Towards Transgression & Radical Novelty in Organisation/management Research

 Convenors: Deborah Blackman   & Miguel Imas ([log in to unmask])



Contact: Deborah Blackman ([log in to unmask])



“I wouldn’t start from here”: Transgressing Questions/Answers in
Organisation Research

Much organisational research takes place in order to develop new theories
and ideas contributing to greater understanding. However, the need for
acceptance by peer reviewers and the pressure to follow ‘accepted’
methodological practices may hamper the originality of what is learnt
because any contribution to new knowledge has to be related to current
knowledge and ideas. We were reminded of the urban myth about someone who
stops and asks for directions only to be told “well, I wouldn’t start from
here”; it seems that if there are to be really new ideas for conducting
research triggering exciting new answers to the problems and difficulties
face by organisations, we may need to start transgressing from somewhere
else.  Hence, we invite contributions that: identify new questions for
future research which “don’t start from here”; consider alternative
methodological applications which may lead to different answers by altering
the route; challenge current research thinking by explaining why the
paradigm is unlikely to shift and why we can’t start from anywhere else; or
use alternative presentation styles in order to demonstrate how this might
change the questions and or answers by altering the concept of “here”.



“I believe nothing of any beauty or truth comes of a piece of writing
without the author’s thinking he has sinned against something – propriety,
custom, faith, privacy, tradition, political orthodoxy, historical fact,
literary convention, or indeed, all the prevailing community standards
together. And that the work will not be realised without the liberation that
comes to the writer from his feeling of having transgressed…” (El Doctorow,
2003: 6).

A great deal of organisational research takes place around the world in
order to develop new theories and ideas that can contribute to our
understanding of organisations. According to Tranfield and Starkey (1998)
some of this research follows, on the one hand, the classical model whereby
knowledge production occurs largely as a result of an (academic) agenda and
is predominantly driven through, and categorized by, associated adjacent
disciplines (mode 1). On the other hand, knowledge-production requires
trans-disciplinarity in which team-working rather than heroic individual
endeavour becomes the established norm (mode 2).

Many would argue that these differences encompass the range of management
research currently being undertaken and that, whilst mode 2 might lead to
managerialist focussed research, working upon increasing organisational
effectiveness, mode 1 should lead to radical new ideas and alternative ways
of working and thinking. In theory the strong focus on managerialism (as
outlined by Parker, 2002) will be undermined by such research due to a
tendency to pursue enquiry and not useful, applicable knowledge. Moreover,
the wide range of alternative perspectives should enable radical new ideas
to emerge.

However, the need to be accepted by peer reviewers and pressure to follow
‘accepted’ methodological practices (particularly when undertaking PhD
studies or applying for research funding) actually limit and hamper the
originality of what is learnt. This is because, although there needs to be a
contribution to new knowledge, it usually has to be related to current
knowledge (fads) and ideas. The questions still tend to be about
effectiveness, suitability and application of certain ideas rather than
radical novelty.

At this point, we were reminded of the urban myth about someone who stops
and asks for directions only to be told “well, I wouldn’t start from here”.
It seems, for us, that if there are to be really new ideas for conducting
research that can trigger exciting new answers to the problems and
difficulties face by organisations, we may need to start transgressing from
somewhere else.

Hence, this stream invites contributions that seek to:

  a.. Identify new questions for future research which “don’t start from
here”

  b.. Consider alternative methodological applications which may lead to
different answers by altering the route

  c.. Challenge current research thinking by explaining why the paradigm is
unlikely to shift and why we can’t start from anywhere else

  d.. Use alternative presentation styles in order to demonstrate how this
might change the questions and or answers by altering the concept of “here”

Doctorow, E. (2003). The call of the word. The Guardian Review, 31.05, pp.
4 – 6.

Parker, M. (2002). Against Management: Organisational in the Age of
Managerialism. London: Polity

Tranfield, D. and Starkey, K. (1998). ‘The Nature, Social Organization and
Promotion of Management Research: Towards Policy’. British Journal of
Management, 9, 341-353