Organization and Management Theory OMT

PDW: The Value of Values for Organizational Theory

Saturday, August 6 (9:45AM - 12:45PM)

Anaheim Marriott in Orange County Ballroom 2

Are you concerned that organizations are increasingly losing their way? Do you sense that business leaders are failing to meet their moral obligations, both to their organizations and broader set of stakeholders? Do you think that in our own work as organizational scholars, we seem to have missed the point a little bit? Are you somewhat frustrated with the current direction in which this academic field is heading? If so, this PDW is for you. Please join us in Anaheim to discuss "The Value of Values for Organizational Theory."

In response to concerns expressed by several colleagues, we have designed this PDW to facilitate a conversation about the role of values in contemporary organization studies. This conversation aims to: a) highlight the dearth of theoretical attention to values; b) understand the reasons for this inattention; c) identify ways in which values can be "reinfused" into the contemporary theoretical conversation (across different areas); and d) discuss the benefits (and potential costs) that might be realized from a greater attention to values within organizational theory.

In particular, the PDW will be structured across 3 themes, each with 20 minutes of expert presentation and 25 minutes of round-table discussion:

·         Theme 1: Values, Organizations, and Theory

·         Theme 2: Values, Markets, and Hybrid Organizations

·         Theme 3: Values, Emotions, and Ethics

To stimulate this discussion, we will be joined by 6 distinguished scholars who have spent considerable time thinking and writing about the value of values for organization theory:

Presenters: 

Matthew Kraatz, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

James P. Walsh, University of Michigan

Violina Rindova, The University of Texas at Austin 

Marya L. Besharov, Cornell University

Jaco Lok, UNSW Australia/AGSM

Andrew Spicer, University of South Carolina

This facilitated conversation is explicitly pluralistic and multidimensional. So, even if you have some doubts about these ideas, please join us to reflect together on how to address some of the shortcomings of current organizational orthodoxy (please, note that no submission or registration is necessary). Lastly, it is important to highlight that the design of this PDW explicitly and purposely balances the time of expert presentations with round-table discussion, together with a significant debriefing session (30 minutes) to synthesize key insights uncovered along the way.