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| “Simply pushing harder within the old boundaries will not do.” (Karl Weick) |
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The Chair of Organization & Management is part of the Department of Business Administration (Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre) at the University of Zurich. In our research and teaching we are concerned with different aspects of organization and management, which we examine using different theoretical and methodological approaches. More specifically, in our research we are particularly interested in questions concerning the practice of strategy, the dynamics of standardization and the relation between management research and practice. In our teaching we cover a wide range of topics such as organization theory, organization design, change management and strategy as practice. We are fully committed to excellence and responsibility across the entire range of our activities. |
Last Wednesday we celebrated a number of recently published and forthcoming papers with a paper party. Before the party started every paper was briefly presented in front of all guests.
Please have a look at our most recents publications:
Dittrich, K., Guerard, S., & Seidl, D. (forthcoming). Talking about routines: The role of reflective talk in routine change. Organization Science.
Jarzabkowski, P., Kaplan, S., Seidl, D. & Whittington, R. (forthcoming). On the risk of studying practices in isolation: Linking what, who, and how in strategy research. Strategic Organization.
MacLean, D., MacIntosh, R. & Seidl, D. (forthcoming). Rethinking dynamic capabilities from a creative action perspective. Strategic Organization.
Aaken, D. van, Kirsch, W. & Seidl, D. (2015). Gesetzmäßigkeiten in der Unternehmensführung? Unternehmensführung als das Verfügen über Notwendigkeiten. Die Unternehmung, 69(1): 54-66.
Kieser, A., Nicolai, A. & Seidl, D. (2015). The practical relevance of management research: turning the debate on relevance into a rigorous scientific research program. Academy of Management Annals, 9(1): 143-233.
The best students of the assessment lecture BWL II in the spring term of 2015 were invited to visit Ringier at the end of September. Ringier is one of the leading media companies in Switzerland and produces more than 120 newspapers and magazines, and runs several radio and TV stations as well as over 80 web and mobile platforms in 14 countries. The intention of the visit was to learn more about the organization and structure of Ringier and to get an impression of how the office is adapted to Ringier’s particular field of business.
At this year’s autumn "Magic Mountain“ - our internal strategy workshop - we spent two days in Munich. Already on the train to Germany we started discussing research, teaching and administration related topics in order to further improve working processes at the Chair of Organization and Management. The discussion continued at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where the inspiring air stimulated many creative thoughts. After two days of hard work the team event culminated in a cheerful visit of the famous annual Oktoberfest. Once again we had a fruitful strategy workshop and a great time with the whole team!
As part of our Distinguished Scholars Seminar Series Theodore Schatzki (University of Kentucky, U.S.) explored his practice theory with us. The aim of the three-day seminar was to develop an advanced understanding of how organizations can be studied from a practice-theoretical perspective. Apart from covering its basic concepts, we discussed in detail Schatzki’s conception of organizations as bundles of practices and material arrangements, and how organizational practices emerge, are maintained and disrupted. We talked about small and large phenomena in organizational research, and were introduced to the concept of timespace. The workshop was wrapped up by an interesting debate on morality in organizational practices. Thank you to Theodeore Schatzki and all the participants for such an insightful seminar!
We are very happy to announce that our team member Katharina Dittrich has been awarded the “Outstanding Reviewer Award” by the Strategizing Activities and Practices (SAP) Interest Group at the 75th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management in Vancouver, Canada. The award goes to high quality reviews that help authors to develop their work further and push it to a higher level. We would like to thank Jane Lê, the Program Chair of the SAP Interest Group, for the recognition of Katharina’s work.
As every year, our team participated in the annual EGOS Colloquium, which took place in Athens, Greece this year: we presented our current research projects, met other researchers and, apart from the conference itself, participated in the Strategy-as-Practice Research Community Platform (RCP) Community Day that Violetta Splitter helped to organize. We very much enjoyed our visit in Athens and participation in this year’s EGOS Colloquium, and would like to thank all the organizers for this inspiring event.
