Connecting Values to Action

Christopher M. Hartt is an Associate Professor of Management in Dalhousie University's Faculty of Agriculture. He developed Non-Corporeal Actant Theory in 2010 while undergoing PhD research on decision-making. He recently completed a SSHRC-funded project on Indigenous Entrepreneurship, and is currently in the midst of funded research into Greenhouse Gases and the Dairy Industry, as well as Community Pharmacy Dispensing Errors.

This book examines the tensions between two theoretical perspectives in the context of non-corporeal actant theory: actor-network theory and critical sensemaking theory. It applies non-corporeal actant theory to various contexts, addressing the impact of actor-networks actor-network theory in the context of indigenous heritage; the failed attempt of Wolfgang Langewiesche in the history writing project at Pan American Airways; the presentation of history in budget making; the analogy of management research as a dance; non-corporeal connections in the context of a seal hunt, using the story-act approach to clarify connections to non-corporeal actants; the use of actor-network theory and the concept of a non-corporeal actant as alternatives for understanding the processes of institutionalization and translation, using the example of meritocracy, its development within American business education, and it spread to Indian business education; the role of social media in the changing of corporate values, focusing on #MeToo and Time's Up; controversy as a non-corporeal actant in the community of management historians; the role of the social in extreme moments of existential awareness; the concept of the non-corporeal actant from the perspective of philosophy; how history uses actor-network theory as a method, how ideas from the theory relate to historiography, and how history could be non-corporeal and an actor in the manner of actor-network theory; and controversies in non-corporeal actant theory.

• 1. Introduction; Christopher M. Hartt 2. A Mighty River and Its Story-Acts: An Approach to Capture a More Holistic Network of Agencies; Shelley T. Price, Christopher M. Hartt, Denise Cole, and Alexandra (Ali) Barnes 3. History in the Making: Following the Failed Attempt of Wolfgang Langewiesche in Pan American Airways History Project; Nicholous M. Deal, Albert J. Mills, Jean Helms Mills, and Gabriel Durepos 4. Accounting Narratives: The Presentation of History in Budget Making; Lawrence T. Corrigan 5. Research as Dance, Surfacing Complex Ideas: Explanation of basic method of interrogating NCAs, a guide to researchers; Christopher M. Hartt 6. These Lips are No Longer Sealed: Restorying Non-Corporeal Connections through Mitzi Wall's First Seal Hunt; Shelley T. Price, Christopher M. Hartt, Mitzi Wall, Megan Baker, and Tammy Williams 7. Comparing Institutional Theory and Actor-Network Theory through the Historical Development of Meritocracy; Keshav Krishnamurty  8. NCAs in Prospection, #DeleteUber, #MeToo and Time's Up: The role of social media in the changing of corporate values; Christopher M. Hartt and Gretchen G. Pohlkamp 9. Controversy as a Non-Corporeal Actant in the Community of Management Historians; Milorad M. Noviecevic and Albert J. Mills 10. Recovering through Othering: An NCA Antidote to Existential Anxiety; Anthony R. Yue 11. Steam Dream; Luc Peters 12. Is History Corporeal?; Christopher M. Hartt 13. Controversies in NCA Theory; Christopher M. Hartt