Theorizing in Organization Studies

Insights from Key Thinkers

Anne Vorre Hansen, Department of Social Sciences and Business, Roskilde University and Sabine Madsen, Department of Politics and Society, Aalborg University, Denmark

While many books provide guidance to the construction of theory, the process of theorizing itself has been addressed far less. The aim of this book is to encourage researchers to reflect upon their subjective theorizing practices and to engage in dialogue about theorizing in organization studies. Drawing on interviews with eight key figures in the field, this book provides guidance for how to theorize, and how to do so well, using the key tools of the theorizers.

‘This book is full of gems, too many to summarize in this brief review.. . . I found this to be a book that provoked me to stop and think more deeply about my action learning scholarship and how I attend to my experience, question it, process the provisional understandings that emerge and try to form judgements, which is what theorizing is about.’
- Action Learning: Research and Practice

“一个impressively organized and presented work of original scholarship and a unique contribution that is unreservedly recommended for college and university library collections.’
– John Taylor, Midwest Book Review

‘This book is short, fun to read, and full of good ideas. It also works well as an introduction to how to theorize in organization studies, for students as well as professors.’
– From the foreword by Richard Swedberg

‘I found the book witty, clear, passionate and well written. For me, it was an opportunity to reflect on my own academic life, my practice of theorizing and my contribution to the field while reading the book and mirroring myself through the thoughts of the “key” thinkers that I know personally or through their writing.’
– Silvia Gherardi, University of Trento, Italy