Historical organization studies

Harvey, C; Maclean, M

Historical organization studies

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Charles Harvey

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This is the authors' accepted manuscript of a book chapter that has been published in its final definitive form by Edward Elgar, 2023.

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Abstract

Historical organization studies denote organizational research that draws on historical sources, methods and knowledge to promote historically informed theoretical narratives attentive to both theory and history. It thus aspires to dual integrity, whereby organization theory and history inform one another without either becoming dominant. By historicizing organizational research, the contexts and forces bearing upon organizations may be more fully recognized and analyses or organizational and institutional dynamics be improved. This chapter explores, through three illustrative projects, different ways in which historical organization studies might be enacted: an archival-based exploration of of the construction since 1945 of the global hotel industry; an oral-history project on corporate governance and executive remuneration; and a database-centric study of philanthropy in North East England between 1830 and 1945 drawing on diverse primary sources. The methodology's main strength lies in explicating the forces at work in the emergence, institutionalization and maintenance of contemporary phenomenon of substance and import.