Organization studies

For the journal, see Organization Studies (journal).

Organization studies (also called organization science or organizational studies) is the academic field interested in a collective activity, and how it relates to organization, organizing, and management.[1][2] It is "the examination of how individuals construct organizational structures, processes, and practices and how these, in turn, shape social relations and create institutions that ultimately influence people".[3]

Organizational studies comprise different areas that deal with the different aspects of the organizations, many of the approaches are functionalist but critical research also provide an alternative frame for understanding in the field. Fundamental to the study of management is organizational change.[4]

Historically, facilitating organizational change has proven to be a difficult subject, which is why different theoretical frameworks have evolved in an attempt to strategically streamline this process, such as utilizing external actors, or interim organizations, where it is important to define the expectations of the outcome of change before initiating it, so as to provide measurability.[5]

  1. ^ Tsoukas, H., & Knudsen, C. (2005). The Oxford handbook of organization theory. Oxford Handbooks Online.
  2. ^ Clegg, S. R., Hardy, C., Lawrence, T., & Nord, W. R. (Eds.). (2006). The Sage handbook of organization studies. Sage.
  3. ^ Stewart Clegg, James Russell Bailey, International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies.. [1], Sage Publications, 2008
  4. ^ Suddaby, Roy; Foster, William M. (2017-01-01). "History and Organizational Change". Journal of Management. 43 (1): 19–38. doi:10.1177/0149206316675031. ISSN 0149-2063.
  5. ^ Vriens, Dirk; Achterberg, Jan (2019). "Episodic interventions in organizational structures". Organizational Development. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315695228-4. ISBN 9781315695228. S2CID 197707922.