Haridimos Tsoukas – författare

With the growing influence of discursive and narrative perspectives on organizing, organizational scholars are focusing increasing attention on the constitutive role that language and communication play in organizational processes. This view conceptualizes language and communication as bringing organization into being in every instant and is therefore inherently sympathetic to a process perspective. However, our understanding of the role of language in unfoldingorganizational processes and as a part of organizational action is still limited. This volume brings together empirical and/or conceptual contributions from leading scholars in organization and communication to develop understanding of language and communication as constitutive of work, and also analyzehow language and communication actually work to achieve influence in the context of organizations.It aims to elucidate the role language, communication, and narrativity play as part of strategic and institutional work in and around organizational phenomena. In keeping with the preceding volumes in the Perspectives on Process Organization Studies series, this collection demonstrates why we need to start thinking processually and offers a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to studying these ''works in process'' that we call organizations, companies, businesses, institutions,communities, associations, or NGOs

In this book Haridimos Tsoukas, one of the most imaginative organization theorists of our time, examines the nature of knowledge in organizations, and how individuals and scholars approach the concept of knowledge.Tsoukas firstly looks at organizational knowledge and its embeddedness in social contexts and forms of life. He shows that knowledge is not just a collection of free floating representations of the world to be used at will, but an activity constitutive of the world. On the one hand the organization as an institutionalized system does produce regularities that can can be captured via propositional forms of knowledge. On the other, the organization as practice, as a lifeworld, or as an open-ended system produce stories, values, and shared traditions which can only be captured by narrative forms of knowledge. Secondly, Tsoukas looks at the issue of how individuals deal with the notion of complexity in organizations: Our inability to reduce the behaviour of complex organizations to their constituent parts. Drawing on concepts such as discourse, narrativity, and reflexivity, he adopts a hermeneutical approach to the issue.Finally Tsoukas examines the concept of meta-knowledge, and how we know what we know. Arguing that the underlying representationalist epistemology of much of mainstream management causes many problems, he advocates adopting a more discursive approach. He describes what such an epistemology might be, and illustrates it with examples from organization studies and strategic management.An ideal introduction to the thinking of a leading organizational theorist, this book will be essential reading for academics, researchers, and students of Knowledge Management, Organization Studies, Management Studies, Business Strategy, and Applied Epistemology.

Creativity, innovation and change are vital to the development and sustainability of all organizations. Yet, questions remain about exactly how novelty comes about, and what dynamic processes are involved in its emergence?Ideas of emergence and process, drawn from a variety of different philosophic traditions, have been the focus of increasing attention in management and organization studies. These issues are brought to bear on novelty and innovation in this volume by examining new organizational and product development processes, whether planned or unplanned.The contributions in this volume offer both theoretical insights and empirical studies on, inter alia, innovation, music technology, haute cuisine, pharmaceuticals and theatre improvisation. In doing so, they throw light on the importance of emergence, improvisation and learning in organizations, and how both practitioners and scholars alike can best understand their own assumptions about process. In addition, the volume includes general essays on process perspectives in organizationstudies.

Over the past 15 years, organizational routines have been increasingly investigated from a process perspective to challenge the idea that routines are stable entities that are mindlessly enacted.A process perspective explores how routines are performed by specific people in specific settings. It shows how action, improvisation, and novelty are part of routine performances. It also departs from a view of routines as "black boxes" that transform inputs into organizational outputs and places attention on the actual actions and patterns that comprise routines. Routines are both effortful accomplishments, in that it takes effort to perform, sustain, or change them, and emergentaccomplishments, because sometimes the effort to perform routines leads to unforeseen change.While a process perspective has enabled scholars to open up the ''black box'' of routines and explore their actions and patterns in fine-grained, dynamic ways, there is much more work to be done. Chapters in this volume make considerable progress, through the three main themes expressed across these chapters. These are: Zooming out to understand routines in larger contexts; Zooming in to reveal actor dispositions and skill; and Innovation, creativity and routines in ambiguouscontexts.

