope of organization studies. In New directions for organization theory: Problems and prospects (pp. 3–24). Oxford University Press.

Reading 2: Absolon, K. & Willett, C. (2005). Putting ourselves forward: Location in Aboriginal research. In L. Brown & S. Strega (eds.), Research as Resistance: Critical, Indigenous, and Anti-Oppressive Approaches. Pp. 97-126. Toronto, Canadian Scholars Press.

Reading 3: Suddaby, R. (2019). The role of the essay in management scholarship. Journal of Management Studies, 56(2), 441-447.

Reading 4: Hatch, M. J., & Cunliffe, A. L. (2006). Chapter 1: Why study organization theory? In Organization theory: Modern, symbolic, and postmodern perspectives (2nd ed., pp. 3-18). Oxford University Press.

Reading 5: Zald, M. N. (1993). Organization studies as a scientific and humanistic enterprise: Toward a reconceptualization of the foundations of the field. Organization Science, 4(4), 513–528.

Lesson 2

Reading 6: Donaldson, L. (1996). Chapter 1.2: The normal science of structural contingency theory. In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, & W. R. Nord (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of organization studies (pp. 57–76). Sage.

Reading 7: Lorsch, J. W. (1977). Organization design: A situational perspective. Organizational Dynamics, 6(2), 2–14.

Reading 8: Siggelkow, N. (2001). Change in the presence of fit: the rise, the fall, and the renaissance of Liz Claiborne. Academy of Management Journal, 44(4), 838–857.

Lesson 3

Reading 9: Cyert, R. M., & March, J. G. (1963). A behavioral theory of the firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 2. Chapters 3 and 7.

Reading 10: Cohen, M. D., March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1972). A garbage can model of organizational choice. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1-25.

Reading 11: Gavetti, G., Greve, H. R., Levinthal, D. A., & Ocasio, W. (2012). The behavioral theory of the firm: Assessment and prospects. Academy of Management Annals, 6(1), 1-40.

Lesson 4

Reading 12: Hambrick, D. C., & Frederickson, J. W. (2001). Are you sure you have a strategy? Academy of Management Executive, 15(4), 48–59.

Reading 13: Mintzberg, H. (1987). The strategy concept I: Five Ps for strategy. California Management Review, 30(1), 11–24.

Reading 14: Mintzberg, H. (1987). The strategy concept II: Another look at why organizations need strategies. California Management Review, 30(1), 25–32.

Reading 15: Stensaker, I., & Falkenberg, J. (2007). Making sense of different responses to corporate change. Human Relations, 60(1), 137–177.

Reading 16: Dutton, J. E., & Dukerich, J. M. (1991). Keeping an eye on the mirror: Image and identity in organizational adaptation. Academy of Management Journal, 34(3), 517–554.

Lesson 5

Reading 17: Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (2003). The external control of organizations: A resource dependence perspective (ch. 3, pp. 39–61; ch. 10, 257–287). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Reading 18: Wood, D. J. (1991). Corporate social performance revisited. Academy of Management Review, 16(4), 691–718.

Reading 19: Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., & Wood, D. J. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 853–886.

Lesson 6

Reading 20: DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160.

Reading 21: Suchman, M. C. (1995). Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 571–610.

Reading 22: Maguire, S., Hardy, C., & Lawrence, T. (2004). Institutional entrepreneurship in emerging fields: HIV/AIDS treatment advocacy in Canada. Academy of Management Journal, 47(5), 657–679.

Reading 23: Oliver, C. (1992). The antecedents of deinstitutionalization. Organization Studies, 13(4), 563–588.

Lesson 7

Reading 24: Martin, J., Frost, P., & O'Neill, O. A. (2006). Organizational culture: Beyond struggles for intellectual dominance. In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, T. B. Lawrence, & W. R. Nord (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of organization studies (2nd ed., pp. 725–753). Sage.

Reading 25: Albert, S., & Whetten, D. A. (1985). Organizational identity. Research in Organizational Behavior, 7, 263–295.

Note: Skim through pp. 280-293.

Reading 26: Hatch, MK. J. & Schultz, M. (2000). Chapter 2: Scaling the Tower of Babel: Relational differences between identity, image, and culture in organizations. In M.J. Hatch & M.H. Larsen (eds.), The expressive organization, (pp.11-34). Oxford University Press.

Note: Skim through pp. 29-31.

Reading 27: Corley, K. G. (2004). Defined by our strategy or our culture? Hierarchical differences in perceptions of organizational identity and change. Human Relations, 57(9), 1145–1177.

Lesson 8

Reading 28: Burt, R. S. (1993). The social structure of competition. In R. Swedberg (Ed.), Explorations in economic sociology (pp. 65–103). Russell Sage Foundation.

Reading 29: Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94 (Supplemental), S95–S120.

Reading 30: Uzzi, B. (1996). The sources and consequences of embeddedness for the economic performance of organizations: The network effect. American Sociological Review, 61(4), 674–698.

Lesson 9

Reading 31: Alvesson, M., & Deetz, S. A. (2006). Critical theory and postmodernism approaches to organizational studies. In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, T. B. Lawrence, & W. R. Nord (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of organization studies (2nd ed., pp. 255–283). Sage.

Reading 32: Alvesson, M., & Willmott, H. (2002). Identity regulation as control: Producing the appropriate individual. Journal of Management Studies, 39(5), 619–644.

Reading 33: Hardy, C., & Leiba-O'Sullivan, S. (1998). The power behind empowerment: Implications for research and practice. Human Relations, 51(4), 451–483.

Lesson 10

Reading 34: Burrell, G. (1996). Chapter 3.8: Normal science, paradigms, metaphors, discourses and genealogies of analysis. In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, & W. R. Nord (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of organization studies (pp. 642–658). Sage.