Journal Articles by Albert Mills
Management & Organizational Histiory, 2019
Through an examination of management textbooks, beginning in
1950 and continuing to 2012, the aut... more Through an examination of management textbooks, beginning in
1950 and continuing to 2012, the authors chart the socio-political
and historical context upon which the management texts were
written and tease out the ways that women have been socially
constructed as a problem to be managed. The study explores how
the problem with women arose and how it has been maintained in
organizational settings. The study undertakes a feminist interrogation
to understand the systematic ways that roles and identities for
women have been structured to both describe women negatively,
limit and exclude them, and why such structures are durable.
Additionally, the article asserts that the subtle shift from women
as problem (collective), to a woman manager (as individual, as
exceptional) and women as either the same or different from men,
serves to blind us to the possibility of female governance.
Purpose-This paper aims to examine the role of James March and his actor-network in the developme... more Purpose-This paper aims to examine the role of James March and his actor-network in the development of a functionalist paradigm of organization theory (OT). Recognizing the important contribution of March to the development of the field of OT, the authors set out to understand the role that he played in establishing the oft-quoted development of founding a behavioral facet of the functionalist paradigm of management theory. Design/methodology/approach-The authors draw on ANTi-History to study some of the key factors that contributed to the challenges associated with the creation of a functionalist paradigm of OT. ANTi-History is an amodernist method drawing attention to how history is produced, differing from a modernist method for identifying the single-most truth of a series of past events and from a postmodernist method for revealing the relativity of accounts of the past. To that end, the method of ANTi-History is to explore the intersections of a series of human (e.g. scholars), non-human (e.g. a textbook) and non-corporeal (e.g. paradigms) actors to assess their role in producing a version of the past (e.g. a unified field of OT). Findings-The authors reveal how the history, producing the paradigmatic idea of OT as a supposed field of inquiry, is not an account of an actual field of inquiry as much as it is the outcome of the shared and conflicted worldviews of multiple actors. Originality/value-The unique and original contribution is in the tracking over time of the relationship between a known and important actor James March and the formation of a specific paradigm of OT. In particular, the authors focus on the factors and activities that formed or failed to form OT at points in time and James March's role in this. In the process, the authors set out to learn not simply what James March achieved but how he achieved it.
133. Aromaa, Eeva, Eriksson, Paivi, Montonen, Tero, and Mills, Albert J. (2020) "Emotion as Soft Power in Organisations," Journal of Organizational Effectiveness, 7(4), pp.341-357.
Business History, 2021
In response to a special call of 'bringing gender and feminism from the periphery to the centre o... more In response to a special call of 'bringing gender and feminism from the periphery to the centre of business history' , the authors undertake an in-depth appraisal of Business History's own record, as a key signifier of the field. The scope includes articles and reviews published between 2000 and 2020 and find 17 articles out of 918 (1.85%) and 99 reviews out of 2,217 (4.46%), with a downward trend from 2010 to 2020. To start, the authors engage with a critical question as to the definition of the field itself and explore what those internal to the journal have had to say about its definition. The authors then take a critical look at how women have been socially constructed as (a) historical actors, as (b) gendered roles and as (c) authors of history. To understand what has been included and neglected, the authors investigate and reveal clues as to the barriers and possible entry points.
Management & Organizational History , 2018
This article offers an account of the complexity of the ‘subject of the past’ Simone de Beauvoir... more This article offers an account of the complexity of the ‘subject of the past’ Simone de Beauvoir, a thinker that struggles to spark the interest
of organizational scholars. Our argument is that the neglect of de
Beauvoir’s by Organization Studies pertains to the manners in which
modernist and postmodernist approaches to history account for and
‘make’ the past of those who are not anymore. The paper is divided
into four parts. In the first part, we present an overview of ANTi-
History, the amodern approach to history that informs our analysis.
We then use the ANTi-Historical concepts of ‘symmetry’, ‘relationalism’,
and ‘multiplicity to surface different historical constructions of
de Beauvoir’, with the objective to trace how these accounts have
emerged, how they have assumed specific configurations, and how
these configurations have changed over time enacting different social
and political tactics. In the third part, we illustrate how these historical
performances of de Beauvoir’s have affected her reception by the
field of Organizational Studies. In the fourth part, we explain what we
believe our field can learn from a multiple and relational approach to
the construction of accounts of subjects of the past and flesh out the
potential of de Beauvoir’s contribution.