Over the past 15 years, organizational routines have been increasingly investigated from a process perspective to challenge the idea that routines are stable entities that are mindlessly enacted.A process perspective explores how routines are performed by specific people in specific settings. It shows how action, improvisation, and novelty are part of routine performances. It also departs from a view of routines as "black boxes" that transform inputs into organizational outputs and places attention on the actual actions and patterns that comprise routines. Routines are both effortful accomplishments, in that it takes effort to perform, sustain, or change them, and emergentaccomplishments, because sometimes the effort to perform routines leads to unforeseen change.While a process perspective has enabled scholars to open up the ''black box'' of routines and explore their actions and patterns in fine-grained, dynamic ways, there is much more work to be done. Chapters in this volume make considerable progress, through the three main themes expressed across these chapters. These are: Zooming out to understand routines in larger contexts; Zooming in to reveal actor dispositions and skill; and Innovation, creativity and routines in ambiguouscontexts.

In this book Haridimos Tsoukas, one of the most imaginative organization theorists of our time, examines the nature of knowledge in organizations, and how individuals and scholars approach the concept of knowledge.Tsoukas firstly looks at organizational knowledge and its embeddedness in social contexts and forms of life. He shows that knowledge is not just a collection of free floating representations of the world to be used at will, but an activity constitutive of the world. On the one hand the organization as an institutionalized system does produce regularities that can can be captured via propositional forms of knowledge. On the other, the organization as practice, as a lifeworld, or as an open-ended system produce stories, values, and shared traditions which can only be captured by narrative forms of knowledge. Secondly, Tsoukas looks at the issue of how individuals deal with the notion of complexity in organizations: Our inability to reduce the behaviour of complex organizations to their constituent parts. Drawing on concepts such as discourse, narrativity, and reflexivity, he adopts a hermeneutical approach to the issue.Finally Tsoukas examines the concept of meta-knowledge, and how we know what we know. Arguing that the underlying representationalist epistemology of much of mainstream management causes many problems, he advocates adopting a more discursive approach. He describes what such an epistemology might be, and illustrates it with examples from organization studies and strategic management.An ideal introduction to the thinking of a leading organizational theorist, this book will be essential reading for academics, researchers, and students of Knowledge Management, Organization Studies, Management Studies, Business Strategy, and Applied Epistemology.

Constructing Identity in and around Organizations is the second volume in Perspectives on Process Organization Studies, a series which explores an emerging approach to the study of organizations that focuses on (understanding) activities, interactions, and change as essential properties of organizations rather than structures and state - an approach which prioritizes activity over product, change over persistence, novelty over continuity, and expression overdetermination.The constructing of identities - those processes through which actors in and around organizations claim, accept, negotiate, affirm, stabilize, maintain, reproduce, challenge, disrupt, destabilize, repair or otherwise relate to their sense of selves and others - has become a critically important topic in the study of organizations. This volume attempts to amplify - and possibly refract - contemporary debates amongst identity scholars that question established notions of identity as "essence","entity," or "thing". It calls for alternative approaches to understanding identity and its significance in contexts in and around organizations by conceptualizing it as "process" - that is, being continually under construction. Based in diverse theoretical and philosophical traditions and contexts,contributions by leading scholars to this volume offer new perspectives on how individual and organizational identities evolve and come to be constructed through ongoing activities and interactions.

Although human lives towards the second half of the twentieth century became increasingly mediated by objects and artifacts and have depended heavily on the functioning of technical systems, materiality in a broad sense became relatively marginalized as a topic of research interest. This volume contributes to redressing the balance by drawing together the work of scholars involved in exploring the sociomaterial dimensions of organizational life. It will look at theway material objects and artifacts are conceived in organizations, and how they function in interaction with human agents.The book offers a new conceptual repertoire and vocabulary that allows deeper thought and discussion about the inherent entanglement of the social and material. Like the preceding volumes in the Perspectives on Process Organization Studies series, the book displays the richness that characterizes process thinking, and combines philosophical reflections with novel conceptual perspectives and insightful empirical analyses.