We are very proud to announce that Violetta Splitter successfully defended her dissertation with the title: "The Situatedness of Knowledge and Practices: Studies on the Adoption of Pro-social Practices and Academic Knowledge". In exploring why corporate actors engage in CSR, and how relevant knowledge is constructed for both the research and the praxis domain, her dissertation illuminates and tackles important current theoretical challenges at the interface of organizational and social theory. Her examiners Andreas Georg Scherer and David Seidl (first supervisor) awarded her work with a 'summa cum laude'. We are happy that Violetta plans on staying at the Chair of Organization and Management, and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.
Please click here to check your results of "Organisation und Führung" FS 15. The post exam review will take place on Tuesday, September 15th from 15-17h and on Wednesday, September 16th from 10-12h. Please send an email to Tania Weinfurtner to register for the event.
For the results of "Organization Theories" FS 15 please click here. For the post exam review please read the notes at the top of the PDF as well as the notes on OLAT.
From April 10th to April 12th a small group of dedicated early career and established scholars met at the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen to discuss the Management Classics in the Carnegie tradition, the behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF). The workshop was organized by our colleague Katharina Dittrich in cooperation with the University of St. Gallen and the Zeppelin University. Leading scholars in the BTOF presented and discussed their insights with regards to these management classics and contemporary research: Philip Bromiley (Paul Merage School of Business, USA), Claus Rerup (Ivey Business School, Canada), Alfred Kieser (Zeppelin University, Germany) and Tomi Laamanen (University of St. Gallen, Switzerland). After two days of deeply diving into the BTOF and many intensive debates around its core topics, the participants enjoyed a video conference with James G. March (Stanford University, USA). Both participants and presenting scholars were enthusiastic about the workshop and encouraged the organizers to continue the tradition, potentially turning this newly formed group into a "hot group" to take research in the BTOF forward.
We are happy to announce an upcoming seminar, which is part of our Distinguished Scholars Seminar Series. The doctoral seminar with Theodore Schatzki (University of Kentucky, U.S.) on the "Practice-Theoretical Perspective on Organizations” will take place on September 7th-9th, 2015 at the University of Zurich. The seminar will focus on developing an advanced understanding of how organizations can be studied from a practice-theoretical perspective. If you are interested in participating, please send an email to Katharina Dittrich as soon as possible as spaces are limited.
Alfred Kieser (Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen), Alexander Nicolai (University of Oldenburg) and David Seidl just published their paper with the title "The Practical Relevance of Management Research: Turning the Debate on Relevance into a Rigorous Scientific Research Program" in The Academy of Management Annals. In their article, they provide a systematic overview of the different streams of this literature, highlighting its strengths and shortcomings. They distinguish between two types of literature. On the one hand, there is the programmatic literature, comprising of studies that take the perceived lack of practical relevance as their main point of departure and suggest particular ways of dealing with the issue of relevance in management research. On the other hand, there is the largely neglected descriptive literature, which examines the interplay between management research and management practice. Please click here for the full paper.
At this years "Winter Magic Mountain" - our so called strategy workshop - we stayed three days in Gargellen, Austria. As always we used this time to discuss research, teaching and administrative related topics concerning the future of the Chair of Organization and Management. In between we had enough time to enjoy the great skiing and famous aprés-ski opportunities of Gargellen and the Montafon. Once again it was a fruitful strategy workshop and a great time with the whole team! For some photos please click here.
From January to December 2015 our colleague Katharina Dittrich is visiting the University of California, Irvine, USA. As a visiting scholar she is affiliated with Martha S. Feldman and works on her current research project with the title "The Ecology of Organizational Routines". Next to her research Katharina visits a workshop on "Research and Writing" with Melissa Mazmanian and "Advanced Qualitative Methods" with Martha S. Feldman. Her stay has been made possible by the SNF Early PostDoc.Mobility Fellowship. On the picture you can see (from left to right) Allison Laskey, Deborah Lefkowitz, Martha Feldman, Katharina Dittrich and Victoria Lowerson. We wish her a great, inspiring and productive time in California!
