Organizations and Society: Historicising the theory and practice of organization analysis

Management and Organizational History (MOH) is an emerging research area that is developing new ways of understanding the role of organizations in society from a perspective of their historical evolution and embeddedness. While a historic turn has been discussed in organization studies since the 1990s (Clark & Rowlinson, 2004; Kieser, 1994; McDonald, 1996) it has only been in recent years that disillusionment with existing approaches to understanding the nature and purpose of organisations has led social scientists to engage more deeply with the insights from the humanities and specifically history (Durepos & Mills, 2012; Suddaby et al., 2010). However, the treatment of time, process and the unfolding of decision-making within the wider context of interest groups, ideas and power structures is often presented in organization studies through highly mechanistic and a-historical models which reflect long-standing theoretical and methodological differences between the social sciences and humanities.

It is only in the last decade that a variety of scholars from history as well as organization studies have sought to bridge the interdisciplinary gap by either extending theoretical insights from recent developments in sociological theory (institutional theory, actor-network theory, and post-structuralist approaches) or codifying historical methodology (which has changed significantly in the past decades as a result of the post-modern challenge). This interdisciplinary project is beginning to consolidate under the name of MOH, and its evolution was significantly furthered by the creation of a new journal in 2004 by the same name. Recently there have been a number of publications (McLaren et al, forthcoming; Bucheli & Wadwhani, 2014) that are providing a new synthesis of the early research in the area. Most significantly among these is an article written by the team of investigators (Rowlinson, Hassard, Decker, forthcoming) that has been published by the major theory journal in management studies, Academy of Management Review (impact factor 7.8), which is likely to change the status of the field within business and management schools in the English-speaking world and beyond. Hence we believe that the time has come to review the various research streams that make up MOH. These seminars will bring together for the first time the leading academics from North America (Mills, Suddaby), the UK (Cook, Gabriel, Harvey, Hassard, Holt, McKinlay, Rowlinson) and continental Europe (Hansen, Mordhorst). These events will be central in consolidating and systematizing existing work and will facilitate the exploration of avenues for further investigation and methodological developments that will put the UK at the centre of an increasingly influential area of research.

The seminars will focus on three intersecting themes, each under the leadership of one of the investigators:
- Theory and practice of archiving (Stephanie Decker)
- Organizational remembering (Michael Rowlinson)
- New alternatives to organizational analysis (John Hassard)

Six seminars will be hosted at different universities over a period of two years which will explore these themes separately and in interaction. Particularly the first two themes will engage non-academic users heavily, as it seeks to engage with the future of organizational archives for the UK's heritage. Moreover the seminar series will facilitate exchange with academics and non-academic partners in continental Europe by connecting some of the English-language research with research debates in other countries that have clusters of MOH research, such as Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. The participation of CBS is thus a crucial factor for creating a network of researchers and practitioners that can explore avenues to gain European funding to support future research.

The major non-academic beneficiaries of this seminar series are the participating practitioners, predominantly archivists and other heritage specialists who will be directly involved in several seminars. The UK holds a range of important historical assets that are privately owned, and whose survival is at times under threat (e.g. Wedgwood archives and museums). Meanwhile companies increasingly employ their history for commercial gain, for example in the form of rhetorical histories (Foster et al., 2011) or strategic resources (Harvey, MacLean, Gordon, Shaw, 2011). This research offers important insights for UK business on how firms can exploit their history and archival resources for better performance (e.g. P&G) or as a powerful marketing device. Iconic domestic brands such as Marks & Spencer's, for example, have made their archives and museum accessible to researchers and the public. The EU's Horizon 2020 funding has highlighted issues of heritage and the wider accessibility of archives through research and digitisation in its "Reflective Societies" programme, and UK as one of the leading academic hubs for MOH is in a strong position to lead on cross-European initiatives in this field.

We anticipate the following impacts of the seminar series:

- Enhancing research capacity, knowledge and skills of public and private organisations
By including archivists, records manager and other specialists in the field of heritage and information management in the planning and delivery of several seminars within the series we seek to broaden the social and cultural relevance of academic research and build better linkages between academic and non-academic partners, leading to future joint initiatives. We will collaborate with the Business Archives Council to make archives citeable in an online format similar to Google Scholar. Through their professional associations, archivists will extend the network to their European counterparts.

- Changing organisational culture and practices
Within commercial organisations, archives and records management functions can have a tenuous status when collections have evolved in scope beyond legal requirements. However these resources have broader significance for society and for the performance of firms. By creating a network of practitioners and academics, we increase the visibility and relevance of these under-employed resources. This has the potential for changing organizational practices of managing history within companies. Creating a metric that shows the impact of archives on academic research and other forms of publication will open up new ways of highlighting the relevance of these resources.

- Increasing public engagement with research and related societal issues
Much ongoing public engagement with history and heritage is focused on limited "blockbuster" issues with significant popular appeal, all but ignoring the important changes that a culture of managerialism and the increasing role of organizations in public life have wrought. Through themes such as organizational remembering (Rowlinson, Booth, Clark, Delahaye, Procter, 2010), rhetorical histories, the narrative insertion of corporate identities in public life (Boje, 2008; Gabriel, 2008; Musacchio Adorisio, 2011), the "dusty archive" as opposed to its digital reincarnation (Decker, 2013a), or ethnographic approach to information and its uses (Decker, 2013b), the seminar organisers plan to broaden and deepen the popular understanding of the role of organizations in society.

We expect that synergies will arise across disciplinary and sectoral boundaries, where related research agendas have evolved that offer fruitful and potentially unexpected insights that we envisage will emerge as the seminar series proceeds. Moreover, any organizations interested in maintaining or redesigning their use of records will gain inspiration from the seminars about implementing practices in a holistic rather than a piecemeal way.