A Process Theory of Organization

Tor Hernes

May 2014 · OUP Oxford

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This book presents a novel and comprehensive process theory of organization applicable to 'a world on the move', where connectedness prevails over size, flow prevails over stability, and temporality prevails over spatiality.The framework developed in the book draws upon process thinking in a number of areas, including process philosophy, pragmatism, phenomenology, and science and technology studies. Salient ideas from these schools are carefully woven into a process theory of organization, which makes the book not only a thought provoking theoretical contribution, but also a much-needed glimpse into the challenges of organizing in a complex and moving world. Taking a distinctly temporal view of organizational life the author shows how actors continually carve out their temporal existence from being in the flow of time. This on-going work, in which technologies, concepts, and social actors take part, is crucial for the making of any type of organizational formation. A key construct of the book is that of events, which provide force, movement, and historicity to organizational life. The book is suitable for scholars and advanced level students in organization studies, management studies, technology studies, and sociology. It contains a number of practical examples to illustrate the theoretical framework.

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Tor Hernes is Professor of Organization Theory at Copenhagen Business School and Vestfold University College, Norway, where he teaches and carries out research on process thinking and organization. He has published a dozen books as well as process related articles in top tier European and American journals. He is a leading figure in the emerging field of process thinking in organization studies. He is co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Process Philosophy and Organization Studies and co-chair of the EGOS Standing Working Group on process thinking and organization.