Special issue call for papers from The Learning Organization
Please visit the following link to view the Organization Learning Model (adapted from Schneper, Wernick & Von Glinow, 2013): http://i.imgur.com/ZxKzdzl.png
The concept of organizational goals has played a vital role in the study of management and organizations since the dawn of the field. In an article that helped define the discipline, Parsons (1956) stressed how it was goals that set organizations apart from other types of social entities (see also Selznick, 1949). Despite this early emphasis, organizational goals have often been relegated to secondary status in contemporary organizational scholarship. Strategic management scholars along with financial economists, for example, frequently presume that the goal of the publicly-held firm is to maximize profits and shareholder value (Jensen, 2001). By contrast, many organizational sociologists contend that survival quickly gains precedence in many firms regardless of the entity's originally stated objectives (Pfeffer, 1997, 2013). Given the increasing number of organizational forms and financing options that business enterprises can pursue (Davis, 2016a; 2016b), as well as the high degree of cross-country diversity in institutional environments (Hall and Soskice, 2003; Haxhi and Aguilera, 2016), these types of assumptions regarding organizational goals merit further scrutiny.
A different concept that continues to grow in prominence in the management literature is that of the stakeholder (Örtenblad, 2013; Örtenblad et al., 2015). According to Freeman’s (1984, p. 46) famous definition, stakeholders are “any group or individual who can affect or who is affected by the achievement of the organization’s objectives.” Some subsequent research has been aimed at determining which stakeholder groups hold the most sway over organizations and their environments (e.g., Mitchell et al., 1997). Cross-country differences in the allocation of legal power across stakeholders — and the ability of these groups to express voice — have been argued to shape the types of practices adopted by firms (Guillén and Schneper, 2004) and even widely-held beliefs about the role of the business corporation in society (Soleimani et al., 2014). While stakeholder research has traditionally stressed the influence of so-called primary stakeholder groups (including shareholders, employees, and creditors), an increasing number of studies have emphasized the potential impact that secondary stakeholders (including activist groups, the media, and non-governmental organizations) can have on corporate behavior (Eesley and Lenox, 2006; King, 2008).
The potential impact of both organizational goals and stakeholders on organizational learning can be illustrated through an examination of the learning feedback model shown in Figure 1 (see also Schneper et al., 2013). Firms formulate strategies and enact practices in order to achieve organizational goals. Stakeholder voice serves as an important source of feedback that helps firms modify their strategies and approach. The types of goals that firms pursue can be influenced by the extent that various stakeholder groups enjoy power and exercise their voice (see Hirschman, 1970; Van Buren and Greenwood, 2009).
The purpose of this special issue is to further explore the relationships between organizational goals, stakeholders, and organizational learning. This special issue encourages original empirical research (both quantitative and qualitative), as well as theoretical papers that build upon prior scholarship. Suggested topics for papers include, but are not limited to the following:
- Under what conditions is stakeholder feedback most likely to contribute to organizational learning? When will firms be most receptive to stakeholder voice?
- The role of full voice meaningfulness (see Shapiro, 2016; Verbeke et al., 2017): Can organizational learning be facilitated by listening to all stakeholders, including those on the frontier, and not just those in the mainstream and most powerful?
- How do the goals, strategies, and practices of firms pursuing new organizational forms (e.g., public-benefit corporations, certified B corporations) or new funding models (e.g., crowdfunding) differ from traditional corporations? What is the impact on organizational learning and effectiveness?
- What role do various types of secondary shareholders (including non-governmental organizations) play in organizational learning?
- Are traditional forms of media becoming less vital as sources of stakeholder voice? To what extent has the so-called new media (including social media) supplanted more traditional media forms in terms of capturing organizational attention? How does “fake news” affect organizational learning?
- Under what conditions do various corporate governance and economic systems (e.g., shareholder-centered versus stakeholder-centered models; liberal market versus coordinated market economies) provide a better environment for organizational learning and effectiveness?
- What are the roles that various stakeholder groups play in the adoption of different types of practices (human resource management, corporate sustainability, marketing, corporate governance)?
Deadlines
The submission deadline for full papers is 15th June 2018. The Special Issue is scheduled to appear in 2019.
Guest Editors
William D. Schneper is an Assistant Professor of Organization Studies and Management at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States. His research interests are at the intersection of corporate governance, strategic management and international business. His current research focuses upon the impact of stakeholders on firm performance and behavior, and the role of the modern business corporation in society. His publications have appeared in such journals as Administrative Science Quarterly and Organization Science. (E-mail: [email protected])
David Wernick is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and International Business at Florida International University. His research focuses on global business strategy, innovation, and sustainable enterprise. He is the author of numerous academic and policy-oriented studies on global business, including the book chapter “Innovation in Africa: A View from the Peaks and Hilltops of a Spiky Continent,” in Innovation in Emerging Markets, Palgrave Macmillan (2016).
Mary Ann Von Glinow is the Knight Ridder eminent Scholar Chair in International Management at Florida International University in Miami, FL, USA. She is a former President of the Academy of Management and the Academy of International Business. She is the Senior Editor of the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS). Her research is largely related to "contextualization" in IB Research but spans a number of conceptual disciplines.
References
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Davis, G.F. (2016b), The Vanishing American Corporation: Navigating the Hazards of a New Economy, Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, CA.
Eesley C. and Lenox, M. (2006), “Firm responses to secondary stakeholder action”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 27 No. 8, pp. 765-781.
Freeman, R.E. (1984), Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, Pitman, Boston, MA.
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Schneper, W.D., Wernick, D.A. and Von Glinow, M.A. (2013), “Stakeholder voice, corporate dysfunction and change: An organizational learning perspective”, in Burke, R.J. and Cooper, C.L. (Eds.), Voice and Whistleblowing in Organizations: Overcoming Fear, Fostering Courage and Unleashing Candor, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA, pp. 113-136.
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Shapiro, D. (2016), “Full voice meaningfulness in the Academy of Management”, Presidential Speech, August 7, 2016, Anaheim, CA.
Soleimani, A., Schneper, W.D. and Newburry, W. (2014), “The impact of stakeholder power on corporate reputation: A cross-county corporate governance perspective”, Organization Science, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 991-1008.
Van Buren, H.J. and Greenwood, M. (2009), “Stakeholder voice: A problem, a solution and a challenge for managers and academics”, Philosophy of Management, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 15-23.
Verbeke, A., Von Glinow, M.A. and Luo, Y. (2017), “Becoming a great reviewer: Four actionable guidelines”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 48 No. 1, pp. 1-9.
Wernick, D. (2016), “Innovation in Africa: A View from the Peaks and Hilltops of a Spiky Continent”, in Haar, J. and Ernst, R. (eds.), Innovation in Emerging Markets, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, NY, pp. 121-139.