When it comes to the field of organization and management theory, a philosophical perspective enables us to conduct organizational research imbued with the attitude of ''wonder''; it helps researchers question dominant images of thought underlying mainstream thinking, and provides fresh distinctions that enable the development of new theory. In bringing together a collection of key essays by Haridimos Tsoukas, this volume explores fundamental concepts, such asorganizational routine, that have gained currency in the field, as well as revisiting traditional concepts such as change, strategy, and organization. It discusses organizational knowledge, judgment, and reflection-in-action, and, at the meta-theoretical level, suggests complex forms of theorizing that dojustice to the complexity of organizations.The conceptual attention throughout is on process and practice, underlain by performative phenomenology and an emphasis on agents'' lived experience. This provides us with the language to appreciate the dynamic character of organizational behaviour, the embeddedness of action, and the complexity of organizational life. The theoretical claims presented in this volume have important implications for practice, insofar as they help retrain our attention; from seeing structures and individuals, wecan now appreciate processes, experiences, and practices. A phenomenological attitude makes organization theory more open, more creative, and more reflexive, and this book will be essential reading for researchers and students in the field of organization studies.

When it comes to the field of organization and management theory, a philosophical perspective enables us to conduct organizational research imbued with the attitude of ''wonder''; it helps researchers question dominant images of thought underlying mainstream thinking, and provides fresh distinctions that enable the development of new theory. In bringing together a collection of key essays by Haridimos Tsoukas, this volume explores fundamental concepts, such asorganizational routine, that have gained currency in the field, as well as revisiting traditional concepts such as change, strategy, and organization. It discusses organizational knowledge, judgment, and reflection-in-action, and, at the meta-theoretical level, suggests complex forms of theorizing that dojustice to the complexity of organizations.The conceptual attention throughout is on process and practice, underlain by performative phenomenology and an emphasis on agents'' lived experience. This provides us with the language to appreciate the dynamic character of organizational behaviour, the embeddedness of action, and the complexity of organizational life. The theoretical claims presented in this volume have important implications for practice, insofar as they help retrain our attention; from seeing structures and individuals, wecan now appreciate processes, experiences, and practices. A phenomenological attitude makes organization theory more open, more creative, and more reflexive, and this book will be essential reading for researchers and students in the field of organization studies.

One of the most intriguing questions since the time of Plato concerns what defines skillful performance in terms of specific capabilities, knowledge, competence, and expertise. As Frederick Taylor famously noted, an answer to that question would enable us to know what to focus on and what to do to improve the performance of individuals, groups, and organizations. Although we have come to know a great deal about the ''properties'' of capabilities, knowledge, competence,and expertise at large, we know significantly less about how they are enacted in skillful performance. Thus, how skillful performance draws on knowledge, how skills develop, and how competencies and capabilities are put to action are still eluding us. Process thinking has not sufficiently exploredskillful performance.This book aims to address this gap. It brings together scholars from different backgrounds, traditions, and disciplines whose common perspective is distinctly process-oriented. They seek to rethink capabilities, knowledge, competence, and expertise, not as if these phenomena were already accomplished but, on the contrary, as processes in the making - as performative accomplishments. Such rethinking opens up several new conversations and extends the range of inquiry about howcapabilities, knowledge, competence, and expertise are accomplished in practice, and, consequently, how they may be improved.

One of the most intriguing questions since the time of Plato concerns what defines skillful performance in terms of specific capabilities, knowledge, competence, and expertise. As Frederick Taylor famously noted, an answer to that question would enable us to know what to focus on and what to do to improve the performance of individuals, groups, and organizations. Although we have come to know a great deal about the ''properties'' of capabilities, knowledge, competence,and expertise at large, we know significantly less about how they are enacted in skillful performance. Thus, how skillful performance draws on knowledge, how skills develop, and how competencies and capabilities are put to action are still eluding us. Process thinking has not sufficiently exploredskillful performance.This book aims to address this gap. It brings together scholars from different backgrounds, traditions, and disciplines whose common perspective is distinctly process-oriented. They seek to rethink capabilities, knowledge, competence, and expertise, not as if these phenomena were already accomplished but, on the contrary, as processes in the making - as performative accomplishments. Such rethinking opens up several new conversations and extends the range of inquiry about howcapabilities, knowledge, competence, and expertise are accomplished in practice, and, consequently, how they may be improved.

