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Process Research Workshop: Doing,Writing and Publishing Process Research
AOM San Antonio, Texas
Friday, Aug 12 2011 1:30PM - 5:30PM
Part 1: 1:30-3:45 pm
Part 2: 3:45-5:30 pm

• Overview

• Organizers & Presenters

• Registration & Requirements

• Pre-requisite Materials

• Schedule

Overview

This workshop is addressed to researchers interested in studying how dynamic processes unfold over time, as individuals, groups, organizations and environments act and interact. This year’s workshop will focus particularly on the theoretical and methodological challenges of following emergent phenomena in order to support the development of high quality process research.

Seminal process studies have shown that important aspects of organizations and their environments, such as strategies (Burgelman, 1983), innovations (Van de Ven, Polley, Garud & Venkatraman, 1999) and institutions (Garud, Jain & Kumaraswamy, 2002) emerge over time. However, there has been little attention directed to the problem of how and why such things emerge, and how social scientists can empirically follow and develop theories about this process. This is partially an ontological problem, as there are still few accessible theoretical frameworks with which to conceptualize emergence. It is also a methodological problem because an emerging unit of analysis cannot be precisely defined in advance; it is likely to morph in ways that were not expected at the outset of the research. For example, technological innovations that lead to institutional shifts may not be apparent until after the fact, because there are often many competing technologies at any moment in time (e.g. Garud et al, 2002). Typically, therefore, studies have taken a retrospective approach to following emergence. Retrospective methods allow us to pinpoint what emerged and then reconstruct the processes of emergence through archival data and retrospective interviews, sometimes supplemented with real-time analysis (e.g. Jarzabkowski, 2008). Such approaches may result in phased change models that use bracketed time periods in order to capture what has emerged through measures of change in different time periods (Langley, 1999). These methods can be insightful, particularly in following long duration processes that occur over many years and so, are difficult to follow in real-time.

However, increasingly process research aims to engage with the ongoing flux of processes as they occur in the everyday life of actors, organizations and their environments (Langley, 2007; Tsoukas and Chia, 2002). Process studies in this vein are typically qualitative, real-time and often ethnographic (e.g. Leonardi, 2011). In these studies, emergent phenomena may appear fluid, dynamic and ephemeral, occurring in moment-by-moment processes in which it is difficult to trace actions, intentions and outcomes (Chia and Holt, 2009; Seidl, 2005). In particular, it can be unclear where a process begins and where it ends. It is thus important to explore conceptual and methodological frameworks that can advance empirical understanding and help to generate stronger process theories of emergence.  The workshop is designed to support a community of scholars across Academy divisions who want to develop and share methods for identifying and explaining emergence in process studies.

1. Design of the workshop and participating faculty
The workshop has two parts. Prospective participants should register separately in each part. Part 1 is open to all. Part 2 requires participants to submit a 1000-2000 abstract of a process research paper or project.

Part 1: Open to all
Part 1 will begin with an introduction to conceptual process frameworks from Robin Holt, Professor at Liverpool University Management School and co-author of ‘Strategy without design: The silent efficacy of indirect action’ (Cambridge University Press, 2009). He will discuss process frameworks for studying emergent phenomena as situated activities that occur within time, when it is not apparent to either the actors within a situation or the social scientist engaged in real-time research what may become important or durable over the long-term. In doing so, he will question assumptions about intentionality and action, by explaining how strategies and outcomes inadvertently emerge from the situated actions and interactions of actors’ practical coping strategies. This perspective has ontological, epistemological and methodological implications for the conduct of research into emergent processes. David Seidl, Professor of Organization and Management at University of Zurich and author of Organizational Identity and Self-Transformation (Ashgate 2005) will then comment briefly on how this presentation contributes to our understanding of emergent process phenomena, raising a series of points to address in the final panel discussion.
Two authors will then examine the methodological challenges and implications of following emergent phenomena with examples from their empirical process research published in a range of leading journals:

