Cover; Pragmatism and Organization Studies; Copyright; Preface; A Winding Road to Pragmatism; REFERENCES; Acknowledgments; Contents; List of Figures; List of Tables; 1: Historical perspective: The Pragmatist adventure, from anti-Cartesianism to anti-Taylorism . . .; 1.1 The Metaphysical Club (1872): The origins and first steps of pragmatism; 1.2 The fight against Cartesian idealism; 1.3 The main figures of classical pragmatism: Peirce, James, Dewey, and Mead
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1.4 An era of decline: from Pragmatism to pragmatism; 1.5 Walter Shewhart: The anti-Taylorian exploration at the Hawthorne Works (1924); 1.6 From the linguistic turn to the pragmatic turn: Rorty and Putnam; REFERENCES; 2: Semiotic mediation at the heart of organizing: Questioning the representation/reality dichotomy
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2.1 The representationalist mainstream of organization studies2.2 Two mass distribution companies: A difficult logistic integration; 2.3 Struggling for work safety in a building company; 2.4 Discussion of the cases: The pragmatist critique of representationalism; 2.5 The pragmatist theory of semiotic mediation; 2.6 The pragmatist basis of the mediation concept: Thirdness and triadic sign
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2.8 Reassessing sociomateriality; 2.9 Conclusion: Signs insinuate ghosts into organizational situations; REFERENCES; 3: HabitsThe actional view of organizations; 3.1 From the actional to the informational paradigm of organization: A historical "drama"; 3.2 Two cases
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3.3 The pragmatist focus on action and meaning ;3.4 The pragmatist theory of habit; 3.5 Revisiting the two cases; 3.6 Activity as a collective discourse expressedin the language of habits; 3.7 Some convergences with other theoretical frameworks; 3.8 Conclusion; REFERENCES
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SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
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Many streams of research in organization and management have criticized the mainstream view of organizations as decision-making and information-processing structures, controlled through rational representations (substantive or procedural rationality). In spite of their differences, these streams of research share some key theoretical principles: Their processual view of organizing as 'becoming', their emphasis on the key role of action and action meaning; their interest in the agential power of artefacts and objects; the exploratory and inquiring nature of organizing. This book argues that Pragmatist thought can contribute to those approaches offering some theoretical argument, both as a general intellectual orientation and as a conceptual toolbox. As a general attitude, Pragmatism develops a radical critique of all the dualisms which often hinder organization studies: Thought and action, design and utilization, decision and execution, reality and representation, to name a few. As a conceptual toolbox, Pragmatism can contribute and clarify key concepts for organization and management studies, such as inquiry, semiotic mediation, habit, abduction, trans-action, and valuation. However, Pragmatist thought is still little known by organization and management scholars and by reflexive managers. The proposed book aims at making pragmatist key notions accessible to them and applicable to theorize organizations and transform managerial practices.