Contradictions permeate and propel organizational life - including tensions between reaching globally while focusing locally; competing while also cooperating; performing reliably while experimenting, taking risks, and learning; or granting autonomy while constraining freedom. These tensions give organizational members pause, but also spur them to take action; they may be necessary for preserving the social order, but are also required to transform it.Drawing on the Eighth International Symposium on Process Organization Studies, Dualities, Dialectics, and Paradoxes in Organizational Life examines how contradictions fuel emergent, dynamic systems and stimulate novelty, adaption, and transformations. It uses conceptual and empirical studies to offer insight into how process theorizing advances understanding of organizational contradictions; to shed light on how dialectics, paradoxes, and dualities fuel persistence and transformation;and to explore the convergence and divergence of dialectics, paradox, and dualities. Taken together, it offers key insights to inform persistent, contradictory dynamics in organizations and organizational studies.

Contradictions permeate and propel organizational life - including tensions between reaching globally while focusing locally; competing while also cooperating; performing reliably while experimenting, taking risks, and learning; or granting autonomy while constraining freedom. These tensions give organizational members pause, but also spur them to take action; they may be necessary for preserving the social order, but are also required to transform it.Drawing on the Eighth International Symposium on Process Organization Studies, Dualities, Dialectics, and Paradoxes in Organizational Life examines how contradictions fuel emergent, dynamic systems and stimulate novelty, adaption, and transformations. It uses conceptual and empirical studies to offer insight into how process theorizing advances understanding of organizational contradictions; to shed light on how dialectics, paradoxes, and dualities fuel persistence and transformation;and to explore the convergence and divergence of dialectics, paradox, and dualities. Taken together, it offers key insights to inform persistent, contradictory dynamics in organizations and organizational studies.

Institutions - the structures, practices, and meanings that define what people and organizations think, do, and aspire to - are created through process. They are ''work in progress'' that involves continual efforts to maintain, modify, or disturb them. Institutional logics are also in motion, holding varying degrees of dominance that change over time. This volume brings together two streams of thought within organization theory - institutional theory and processperspective - to advocate for stronger process ontology that highlights institutions as emergent, generative, political, and social.A stronger process view allows us to challenge our understanding of central concepts within institutional theory, such as ''loose coupling'', ''institutional work'', the work of institutional logics on the ground, and institutionalization between diffusion and translation. Enriched with an emphasis on practice and widened by taking a broad view of institutions, this volume draws on the Ninth International Symposium on Process Organization Studies to offer key insights that will inform our thinkingof institutions as processes.

Institutions - the structures, practices, and meanings that define what people and organizations think, do, and aspire to - are created through process. They are ''work in progress'' that involves continual efforts to maintain, modify, or disturb them. Institutional logics are also in motion, holding varying degrees of dominance that change over time. This volume brings together two streams of thought within organization theory - institutional theory and processperspective - to advocate for stronger process ontology that highlights institutions as emergent, generative, political, and social.A stronger process view allows us to challenge our understanding of central concepts within institutional theory, such as ''loose coupling'', ''institutional work'', the work of institutional logics on the ground, and institutionalization between diffusion and translation. Enriched with an emphasis on practice and widened by taking a broad view of institutions, this volume draws on the Ninth International Symposium on Process Organization Studies to offer key insights that will inform our thinkingof institutions as processes.

