Pushing Research Frontiers In Organization Science: Celebrating the Contributions of Arie Y. Lewin

We are very pleased to announce the Sixteenth Anniversary Organization Science Winter Conference (OSWC-XVI). OSWC-XVI. The raison d’être of the conference has been to stimulate theory and understanding about organizations through experimentation and boundary-crossing conversation and to contribute to the ongoing renewal of the field and of the journal Organization Science. OSWC conferences combine the leading-edge ideas of strategy and organization scholars, executives, entrepreneurs, and interested non-business scholars, in a community-enhancing setting. The time and place are February 4-7, 2010 at the newly renovated Sheraton Steamboat Hotel and Conference Center, Steamboat Springs Colorado.

The overarching goal of OSWC XVI is to celebrate Arie Y. Lewin, founder of the journal Organization Science and the OSWC and his contributions to the renewal of the field of organizations which trace back to his departmental editorship in Management Science (Organization Performance, Strategy and Design). He was the founding program director of the Decision Risk and Management Science program at NSF; and most recently his contribution to international business through his transformation of the Journal of International Business Studies.

Arie’s research has contributed or often gave voice to new lines of research ranging from his early work on the behavioral aspects of accounting (organizational slack, Williamson model of managerial behavior); frontier analysis (learning from outliers and the development of Data Envelopment Analysis methodology); complexity and co-evolution (innovation, imitation and absorptive capacity) and most recently the international longitudinal study of outsourcing and offshoring with its implications for new organizational forms and globalization of innovation.

To a great extent Arie’s research interests revolve around opening up the black box of organizational capabilities (routines and processes) as they relate to organizational adaptation over time (or inability to adapt) within co-evolutionary dynamics and which accounts for the variation in the ability of organizations to appropriate value from different configurations of organizational capabilities.

The widely reported heterogeneity in performance within industries or sectors has many implications for framing and executing research strategies in organization science with implications for organization design. For example advancing approaches for identifying outliers and comparative case analysis; meta routines as the micro foundation for specifying organizational capabilities such as flexibility, resilience, innovation, absorptive capacity etc. Similarly the empirical literature on performance is still very preliminary especially when organizational capabilities such as organizational learning, absorptive capacity, flexibility, and resilience are to be linked to measures of adaptation, growth and survival in turbulent environments or in times of paradigm shifts.

The goal for OSWC 2010 is to recognize that some configurations of organizational capabilities are superior to others on some dimensions (e.g. adaptability) but that equifinality in performance can be a common occurrence; that organizations co-evolve with their socio, political, institutional and economic environments; that organizations reflect different management internationalities and configurations of capabilities; that founding conditions and path dependence matter; that the managing of organizational capabilities for innovation, change, adaptation etc. is of critical importance to practitioners , and that in times of radical change most incumbents are selected out. But some incumbents are able to adapt successfully and “reinvent themselves”. These are all themes that have defined the research interests of Arie.

In the tradition of OSWC, we invite proposals for plenary panels and interactive poster papers on the theme of the conference. As has been the case in the past much of the plenary program is implemented from suggestions received from scholars wishing to participate in OSWC. The 2009 OSWC program included three (out of 5) plenary panels that were created from especially salient submitted papers. Most authors will be invited to join another highly acclaimed OSWC tradition—the open-ended evening-long (7–10pm) Interactive Poster Sessions accompanied with delectable finger food, wine, soft drinks and deserts. Historically, 50% of the OSWC attendee roster is reserved for participants new to the conference. In recent years 60% or more of the participants were first time participants in OSWC.

We welcome nominations of a distinguished researcher or practitioner especially known for applying or advancing the ideas Arie’s broad research interest. This person will be the featured guest at another OSWC tradition, the Fireside Chat on Saturday evening.

Individuals having substantive questions are invited to contact the program co-conveners for OSWC-XVI: Professor Linda Argote (argote@cmu.edu) and Professor Richard Burton (rmb2@mail.duke.edu). The program committee members are William Ocasio (wocasio@kellogg.northwestern.edu), Silvia Massini (silvia.massini@manchester.ac.uk), and Koen Heimeriks (KHeimeriks@rsm.nl).

If you are interested in attending OSWC-XVI but not as participant on the program please submit a statement expressing your interest in participating, mentioning one or two of your interests in major controversies. Please also suggest significant practitioners who you may be able to bring as well. The application deadline for panel proposals, individual papers or posters or individual applications to attend is October 16, 2009. However, as in the past the co-conveners, will issue invitations on a rolling basis as proposals come in.

Invitations to attend will be extended by the co-conveners of OSWC-XVI, Linda Argote, and Richard Burton. Panel proposals, posters and statement of interest in participation should be submitted by email to Richard Burton c/o Stefanie McAdoo (smcadoo@duke.edu).