The turn to work in organization and management theory: Some implications for strategic organization

摘要

Over the past decade, the study of management and organization theory has experienced a significant 'turn to work'. This turn to work has not, however, been a return to the study of the forms of work that have been the traditional focus of organizational scholars. Instead, the turn to work involves a widespread scholarly engagement with new forms of work that involve individuals and organizations purposefully and strategically expending effort to affect their social-symbolic context. For example, boundary work (Gieryn, 1983; Kreiner et al., 2009), identity work (Ibarra and Barbulescu, 2010; Watson, 2008) and institutional work (Lawrence and Suddaby, 2006; Zietsma and Lawrence, 2010) have all become important areas of scholarship despite being largely unknown or unexplored just a few years ago.