The nature and significance of the executive doctoral scholar-practitioner of organizational development and change: A morphogenetic account of theory-practice linkages for the achievement of scholarly knowledge and business results.

摘要

Executive doctoral scholar-practitioners of Organization Development and Change (ODC) promise to be boundary-spanners who move between the worlds of academia and business in order to generate new theoretical knowledge and achieve organizational results. This work investigates the promise of the executive doctoral scholar practitioner of ODC to achieve those results. This inquiry developed a framework of theory-practice linkages from a literature review of ODC, management science, and science-within-society. The framework of theory-practice linkage is interpreted with morphogenetic theory (Archer; 2000, 1996, 1995) to embed it with causal propositions regarding how theory-practice linkages lead to new theoretical knowledge and organizational results.; This dissertation is exploratory in nature given the newness of the role of the executive doctoral scholar-practitioner of ODC; it does not definitively test their ability to fulfill the promise. Seven interviews were completed with executive doctoral scholar-practitioners of ODC; these respondents were from one doctoral program within the United States. Two interviews were conducted with expert scholar-practitioners to profile their demonstrated ability to generate knowledge and achieve organization results. Eight interviews were completed with respondents who would provide different insights into theory-practice linkages from the perspective of university or business. Four interviews were conducted with university professors (Organization Development and Change). Four interviews were conducted with business researchers (knowledge creation within organizations). These interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded according to the framework of theory-practice linkage and morphogenetic theory.; Four main findings resulted from the analysis of the contrasting samples. One, the achievement of published knowledge and organizational results is less frequent than attainment of the executive doctorate. Two, the framework of theory-practice linkages has sufficient face validity to merit replication and extension studies. Three, antecedent theory-practice linkages accompany the dual scholarly and organizational outcomes. Four, the tenets of morphogenetic theory explain the pattern of theory-practice results—morphogenetic theory reveals how executive doctoral scholar-practitioners become powerful organizational leaders.; Additional research is recommended with executive doctoral students from other programs and countries. Of particular interest is a quantitative assessment of the findings of this exploratory work.