The Structuring of Work within and across Organizations: Paper Development Workshop
Montreal, 6^th and 7^th July, 2013
Organizers: Diane Burton, Lisa Cohen, Michael Lounsbury
Sponsors: SSHRC, Desautels Faculty of Management, University of Alberta School of Business, Academy of Management OMT Division

Objective

The world of work is changing in many dramatic ways– globalization, economic meltdowns, technological development—with dramatic implications for societies, organizations, and individuals.  As organizations and organizing have become more complex and distributed, our theoretical tools and empirical evidence are not adequate to explain how and why organizations structure jobs and work in particular ways or the consequences that these structuring choices have for people and society.  To advance scholarship on these important issues, we are convening a paper development workshop immediately following the EGOS meeting in Montreal. We welcome both conceptual and empirical papers that examine aspects of the changing nature of jobs and work in organizations from multiple perspectives and multiple methodologies. We especially encourage submissions from advanced doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, and junior (pre-tenure) scholars.

Some questions these papers might address are:

1. How are changes at the societal and field levels (e.g., economic turbulence, technological developments, globalization) realized in the structure of work at the level of organizations?
2. How are the shifting dynamics of organizations and organizing affecting the structuring of work?
3. How and when do various characteristics of organizations and their environments influence the structure of work?
4. How is the nature and structure of work impacting individuals and societies?
5. Can theories of the occupational and professional division of labor provide insights into the structure of work in organizations?
6. What are the implications of widespread changes in jobs and work for occupations and professions?
7. How do broader institutional beliefs and practices (e.g., institutional logics) shape the structuring of work?

The workshop should be of special interest for colleagues recently graduated with a Ph.D. with manuscripts under development. At the same time, it is suitable for papers that would benefit from presentation, commentary, and discussion. Thus, papers should fit the conference theme and the stage of development.

Logistics and Support to Participants

The Desautels Faculty of Management will host the event. The OMT division of the Academy of Management is sponsoring  travel stipends for up to 5 PhD students, advanced in their research, who can attend the conference. The conference will consist of around 30 young faculty, student participants and senior colleagues who will discuss papers and offer developmental advice. The atmosphere is expected to be collegial, informal, but centered on advancing  working papers, deepening our understanding of the structuring of work, and building an interdisciplinary community of practice. We will also have opportunities to discuss the perils and pitfalls of the publication process.

The workshop will begin and end with talks highlighting the implications of research at this interface to developing effective policy within organizations and societies as well as to the academy. The workshop sessions will be led by senior scholars who have published in this area and have experience in an editorial capacity.

Authors are invited to submit abstracts (maximum of 1,000 words, including text, references, figures and tables) of their work for consideration. The abstracts should outline the full contents of the paper. We will evaluate abstracts based on quality of the submission, the fit with the event’s objectives, and its stage of development.

Deadline to submit abstracts is February 15, 2013 and should be emailed to Lisa Cohen at lisa.cohen2@mcgill.ca.

If you paper is accepted, full papers that will be presented will need to be provided by May 1, 2013.

If you are a doctoral student interested in applying for the OMT travel stipend scholarship, please make note of this when you submit your abstract for consideration.

Contacts for questions on the conference and submission of abstracts:

Diane Burton, mdb238@cornell.edu

Lisa Cohen, lisa.cohen2@mcgill.ca

Michael Lounsbury, ml37@ualberta.ca