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Publishing Journal Articles in Business, Management and Organization Studies - 4 ECTS


Date and time

Monday 7 March 2022 at 09:00 to Thursday 10 March 2022 at 16:00

Registration Deadline

Monday 7 March 2022 at 09:00

Location

Room TBA, Campus TBA, 2000 Frederiksberg Room TBA
Campus TBA
2000 Frederiksberg

Publishing Journal Articles in Business, Management and Organization Studies - 4 ECTS


Event Description


Faculty

Professor Robin Holt, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy (CSB)

Professor Eva Boxenbaum, Department of Organization (CBS)



Course Coordinator
Professor Robin Holt

Prerequisites

Registered on PhD-programme. In order to receive the course diploma, participants have to be present during the whole course period. 

Prior to coming, think of a paper generally accessible to others that will form the basis of group discussion on Day 1. You will be asked to talk about the choice. It does not have to be something you like, but certainly something that provokes you into thinking about the nature of academic writing and publishing. Be prepared to talk it through in some detail 

In addition, prior to the course starting, all students will be expected to submit a written piece of work. The course is designed for PhD students embarking on writing journal articles. There is an expectation that those attending will prepare and share a piece of work, perhaps a paper in draft form, or part of a paper. It does not have to be complete but substantial enough to form the subject of constructive discussion in group work. This is an important aspect of the course, so demands careful attention. 

Please upload this paper on Canvas latest one week prior to course start. 


Aim

The aim of this course is to take participants through the process of journal publication. There are two aspects to this. First, considering the nature of academic knowledge production (using (and being used by) concepts, categories, methods etc..), and secondly the craft of writing and participating in the peer review process. As such this is not just a practical ‘how to’ course, but also requires participants to consider actively and reflexively the uses to which academic knowledge is being put, and the relational conditions of ‘its’ generation.  

The intent is not just to take participants through the demands of producing written work suitable for academic publishing, but to do so having experienced critical engagement with the nature of theory, concepts, methods and claims.  

Presentations from the academic leads will be used, but the emphasis will be a discursive one, involving participants in conversations, presentations and group work. Participants should come prepared to discuss not only others but their own work, and to comment in constructive and substantive debate.  

Whilst quantitative work is in no way precluded and much of the course remains relevant for either qualitative and quantitative work, the discussion on the nature of knowledge production will take in ideas from philosophy, cultural theory, the humanities and technology studies. Relatedly, the academic staff teaching on the course have largely been involved in qualitative work. The emphasis will not be on the technicalities of methodological approaches or methods, but on the kind of knowledge they create - for example how hypotheses work within a wider practice of verification which, in the social sciences, can be traced back to the logical positivists, or possible sympathies between the use of narrative methods in ethnography and fiction.  

The faculty running the course have extensive editorial experience. 

Professor Robin Holt was the editor in chief of Organization Studies (2013-2017) and an editorial board member for Academy of Management Review and Academy of Management Learning and Education (2017-2020).

Professor Eva Boxenbaum is an Associate Editor of Organization Theory and an editorial board member of Organization Studies; Research in the Sociology of Organizations.


Course content

As the course blends academic writing with scholarly discussion on the nature of knowledge production, dissemination and use, the content will include consideration of the following: 

  • The craft of writing  
  • The conditions of knowledge production in business, management and organization studies 
  • The nature of a motivation, research question, and theoretical contribution.  
  • What is it to claim or propose (proposition) something as knowledge? 
  • Crafting publishable articles – motivation, research questions, theory building, structuring.  
  • The art of reviewing and handling reviewers and editors.  
  • Understanding journals, subjects, approaches and fields. 

Teaching style
The form of the seminar is a combination of talks, presentations. The academic lead is Professor Robin Holt, the past editor of the journal Organization Studies 2013-2017 and current member of the editorial board of the Academy of Management Review (2017-2020) He will be present throughout. 

In addition Professor Eva Boxenbaum, associate editor of Organization Theory, will be present during the second day to discuss differences across journals, different forms of approach, and expectations concerning the nature of knowledge and knowledge claim, as well as taking participants through a process of review.  

Lecture plan
Day One - by Robin Holt (all day)

10.00 – 10.20  - Introductions and course expectations
 
10.20 –11.00 - The nature of knowledge production – skepticism, explanation and critique, specifically in the field of management and organization studies (see Butler) 

Constructing knowledge and the limits of knowledge (see parts of Chia and Holt, Latour, Knorr Cetina)  

11.00 - 11.30 - Tea/Coffee 

11.30 – 12.30 - What is the role of an academic journal in the politics of legitimating knowledge claims?  

The session will be based around the basic question - what is a ‘good’ academic paper 

Discussing the structure, content and style of papers 

Motivations for studies/papers – gap finding, problem centred research, provocation, assaying etc. (Latour) 

What is theory (Abend and Sutton and Staw and Ployhart and Bartunek)

Methodological approaches – how far can you stretch the criteria of meaning? (Krugman) 

The limits of text – do other media have a role? (Gilmore et al) 

The conditions of academic writing – the influence of performance systems, resources, technologies on style and content (Warner, Woolf, Davis).

12.30 - 13.30 - Lunch 

13.30 – 15.30 -  This session will continue with presentations then open discussion, in relation to the participant’s examples of ‘good’ academic papers and the summaries uploaded onto the Canvas website 

Open discussion will take place in groups, in part based on having already been asked to think about a paper of their choice prior to the course and having engaged in course reading. Consideration will be given to how the participants understand the relationship between their choice of paper, the ideas behind motivation, theory and method, and the field or discipline of business and organization studies more broadly.  Ending with group presentations based on a summary of the papers selected by group members.