We are very proud to announce that Felix Langenmayr successfully defended his dissertation with the title: "Organizational memory as a function: A Luhmannian perspective on the construction of past, present and future in organizations". His dissertation addresses one of the key problems in organization studies consisting 'in asking what kind of social structure is apt to deal with a temporal change that needs both routine behavior and innovation'. He convinced both his examiners David Seidl and Dirk Baecker (Zeppelin University, Germany) in his Dissertation Defense last Thursday.
We welcome our new team member Tania Weinfurtner! Tania just started last week as research associate and PhD candidate at our chair. Tania holds a Bachelor's degree in Corporate Management and Economics (CME) from the Zeppelin University (ZU), Friedrichshafen, Germany, and received a Master's degree in Management from the London School of Economics (LSE), UK. In her master thesis Tania analyzed the effect of self-control on the interaction between choice quantity and satisfaction. We wish her all the best for her PhD project and a fruitful and exciting time at our chair!
Together with two colleagues from the University of St. Gallen and the Zeppelin University Katharina Dittrich is organizing a PhD and early career Workshop on Management Classics in the Carnegie Tradition. The workshop takes place from April 10th-12th, 2015 at the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together PhD students and early career academics with more senior scholars that integrate management classics (e.g. Simon, 1947, March & Simon, 1958 and Cyert & March, 1963) into their research and to foster joint reading, understanding and integration of these works in the participants' research agendas. We were able to bring together a range of established and well-known scholars: Philip Bromiley (Paul Merage School of Business, USA), Claus Rerup (Ivey Business School, USA), Alfred Kieser (Zeppelin University, Germany), Tomi Laamanen (University of St. Gallen, Switzerland) and David Seidl (University of Zurich, Switzerland). The workshop will close with a video conference with James G. March (Stanford University, USA). PhD and early career scholars interested in participating are invited to submit an application by February 15th 2015. For more detailed information please have a look at the official program.
This years workshop of the "Wissenschaftliche Kommission Organisation" (WK ORG) is taking place from 11th - 13th February in Zurich and is chaired by our colleague Andreas G. Scherer. This annual workshop is part of the "Verband der Hochschullehrer für Betriebswirtschaftslehre" (German Academic Association for Business Research). The workshop aims to foster the exchange on current research topics. David Seidl together with Constantin Schön (University of Zurich) and Katja Rost (University of Zurich) are presenting their paper with the title "The Proportion of Woman in Senior Positions and Career Advancement in Organizations". Next to this our colleague Violetta Splitter presents her paper on "The Construction of Relevance in Management Education". For more detailed information please have a look at the official website.
We had a great 2014 with many highlights like conferences in Philadelphia (AOM) and Rotterdam (EGOS) or our awesome guests like Sally Maitlis, Royston Greenwood and Max Bergman. We say "thank you" to everybody, who has been involved and helped us making 2014 a great and exciting year! Nevertheless we are looking forward to 2015 and are curious about all the upcoming challenges and highlights waiting for us. In this regard please have a look at our upcoming Distinguished Scholars Seminar Series with guests like Feng Liu (May 11th, 2015) Theodore Schatzki (September 2015) or Ann Langley (October 2015). We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
We are currently looking for tutors for our BWL II assessment lecture taking place in spring 2015. Additionally, we are looking for a new semester assistant, who will help us coordinating lectures and other chair related tasks. For more detailed information please have a look at the following job descriptions: Tutor BWL II Details & Semester Assistant Details
It's Paper Party Time
Last Tuesday we celebrated a number of recently published or forthcoming papers with a paper party. Before the party started every paper was introduced to our guests for about 5 minutes. Please have a look at our papers:
We are looking forward to an exciting and successful 2015 and hope there will be another paper party soon! You can find some more pictures of our paper party here.
