The Past Speaks

Coordinator: Michael Rowlinson; Queen Mary U. of London; 
Coordinator: Gabrielle Durepos; St. Francis Xavier U.; 
Coordinator: Kyle Bruce; Macquarie U.; 
Panelist: Shawn M. Carraher; Oxford Journal Distinguished Research Professor; 
Panelist: Diego Maganhotto Coraiola; U. of Alberta; 
Panelist: Stephanie Decker; Aston Business School; 
Panelist: William M Foster; U. of Alberta; 
Panelist: John Hassard; The U. of Manchester; 
Panelist: Albert J. Mills; Saint Mary’s U.; 
Panelist: R. Daniel Wadhwani; U. of the Pacific; 

This workshop is located at the intersection between critical management studies (CMS), management history (MH), and organization and management theory (OMT), and will consider the prospects for more critical, cultural, and qualitative historical research in organization theory. There can be no doubt now that an historic turn is underway in OMT. However, for many advocates of an historic turn there was an expectation that it would be more closely aligned with the rise of CMS. From this perspective, there is a perception that CMS is less historical than expected and also less reflexive in the treatment of history; that Management History (MH) is not noticeably much more critical in its orientation; and for the most part, history in OMT is equated with quantitative longitudinal studies. Accordingly, the workshop will provide a forum for discussing these perceptions, with a specific focus on the role of generalist journals in OMT and CMS and the specialist historical journals in MH and the neighboring field of business history. The aim is to consider how historical research should be crafted and how historical papers should be developed for submission to the most appropriate journals. The workshop will also consider whether a case needs to be made for generalist journals in OMT to reconsider their standard article format in order to facilitate a wider range of historical research, for example, by relaxing the requirement for a generalizable contribution to theory to allow for a theorization of singular of historical events within a historical context.