This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Walsh, J. P. Articles by Schoonhoven, C. B. Search for Related Content

A Future for Organization Theory: Living in and Living with Changing Organizations

Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1234
Charles H. Lundquist College of Business, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-1208
Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697
jpwalsh{at}umich.edu
ameyer{at}lcbmail.uoregon.edu
kschoonh{at}uci.edu

We believe that the field of organization theory is adrift. In sailing jargon, we are "in irons"—stalled and making little headway toward understanding organizations and their place in our lives. We first attempt to diagnose our maladies and then, in this light, offer three broad research questions that just might reinvigorate our work: First, how can we understand today’s changing organizations? Second, how can we live in these organizations? And third, how can we best live with them? We close by calling attention to how our familiar approaches to building and testing theory might hamper any attempt to revitalize our field.

Key Words: organization theory; twenty-first century organizations; theory-building agenda

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. T. Mahoney and A. M. McGahan The field of strategic management within the evolving science of strategic organization Strategic Organization, February 1, 2007; 5(1): 79 - 99. [PDF]