As part of our Distinguished Scholars Seminar Series Max Bergman (University of Basel) introduced us this week to the art of interviewing. The aim of this workshop was to demonstrate different interview strategies and analysis techniques in order to explore the possibilities and limits of modern interviewing for the social and related sciences. The workshop covered topics like the integration of interviewing research in a research design; appropriate research questions for interview research; construction of an interview schedule and interview question design; the conduct of interviews; analysis of interview data; presentation of interview research findings; interviewing within in a mixed methods research design; and quality criteria for interview research. Furthermore Bergman integrated these specific topics within the broader realm of qualitative as well as quantitative research designs.
Our colleague Violetta Splitter just gave an interview on the specifics of family firms. In her interview with the "Aargauer Zeitung" she explains the advantages and disadvantages of family firms in general and their success in Switzerland in particular. Please click on the picture to read the whole interview.
As part of our Distinguished Scholars Seminar Series Royston Greenwood (University of Alberta, Canada) held a workshop on the "Developments in Institutional Theory". During his three-day workshop the participants have been introduced to the foundations of institutional theory and had the possibility to present and discuss their own research projects. We would like to thank Royston for his inspiring workshop and wish him a great time here in Switzerland.
Together with the best students of the assessment lecture BWL II Felix Langenmayr visited Ringier last week. Ringier is one of the leading media companies in Switzerland and produces over 120 newspapers and magazines, runs several radio and TV stations and well over 80 web and mobile platforms in 14 countries. The intention of this visit was to learn more about the different change processes at Ringier and how the organization is dealing with the digitalization of media content. On the picture you can see the students (Caroline Erni, Jack Gasser, Stefan Lehmann, Stephanie Wegmann, Robin Zobrist and Laura Zwyssig) together with Edi Estermann, the Chief Communication Officer and Roman Sigrist, who is a member of the CEO office.
We are very proud to announce that Katharina Dittrich successfully defended her cumulative dissertation with the title: "The Accomplishment and Change of Organizational Practices and Routines". She convinced both her examiners Andreas Scherer as well as David Seidl (first supervisor) and received the best possible grade (summa cum laude). We are happy that Katharina plans to stay at the Chair of Organisation and Management. We wish her all the best for her future.
Together with the team of the Chair of Foundations of Business Administration and Theories of the Firm we organized this years Swiss Reception at the Academy of Management (AOM) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, USA. This time the event took place at the James Oliver Gallery. The location was great and we had an enjoyable evening with our colleagues from all over the world. We are already looking forward to next year's Swiss Reception in Vancouver, CAN. Here you can find some pictures.
Together with Richard Whittington (University of Oxford, UK) David Seidl just edited a Perspectives Issue of Organization Studies on Strategy-as-Practice (SAP). In this issue previously published articles on SAP are republished that address the relationship between strategy practice and larger phenomena. According to this Whittington and Seidl argue in their introductory article for progress in strategy-as-practice research through more effective linking of 'local' strategizing activity with 'larger' social phenomena. Therefore they introduce a range of theoretical approaches capable of incorporating larger-scale phenomena and countering what they term 'micro-isolationism', the tendency to explain local activities in their own terms. Against this background, they develop three broad guidelines that can help protect against empirical micro-isolationism and thereby extend the scope of strategy-as-practice research. To have a closer look at the issue please click here.
Please click here to see the results of the exams "Organisation und Führung" and Organization Theories FS 14. The post exam review for "Organisation und Führung" takes place on Monday, 25th of August between 10-12h. To get an indvidual appointment please send an email to Violetta Splitter. We also offer an exam check for Organization Theories on Friday, July 18th and Friday, July 25th between 14h00-17h00. Please register before July 15th by sending an email to Shenghui Ma.
We welcome back our colleague Felix Langenmayr, who has been visiting Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Denmark from March 2014 to June 2014. Felix has been affiliated with Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen at the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy (MPP). It has been a great opportunity for him to extensively exchange with other researchers and to discuss his research project on organizational memory within this inspiring environment. On the photo you can see Felix with Niels Åkerstrøm on their way to the annual research colloquium on the Swedish island Ven.