15.00 – 15.30 - Tea Coffee 

15.30 – 17.30 - What is a good paper? Talk and discussion on the basis of editorial experience. Participants will be encouraged to think critically about their own production of knowledge claims, on the possible uses to which these might be put the expectation they have for their work and its resonance.   

Day Two -  by Robin Holt and Eva Boxenbaum 

9.00 – 11.00 - Approaching journals 

This session looks at the journal landscape, and how to find ways through it, without presuming an overview. This will include critical discussions of the criteria by which journals are assessed and institutional pressures by which they are framed (impact factors, downloads, sales, professionalism) and other organizational forms making up the field (publishers, learned societies, libraries, search engines) 

Means of getting to know journals: 

Special issues 
Reviewing 
The editorials 
Conferences and workshops 

11.00 – 11.15 -  Coffee/Tea 

11.15 - 12.30 - Types of paper – essays, theory papers, empirics 

What to look out for an avoid. How to write cover letters. How to get attention of editor.   

12.30 - 13.30 - Lunch

13.30 – 15.00 - What is peer review and why do we organize scholarly life according to its standards?

This will be an explication, but also take in critique, and discuss emerging issues, including technological one’s which may change the way peer review works.  

Taking the participants through a real example of papers and how they were handled in review.  

The intent here is to reveal the process of peer review from within, and to look upon review as somehow grounding what it is to go through the journal publishing process (see Davis). The day will end with participants presenting their own thoughts on the papers, and the effect the process of peer review has on what is written and read. 

15.00 – 15.15 - Tea/Coffee 

15.00-17.00 - Peer review discussion in groups continued.  

The iterations of each paper, the editors’ and reviewers’ comments and the replies from authors will be available.


Day Three - by Robin Holt (all day)

9.00 – 10.30 - Handling the writing and peer review process continued 

Review of previous day. Reconsidering the question: What is the nature of a good paper? (See Abend, Barley, Sutton and Staw) What is the nature of review as a conversation? (see Foucault on polemics and refer back to Butler on critique).

10.30-10.45 - Tea/Coffee 

10.45-12.30 - Small group work going through participants’ own papers.  

This will involve group work where participants read and comment constructively and critically on each other’s papers writing. The emphasis will be on engagement with the ideas, theories, problems, questions, structure, methods and so on.  

12.30 – 13.30 - Lunch 

13.30 – 16.00 - Participants will review one another’s work in groups and then present in plenary. The intent being to understand the nature of the questions, methods and theories at stake, how they are formed, and whether they might be formed differently.  

The expectation is that participants will review both with a mind for publication and the broader questions of knowledge production. 

16.00 -17.00 - Reviewing guides will be provided to help prompt participants in this regard. 

Open discussion and learning points. 

Day Four - by Robin Holt (all day)

9.00 – 10.30 - Handling the writing and peer review process continued 

Re-writing in response to previous days comments. Concentrating on abstract and introduction. 

Presenting on what paper says, how was the study undertaken and why should the reader care.

10.30-10.45 - Tea/Coffee 

10.45-12.30 - Small group work continued – working on methods, findings.  

12.30 – 13.30 - Lunch 

13.30 – 16.00 - Small group work continued – working on discussion and conclusion. 

The expectation is that participants will end the day by re-presenting the outline of the paper.  

16.00 -17.00 - Open discussion and learning points.

Learning objectives

By the end of the course participants will have a rich and full sense of how to craft a paper for submission to an academic journal and why crafting such a paper might matter to others, both within and outside the academic community.  

We will inquire into the different approaches researchers have used and their styles of writing and imagery.  

Emphasis is placed on participants’ scholarly development as well as on their capacity to craft a paper for submission to an academic, peer-reviewed journal. 


Exam
Not applicable.

Other
 

Start date
07/03/2022

End date
10/03/2022

Level
PhD

ECTS
4

Language
English

Course Literature

Course participants are expected to have read selections from these sources before the course. They will also be expected to have read the papers selected by the other participants, as well as one anothers’ work from within their allotted group. 

Judith Butler (2009) ‘Critique, Dissent, Disciplinarity’. Critical Inquiry 35. 773-797. 

Stephen Barley (2006) ‘When I write my masterpiece: Thoughts on what makes a journal Interesting’, The Academy of Management Journal, 49(1): 16-20 

Robert Chia and Robin Holt (2008) ‘On managerial knowledge’, Management Learning, 39(2): 141-158. 

Gerald Davis (2014) Why do we still have journals? Administrative Science Quarterly, 59(2): 193-201 

Michel Foucault (1998/1984) Polemics, Politics and Problematizations. Interview by P. Rabinow, May 1984, In Essential Works of Foucault Vol. 1. The New Press. 

Michel Foucault (1977/1986) The Concern for Truth in Politics, Philosophy, Culture and Other Writings 1977-1984. New York: Kritzman. 255-268.  

Sarah Gilmore, Nancy Harding, Jenny Helin and Alison Pullen ‘Call for Papers Special Issue of Management Learning Writing Differently’ Management Learning. January 2017.  

Karin Knorr-Cetina (1981) The manufacture of knowledge: An essay on the constructivist and contextual nature of science. New York: Columbia University Press. 

Paul Krugman ‘How I work’ The American Economist, 37(2): 25-31 

Bruno Latour (1988) ’The Politics of Explanation’ in S. Woolgar (ed) Knowledge and Reflexivity. Sage. 155-176. 

Robert Sutton and Barry Staw (1995) ‘What Theory is Not’, ASQ, 40, 3: 371-384.  

Marina Warner (2014) Learning my lesson. London Review of Books 37(6): 8-14. 

https://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n06/marina-warner/learning-my-lesson 

Virginia Woolf A Room of One’s Own. (Start of Chapter Two) http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200791.txt 

Event Location

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