Time, timing, and temporality are inherently important to organizational process studies, yet time remains an under-theorized construct that has struggled to move much beyond chronological conceptions of "clock" time. Missing from this linear view are ongoing debates about objectivity versus subjectivity in the experience of time, linear versus alternative structures of time, or an appreciation of collective or culturally determined inferences of temporality. This is critical as our understanding of time and temporality can shape how we view and relate to organizational phenomena, either as unfolding processes or stable objects.History is equally important. While we have an intuitive sense of history as a process, organizational theorists have struggled to move beyond two limited conceptualizations: history as a constraint on organization''s capacity for change, or history as a unique source of competitive advantage. Both approaches suffer from the restrictive view of history as an objective set of "brute facts" that are exterior to the individuals, organizations, and collectives that experience them. Yet management theory is acquiring an awareness of time, history, and memory as critical elements in processes of organizing. This volume draws together emerging strands of interest in adopting a more nuanced orientation toward time, temporality, and history to better understand the temporal aspects of organizational processes.

Time, timing, and temporality are inherently important to organizational process studies, yet time remains an under-theorized construct that has struggled to move much beyond chronological conceptions of "clock" time. Missing from this linear view are ongoing debates about objectivity versus subjectivity in the experience of time, linear versus alternative structures of time, or an appreciation of collective or culturally determined inferences of temporality. This is critical as our understanding of time and temporality can shape how we view and relate to organizational phenomena, either as unfolding processes or stable objects.History is equally important. While we have an intuitive sense of history as a process, organizational theorists have struggled to move beyond two limited conceptualizations: history as a constraint on organization''s capacity for change, or history as a unique source of competitive advantage. Both approaches suffer from the restrictive view of history as an objective set of "brute facts" that are exterior to the individuals, organizations, and collectives that experience them. Yet management theory is acquiring an awareness of time, history, and memory as critical elements in processes of organizing. This volume draws together emerging strands of interest in adopting a more nuanced orientation toward time, temporality, and history to better understand the temporal aspects of organizational processes.

With the growing influence of discursive and narrative perspectives on organizing, organizational scholars are focusing increasing attention on the constitutive role that language and communication play in organizational processes. This view conceptualizes language and communication as bringing organization into being in every instant and is therefore inherently sympathetic to a process perspective. However, our understanding of the role of language in unfolding organizational processes and as a part of organizational action is still limited. This volume brings together empirical and/or conceptual contributions from leading scholars in organization and communication to develop understanding of language and communication as constitutive of work, and also analyze how language and communication actually work to achieve influence in the context of organizations.It aims to elucidate the role language, communication, and narrativity play as part of strategic and institutional work in and around organizational phenomena. In keeping with the preceding volumes in the Perspectives on Process Organization Studies series, this collection demonstrates why we need to start thinking processually and offers a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to studying these 'works in process' that we call organizations, companies, businesses, institutions, communities, associations, or NGOs.

Although human lives towards the second half of the twentieth century became increasingly mediated by objects and artifacts and have depended heavily on the functioning of technical systems, materiality in a broad sense became relatively marginalized as a topic of research interest. This volume contributes to redressing the balance by drawing together the work of scholars involved in exploring the sociomaterial dimensions of organizational life. It will look at the way material objects and artifacts are conceived in organizations, and how they function in interaction with human agents. The book offers a new conceptual repertoire and vocabulary that allows deeper thought and discussion about the inherent entanglement of the social and material. Like the preceding volumes in the Perspectives on Process Organization Studies series, the book displays the richness that characterizes process thinking, and combines philosophical reflections with novel conceptual perspectives and insightful empirical analyses.

Creativity, innovation and change are vital to the development and sustainability of all organizations. Yet, questions remain about exactly how novelty comes about, and what dynamic processes are involved in its emergence?Ideas of emergence and process, drawn from a variety of different philosophic traditions, have been the focus of increasing attention in management and organization studies. These issues are brought to bear on novelty and innovation in this volume by examining new organizational and product development processes, whether planned or unplanned. The contributions in this volume offer both theoretical insights and empirical studies on, inter alia, innovation, music technology, haute cuisine, pharmaceuticals and theatre improvisation. In doing so, they throw light on the importance of emergence, improvisation and learning in organizations, and how both practitioners and scholars alike can best understand their own assumptions about process. In addition, the volume includes general essays on process perspectives in organization studies.