We are very happy to announce that our team member Katharina Dittrich has been awarded by the Strategy Practice Interest Group of the Strategic Management Society (SMS) as "Top 5% Outstanding Reviewer" for this year's SMS 34th Annual Conference to be held in Madrid, Spain 20-23 September 2014. Furthermore she received the Award as Best Reviewer of the Strategizing Activities and Practices (SAP) Interest Group at the 74th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management to be held in Philadelphia, USA 1-5 August 2014. Both awards go to high quality reviews helping authors to develop their work further and push it to a higher level. We are looking forward to both events and would like to thank the judging committees for these recognitions.
Last week, we welcomed Sally Maitlis from the University of British Columbia, Canada to our distinguished scholar seminar series. Sally engaged the participants in her course in an intensive, interesting and eye-opening seminar on "Sensemaking in Organizations". Based on joint readings of leading publications in the area of sensemaking, participants embarked on a collective effort to make sense of sensemaking, sometimes even drawing on instances of sensemaking in the course itself. Sally and the course participants investigated in-depth the seven properties of sensemaking, the triggers and processes of sensemaking, what sensemaking accomplishes and future directions for sensemaking research. We thank Sally for this enjoyable seminar.
The idea of the communicative constitution of organizations (CCO) is driven by three main schools of thought: the Montreal School of Organizational Communication, the Four-Flows Model (based on Giddens’s Structuration Theory), and Luhmann’s Theory of Social Systems. In their recently published article Dennis Schoeneborn and Steffen Blaschke (both Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen) invited David Seidl to represent Luhmann’s Theory of Social Systems in a dialogue with the other two schools represented by François Cooren (Montreal School of Organizational Communication) and Robert D. McPhee (Four-Flows Model). The interactive dialogue is structured around guiding questions addressing the epistemological, ontological, and methodological dimension of CCO as a theoretical paradigm. To have a closer look at the article please click here.
We are pleased to promote the academic mentoring program for young, female researchers pursuing an academic career. Do you want to actively propel your career? Are you interested in an exchange with a mentor and with peers? The program facilitates a mentoring relationship with an experienced academic, offers workshops adjusted to your career stage and organizes individual counseling and coaching sessions. Please have a look at the website for more information about workshop contents, dates and participation requirements.
From Monday to Wednesday this week our doctoral seminar takes place. This time the seminar's focus is on the subject of time and space in organization studies. It is a great opportunity to develop new insights to the individual research from a temporal and spacial perspective. Besides reading and commenting on papers, the participants will have the opportunity to present their work in front of the group and receive constructive feedback.
We are looking forward to an exciting and successful 2013 and hope there will be some more paper parties!
Dominik van Aaken from the Institute of Production Management & Management Accounting (Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich) is visiting our chair for a couple of month. He is the second official R-in-R visiting us. During his research stay at our chair he is working together with David Seidl on a project investigating the success factors of strategy workshops. We wish him an exciting and pleasant time here in Zurich!.
This time we will have a special presentation, with Stéphane Guérard and Bozhena Dimitrova (master student at UZH) discussing their project of "Theorizing from a case study: Institutional change and the wonder drug for breast cancer".
It will take place at 12:30 in the library at the Universitätsstrasse 84. If you would like to join please write a short email to Katharina Dittrich (katharina.dittrich<at>uzh.ch).
The semester award for outstanding bachelor and master thesis, which comes with price money of 600 CHF goes to Enzo Bertuzzi. His bachelor thesis with the title "Dynamic Capabilities with regard to the Concept of Bricolage" won the price within the Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology. In his work Bertuzzi links the concept of "Bricolage" with the concept of "Dynamic Capabilities" for exploring their micro-mechanisms. The thesis was supervised by our research assistant Katharina Dittrich. Congratulations! The awarded theses are published on http://www.uzh.ch/about/faculties/information/semesterprize.html.