• Raghu Garud, Alvin H. Clemens Professor of Management & Organization at Pennsylvania State University, will draw upon examples from his research on emergent processes of technological innovation, and the way that such emergent phenomena lead to institutional shifts. He will focus on working with multiple data sources to disentangle the emergence of innovations from other phenomena and trace how these emergent phenomena are associated with more macro processes of organizational and institutional change over time.    
• Paul Leonardi, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies and Allen K. and Johnnie Cordell  Breed Junior Chair in Design at Northwestern University will present his article: “When Flexible Routines Meet Flexible Technologies: Affordance, Constraint, and the Imbrication of Human and Material Agencies” (MIS Quarterly, forthcoming, published on-line). In his presentation, he will focus specifically on the challenges of following emergent and moving phenomena in the ethnographic study on which this paper is based.

Following these two presentations, Ann Langley, Professor of Management and Holder of the Canada Research Chair in Strategic Management in Pluralistic Settings, HEC Montreal, will comment on how the presentations further understanding on following emergent phenomena empirically in process research, and raise specific points to be addressed by the panel.
In the final segment of the first part, the three presenters will then take part in an interactive panel discussion with the audience about the presentations. The aim is for the panelists to share their insights on uncovering and explaining emergent phenomena in process research with the audience and address any specific questions.

Part 2: Open to registrants who submit short papers for discussion
In the second part of the workshop, participants will discuss and receive feedback from faculty and other participants on short papers of 1000-2000 words they submit describing their process research projects. Clive Smallman (University of Western Sydney) will coordinate this session. Faculty members Raghu Garud, Karen Golden-Biddle (Boston University School of Management), Tor Hernes (Copenhagen Business School), Robin Holt, Paula Jarzabkowski, Ann Langley, Paul Leonardi, Harry Sminia, Clive Smallman, David Seidl, Scott Sonenshein (Jones Graduate School, Rice University) and Andy Van de Ven (Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota) will facilitate round tables for this session. All the faculty are experienced process researchers who are well known in this field. By experience, we expect at least 45 submissions for this activity, and will organize round tables with 3-4 papers each. A panel discussion among faculty and participants will complete Part 2.

Organizers and Presenters

Organizer:
- Paula Jarzabkowski; Aston U.

Presenters (part 1):
- Raghu Garud; Pennsylvania State U.
- Robin Holt; U. of Liverpool
- Paul M. Leonardi; Northwestern U.
- Ann Langley; HEC Montreal
- David Nils Seidl; U. of Zurich

Facilitators for small group discussions (part 2):
- All of the above and
- Karen Golden-Biddle; Boston U.
- Clive Smallman; U. of Western Sydney
- Scott Sonenshein; Rice U.
- Andrew H. Van de Ven; U. of Minnesota
- Steven W Floyd; McIntire School of Commerce, U. of Virginia
- Harry Sminia; University of Sheffield

Small Group Discussion Leaders (presenters & past workshop faculty)

Registration and Requirements

Part 1: Please register on Academy website: https://secure.aomonline.org/PDWReg

Part 2: Send an e-mail to Britta at ahvstaff@umn.edu with your Paper Submission Form (below). She will then e-mail you back with the code to register for the second part at https://secure.aomonline.org/PDWReg

Paper Submission--Required for Part 2

To attend Part 2 of the workshop involving round table discussions with faculty, you must fill out the paper submission form. On the form, you are asked to describe your process research paper or project in 1000-2000 words or less.

Your paper will be grouped with papers on similar topics for small table paper discussions. All participants at the table will receive one another's paper to read before the workshop.

Paper Submission Form--please email your completed form to ahvstaff@umn.edu by July 1, 2011.

Workshop Schedule

Suggested pre-workshop materials

You may find it useful and interesting to view and/or listen to the slides by M. Scott Poole before the workshop so you have a common background knowledge for the workshop

Building Process Theories--by M. Scott Poole

• Slides with Audio Narration by M. Scott Poole--Zip file with ppt slides incl. audio
  Building Process Theories I
  Building Process Theories II
  Building Process Theories III

or

• PDF file of slides
  Building Process Theories I
  Building Process Theories II
  Building Process Theories III

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