With the growing influence of discursive and narrative perspectives on organizing, organizational scholars are focusing increasing attention on the constitutive role that language and communication play in organizational processes. This view conceptualizes language and communication as bringing organization into being in every instant and is therefore inherently sympathetic to a process perspective. However, our understanding of the role of language in unfolding organizational processes and as a part of organizational action is still limited. This volume brings together empirical and/or conceptual contributions from leading scholars in organization and communication to develop understanding of language and communication as constitutive of work, and also analyze how language and communication actually work to achieve influence in the context of organizations. It aims to elucidate the role language, communication, and narrativity play as part of strategic and institutional work in and around organizational phenomena. In keeping with the preceding volumes in the Perspectives on Process Organization Studies series, this collection demonstrates why we need to start thinking processually and offers a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to studying these 'works in process' that we call organizations, companies, businesses, institutions, communities, associations, or NGOs

Over the past 15 years, organizational routines have been increasingly investigated from a process perspective to challenge the idea that routines are stable entities that are mindlessly enacted.A process perspective explores how routines are performed by specific people in specific settings. It shows how action, improvisation, and novelty are part of routine performances. It also departs from a view of routines as "black boxes" that transform inputs into organizational outputs and places attention on the actual actions and patterns that comprise routines. Routines are both effortful accomplishments, in that it takes effort to perform, sustain, or change them, and emergent accomplishments, because sometimes the effort to perform routines leads to unforeseen change.While a process perspective has enabled scholars to open up the "black box" of routines and explore their actions and patterns in fine-grained, dynamic ways, there is much more work to be done. Chapters in this volume make considerable progress, through the three main themes expressed across these chapters. These are: Zooming out to understand routines in larger contexts; Zooming in to reveal actor dispositions and skill; and Innovation, creativity and routines in ambiguous contexts.

Creativity, innovation and change are vital to the development and sustainability of all organizations. Yet, questions remain about exactly how novelty comes about, and what dynamic processes are involved in its emergence? Ideas of emergence and process, drawn from a variety of different philosophic traditions, have been the focus of increasing attention in management and organization studies. These issues are brought to bear on novelty and innovation in this volume by examining new organizational and product development processes, whether planned or unplanned. The contributions in this volume offer both theoretical insights and empirical studies on, inter alia, innovation, music technology, haute cuisine, pharmaceuticals and theatre improvisation. In doing so, they throw light on the importance of emergence, improvisation and learning in organizations, and how both practitioners and scholars alike can best understand their own assumptions about process. In addition, the volume includes general essays on process perspectives in organization studies. Creativity, innovation and change are vital to the development and sustainability of all organizations. Yet, questions remain about exactly how novelty comes about, and what dynamic processes are involved in its emergence?Ideas of emergence and process, drawn from a variety of different philosophic traditions, have been the focus of increasing attention in management and organization studies. These issues are brought to bear on novelty and innovation in this volume by examining

When it comes to the field of organization and management theory, a philosophical perspective enables us to conduct organizational research imbued with the attitude of 'wonder'; it helps researchers question dominant images of thought underlying mainstream thinking, and provides fresh distinctions that enable the development of new theory. In bringing together a collection of key essays by Haridimos Tsoukas, this volume explores fundamental concepts, such as organizational routine, that have gained currency in the field, as well as revisiting traditional concepts such as change, strategy, and organization. It discusses organizational knowledge, judgment, and reflection-in-action, and, at the meta-theoretical level, suggests complex forms of theorizing that do justice to the complexity of organizations.The conceptual attention throughout is on process and practice, underlain by performative phenomenology and an emphasis on agents' lived experience. This provides us with the language to appreciate the dynamic character of organizational behaviour, the embeddedness of action, and the complexity of organizational life. The theoretical claims presented in this volume have important implications for practice, insofar as they help retrain our attention; from seeing structures and individuals, we can now appreciate processes, experiences, and practices. A phenomenological attitude makes organization theory more open, more creative, and more reflexive, and this book will be essential reading for researchers and students in the field of organization studies.