128. Lugar, Caleb W., Garrett-Scott, Shennette, Novicevic, Milorad M., Popoola, Ifeoluwa, Tobi, Humphreys, John H., and Mills, Albert J. (in press) `The Historic Emergence of Intersectional Leadership: Maggie Lena Walker and the Independent Order of St. Luke’ Leadership, (in press).
126. Aromaa, Eeva, Eriksson, Paivi, Helms Mills, Jean, Hiltunen, Esa, Lammassaari, Maarit, & Mills, Albert J. (2019) Critical sensemaking: challenges and promises, Qualitative Research in Organizations & Management, (in press). https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-05-2018-1645
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Journal Articles by Albert Mills
1950 and continuing to 2012, the authors chart the socio-political
and historical context upon which the management texts were
written and tease out the ways that women have been socially
constructed as a problem to be managed. The study explores how
the problem with women arose and how it has been maintained in
organizational settings. The study undertakes a feminist interrogation
to understand the systematic ways that roles and identities for
women have been structured to both describe women negatively,
limit and exclude them, and why such structures are durable.
Additionally, the article asserts that the subtle shift from women
as problem (collective), to a woman manager (as individual, as
exceptional) and women as either the same or different from men,
serves to blind us to the possibility of female governance.
of organizational scholars. Our argument is that the neglect of de
Beauvoir’s by Organization Studies pertains to the manners in which
modernist and postmodernist approaches to history account for and
‘make’ the past of those who are not anymore. The paper is divided
into four parts. In the first part, we present an overview of ANTi-
History, the amodern approach to history that informs our analysis.
We then use the ANTi-Historical concepts of ‘symmetry’, ‘relationalism’,
and ‘multiplicity to surface different historical constructions of
de Beauvoir’, with the objective to trace how these accounts have
emerged, how they have assumed specific configurations, and how
these configurations have changed over time enacting different social
and political tactics. In the third part, we illustrate how these historical
performances of de Beauvoir’s have affected her reception by the
field of Organizational Studies. In the fourth part, we explain what we
believe our field can learn from a multiple and relational approach to
the construction of accounts of subjects of the past and flesh out the
potential of de Beauvoir’s contribution.
1950 and continuing to 2012, the authors chart the socio-political
and historical context upon which the management texts were
written and tease out the ways that women have been socially
constructed as a problem to be managed. The study explores how
the problem with women arose and how it has been maintained in
organizational settings. The study undertakes a feminist interrogation
to understand the systematic ways that roles and identities for
women have been structured to both describe women negatively,
limit and exclude them, and why such structures are durable.
Additionally, the article asserts that the subtle shift from women
as problem (collective), to a woman manager (as individual, as
exceptional) and women as either the same or different from men,
serves to blind us to the possibility of female governance.
of organizational scholars. Our argument is that the neglect of de
Beauvoir’s by Organization Studies pertains to the manners in which
modernist and postmodernist approaches to history account for and
‘make’ the past of those who are not anymore. The paper is divided
into four parts. In the first part, we present an overview of ANTi-
History, the amodern approach to history that informs our analysis.
We then use the ANTi-Historical concepts of ‘symmetry’, ‘relationalism’,
and ‘multiplicity to surface different historical constructions of
de Beauvoir’, with the objective to trace how these accounts have
emerged, how they have assumed specific configurations, and how
these configurations have changed over time enacting different social
and political tactics. In the third part, we illustrate how these historical
performances of de Beauvoir’s have affected her reception by the
field of Organizational Studies. In the fourth part, we explain what we
believe our field can learn from a multiple and relational approach to
the construction of accounts of subjects of the past and flesh out the
potential of de Beauvoir’s contribution.
Keywords
Historic turn, historiographic perspective, performance, polyphonic constitute historicism, ANTi-History, rhetorical history
Keywords: feminist theory, archival research, junctures, history, the past, ANTi-History.