The vitalist disjuncture between process organization studies and accelerationism

Purpose

This article is concerned with the fundamental differences between Landian accelerationism and the tradition that most closely resembles it within organization studies and process organization studies. Accelerationists and process theorists seem to have much in common, since both bear the influence of vitalism, but there are important conceptual differences that need to be brought to light for accelerationist organization studies (AOSs).

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is a straightforward comparison of the fundamental philosophical principles orienting both process organization studies, especially those gleaned from phenomenology and speculative metaphysics, and Landian accelerationism.

Findings

Process organization studies address a localized disciplinary bias towards stability over change and leverage phenomenology and speculative metaphysics to overcome it. Landian accelerationism is a radical account of the supersession of the human by inhuman forces and abandons phenomenology and speculative metaphysics as vitalist variants of correlationism. The two perspectives are shown to be broadly incompatible.

Originality/value

The introduction of accelerationism into organization studies will invariably see it compared with the vitalist strains of process organization studies. This paper emphasizes some of the important differences that exist between these traditions in preparation for an emerging accelerationist organization study tradition.

A Culture of Uncertainty: Interaction and Organizational Memory in Software Engineering Teams under a Productivity Scheme

Drawing on an ethnography of software engineering teams that introduced a new and empowerment-centered productivity scheme, this study delineates how, despite management’s affirmation of its commitment, software engineers produced and reproduced a ‘culture of uncertainty’ characterized by constant doubt about how long the scheme would last. Engineers shared previous experiences of failed productivity schemes and collectively used this organizational memory to understand their new situation. Workers drew on this organizational memory in everyday interaction to sustain a culture in which everyday management decisions served as indicators of management’s potential abandonment of the scheme; as a result, workers remained uncommitted to the scheme. Workers interactionally employed organizational memory as a resource that they used to interpret and respond to changes. Analysis of this process shows the links between organizational memory, culture creation, and culture’s influence on productivity scheme changes.

Rethinking organization theory: The fold, the rhizome and the seam between organization and the literary

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Collective expertise: Ways of organizing expert work in collective settings

Two gaps appear in the theory of ‘expertise’: expert work as an individual endeavor; and, researchers and managers understanding little of expert practice. To bridge these gaps, ‘collective expertise’ can describe ways of organizing professional expert work in collective settings. This study analyzes ‘collective expertise’ in three Scandinavian cases using ethnographic methods: a product development process at Volvo; a description of computer programmers' work; and an analysis of nano physicists' organizing practices. The empirical results are used to build a ‘collective expertise’ theory, based on seven factors identified as contributing to collective expertise: concrete work routines, minimal structure, generosity and gift giving, narratives and story-telling, aesthetic capabilities, room for individuality, and mixed practice zone.

Strategy as Storytelling

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Theorizing as Engaged Practice

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Collective expertise: Ways of organizing expert work in collective settings

Two gaps appear in the theory of ‘expertise’: expert work as an individual endeavor; and, researchers and managers understanding little of expert practice. To bridge these gaps, ‘collective expertise’ can describe ways of organizing professional expert work in collective settings. This study analyzes ‘collective expertise’ in three Scandinavian cases using ethnographic methods: a product development process at Volvo; a description of computer programmers' work; and an analysis of nano physicists' organizing practices. The empirical results are used to build a ‘collective expertise’ theory, based on seven factors identified as contributing to collective expertise: concrete work routines, minimal structure, generosity and gift giving, narratives and story-telling, aesthetic capabilities, room for individuality, and mixed practice zone.

A framework of operating models for interdisciplinary research programs in clinical service organizations

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On Managerial Knowledge

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New Possibilities for Project Management Theory: A Critical Engagement

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Knowledge Consumption

Recent research in organizations and firms has called for a broadening of knowledge research, including issues such as the sociology of knowledge consumption. This paper introduces preliminary frameworks for integrating knowledge production and knowledge management with the "consumption" aspects of knowledge. The social anthropological research on inalienable exchange is shown to complement potential research on knowledge consumption.