Over the past 15 years, organizational routines have been increasingly investigated from a process perspective to challenge the idea that routines are stable entities that are mindlessly enacted.A process perspective explores how routines are performed by specific people in specific settings. It shows how action, improvisation, and novelty are part of routine performances. It also departs from a view of routines as "black boxes" that transform inputs into organizational outputs and places attention on the actual actions and patterns that comprise routines. Routines are both effortful accomplishments, in that it takes effort to perform, sustain, or change them, and emergent accomplishments, because sometimes the effort to perform routines leads to unforeseen change.While a process perspective has enabled scholars to open up the 'black box' of routines and explore their actions and patterns in fine-grained, dynamic ways, there is much more work to be done. Chapters in this volume make considerable progress, through the three main themes expressed across these chapters. These are: Zooming out to understand routines in larger contexts; Zooming in to reveal actor dispositions and skill; and Innovation, creativity and routines in ambiguous contexts.

One of the most intriguing questions since the time of Plato concerns what defines skillful performance in terms of specific capabilities, knowledge, competence, and expertise. As Frederick Taylor famously noted, an answer to that question would enable us to know what to focus on and what to do to improve the performance of individuals, groups, and organizations. Although we have come to know a great deal about the 'properties' of capabilities, knowledge, competence, and expertise at large, we know significantly less about how they are enacted in skillful performance. Thus, how skillful performance draws on knowledge, how skills develop, and how competencies and capabilities are put to action are still eluding us. Process thinking has not sufficiently explored skillful performance. This book aims to address this gap. It brings together scholars from different backgrounds, traditions, and disciplines whose common perspective is distinctly process-oriented. They seek to rethink capabilities, knowledge, competence, and expertise, not as if these phenomena were already accomplished but, on the contrary, as processes in the making - as performative accomplishments. Such rethinking opens up several new conversations and extends the range of inquiry about how capabilities, knowledge, competence, and expertise are accomplished in practice, and, consequently, how they may be improved.

Contradictions permeate and propel organizational life - including tensions between reaching globally while focusing locally; competing while also cooperating; performing reliably while experimenting, taking risks, and learning; or granting autonomy while constraining freedom. These tensions give organizational members pause, but also spur them to take action; they may be necessary for preserving the social order, but are also required to transform it.Drawing on the Eighth International Symposium on Process Organization Studies, Dualities, Dialectics, and Paradoxes in Organizational Life examines how contradictions fuel emergent, dynamic systems and stimulate novelty, adaption, and transformations. It uses conceptual and empirical studies to offer insight into how process theorizing advances understanding of organizational contradictions; to shed light on how dialectics, paradoxes, and dualities fuel persistence and transformation; and to explore the convergence and divergence of dialectics, paradox, and dualities. Taken together, it offers key insights to inform persistent, contradictory dynamics in organizations and organizational studies.

Institutions - the structures, practices, and meanings that define what people and organizations think, do, and aspire to - are created through process. They are 'work in progress' that involves continual efforts to maintain, modify, or disturb them. Institutional logics are also in motion, holding varying degrees of dominance that change over time. This volume brings together two streams of thought within organization theory - institutional theory and process perspective - to advocate for stronger process ontology that highlights institutions as emergent, generative, political, and social.A stronger process view allows us to challenge our understanding of central concepts within institutional theory, such as 'loose coupling', 'institutional work', the work of institutional logics on the ground, and institutionalization between diffusion and translation. Enriched with an emphasis on practice and widened by taking a broad view of institutions, this volume draws on the Ninth International Symposium on Process Organization Studies to offer key insights that will inform our thinking of institutions as processes.