Abstract
Our theoretical essay is an attempt to stimulate approximations and interactions between process philosophy - principally as proposed by Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) - and historical organizational studies. In order to reach this goal, we outline some theoretical and methodological possibilities of intersections among these two perspectives. Following the presentation of central concepts borrowed from a strong view of process, we present organizational history as a continuous emerging process of becoming. Following, we discuss recent literature reviews and attempts to categorize intersections among process and historical organization studies. Finally, we discuss theoretical and methodological implications of intersections between these fields of study under the principles of the strong view of process. We also discuss the thematic as an opportunity for overcoming the paradigmatic hegemony and research limitations in the fields of organizational and historical organizational studies. We conclude by encouraging empirical testing and management applications of the ideas introduced in this work.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Booth, C., and M. Rowlinson. 2006. Management and organizational history: Prospects. Management & Organizational History 1 (1): 5–30.
Chia, R., and W.I. King. 1998. The organizational structuring of novelty. Organization 5: 461–478.
Coraiola, D.M., W.M. Foster, and R. Suddaby. 2015. Varieties of history in organization studies. In The Routledge companion to Management & Organizational History, ed. P.G. McLaren, A.J. Mills, and T.G. Weatherbee, 206–221. New York: Routledge.
Dibben, M.R. 2009. Organisations and organizing: Understanding and applying Whitehead’s processual account. Philosophy of Management 7 (2): 13–24.
Durepos, G., and A.J. Mills. 2012. Anti-history: Theorizing the past, history, and historiography in management and organization studies. Charlotte: Information Age.
Durepos, G., M. Maclean, R. Alcadipani, and S. Cummings. 2020. Historical reflections at the intersection of past and future: Celebrating 50 years of Management Learning. Management Learning 51: 3–16.
Geertz, C. 1994. Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture. In Readings in the philosophy of social science, ed. M. Martin and Lee C. McIntyre, 213–231. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Helin, J., T. Hernes, D. Hjorth, and R. Holt. 2014. The Oxford handbook of process philosophy and organization studies. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hernes, Tor 2008. Understanding organization as process: Theory for a tangled world. Routledge Studies in Management, Organisation and Society.
Hernes, T. 2014. A process theory of organization. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Hussenot, A., and S. Missonier. 2016. Encompassing stability and novelty in organization studies: An events-based approach. Organization Studies 37 (4): 523–546.
Jarzabkowski, P., J. Lê, and P. Spee. 2017. Taking a strong process approach to analyzing qualitative process data. In The sage handbook of process organization studies, ed. A. Langley and H. Tsoukas, 237–253. London: Sage.
Kipping, M., and J. Lamberg. 2017. History in process organization studies: What, why and how. In The Sage Handbook of Process Organization Studies, ed.a. Langley and S. Tsoukas, 303–320. London: Sage.
Langley, A. 1999. Strategies for theorizing from process data 24 (4): 691–710.
Langley, A., C. Smallman, H. Tsoukas, and A.H. Van de Ven. 2013. Process studies of change in organization and management: Unveiling temporality, activity and flow. Academy of Management Journal 56 (1): 1–13.
Langley, A., and S. Tsoukas. 2017. The sage handbook of process organization studies. London: Sage.
Lipartito, K. 2014. Historical sources and data. In Organizations in time: History, theory, methods, ed. M. Bucheli and D.R. Wadhwani, 284–304. UK: Oxford University Press.
Maclean, M., C. Harvey, and S. Clegg. 2016. Conceptualizing historical organization studies. Academy of Management Review 41 (4): 609–632.
Maclean, M., C. Harvey, and S. Clegg. 2017. Organization theory in business and management history: Present status and future prospects. Business History Review 91 (3): 457–481. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007680517001027.
Mesle, R.C., and M.R. Dibben. 2017. Whitehead’s process relational philosophy. In The sage handbook of process organization studies, ed. A. Langley and H. Tsoukas, 29–42. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Miskell, P. 2018. Reflections on the integration of history and organization studies. Management & Organizational History. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449359.2018.1550286.
Nayak, A. 2014. Heraclitus (540-480 BC). In The Oxford handbook of process philosophy & organization studies, ed. J. Helin, T. Hernes, D. Hjorth, and R. Holt, 32–47. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Platts, J., and H. Harris. 2011. The place of philosophy in management. Philosophy of Management 10 (2): 19–39.
Reinecke, J., and S. Ansari. 2017. Time, temporality, and process studies. In The sage handbook of process organization studies, ed. A. Langley and H. Tsoukas, 403–416. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Robinson, K. 2017. Gilles Deleuze and process philosophy. In The sage handbook of process organization studies, ed. A. Langley and H. Tsoukas, 56–70. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Suddaby, R., W.M. Foster, and A.J. Mills. 2014. Historical institutionalism. In Organizations in time: History, theory, methods, ed. M. Bucheli and R.D. Wadhwani, 100–123. UK: Oxford University Press.
Üsdiken, B., and A. Kieser. 2004. Introduction: History in organization studies. Business History 46 (3): 321–330.
Van De Ven, A.H., and M.S. Poole. 2005. Alternative approaches for studying organizational change. Organization Studies 26 (9): 1377–1404.
Whitehead, A.F. 1978. Process and reality. New York: The Free Press.
Whitehead, A. F. 2016. The concept of nature. Ozymandias Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors whose names appear on the submission made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Ethics Approval
All authors whose names appear on the submission drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual contente.
Code Availability
‘Not applicable’.
Consent to Participate
All authors whose names appear on the submission agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Consent for Publication
All authors whose names appear on the submission approved the version to be published.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Matitz, Q.R.S., Chaerki, K.F. & Chaerki, S.F. Theorizing Relations between Past, Present and Future: Interactions between Process and Historical Organizational Studies through Whitehead’s Process Philosophy. Philosophy of Management 20, 201–217 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-020-00151-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-020-00151-z