Organization theory and the post-socialist transformation: Contributions to organizational knowledge

Abstract

In unison with the authors of this special issue, we argue that organizational research in European post-socialist contexts over the last 17 years has made a significant and enduring contribution to organization theory. This proposition provides the rationale for the special issue, which focuses on the formative relationship between the body of organizational knowledge forged largely within stable western market-economies and the findings of organizational research conducted within institutionally unstable and ambiguous post-socialist environments. We develop our argument through three phases. First, we seek to clarify the reasons why the context and process of postsocialism have posed special challenges to the conventional wisdom of 'western' organization theory. Second, we review post-socialist organizational research and consider how it has augmented our understanding of organizational structures and processes. Third, we place the five articles that comprise this special issue within this wider context, and outline their main contributions. The findings and lessons from post-socialist research have led organizational scholars to reevaluate many established theoretical propositions, and, by questioning the underlying rationality of organization theory, to explore the possibility of developing a more globally relevant discipline.

How Engineering and Business Schools can benefit from Using Regionalization in a Globalized World-Insights from Kant and Chaos Theory

“…Based on data from secondary sources, our findings suggests that change in routines through the use of technological knowledge is the main change agent in transformation processes, being more radical than simply stating that technology simply can make organizational practices more effective (Barney, 1986, Orlikowski, 1993Szulanski, 2000).…”

“…An interpretive approach is regarded as suitable for the investigation of complex and poorly understood phenomena (Dixon et al, 2007) since such an approach implies that the researcher's task is to "make sense of local actors' activities" (Soulsby andClark, 2007, 1426). Thus, the important criterion for assessing interpretive data analysis is its ability to provide reasonable insights into phenomena that demand deeper understandings.…”

Towards Spiritual Entrepreneurship Inecotourism in Southern Africa

“…It also incorporates elements from the interpretive perspective.An interpretive approach is regarded as suitable for the investigation of complex and poorly understood phenomena (Dixon et al, 2007), since such an approach implies that the researcher's task is to "make sense of local actors' activities" (Soulsby andClark, 2007, 1426). Thus the important criterion for assessing interpretive data analysis is its ability to provide reasonable insights into the phenomena that demand deeper understandings.…”

Chaos Theory and Butterfly Effects in Times of Corruption and a Bank Crash in 1886: The Case of Arendal (Norway) Illustrated through a Regional-Globalized Model

“…An interpretive approach is regarded as suitable for the investigation of complex and poorly understood phenomena [9] since such an approach implies that the researcher's task is to "make sense of local actors' activities" ( [49],1426). Thus, the important criterion for assessing interpretive data analysis is its ability to provide reasonable insights into phenomena that demand deeper understandings.…”