Title: Locating complex responsive process research in the approaches of theorising about organisations

Authors: Thijs H. Homan

Addresses: Faculty of Management, Science and Technology, Open University The Netherlands, P.O. Box 2960, 6401 DL Heerlen, The Netherlands

Abstract: Both in the UK (University of Hertfordshire) and the Netherlands (Open University) research is undertaken based on the complex responsive process perspective. In this perspective organisations are understood as population-wide patterns that emerge in daily interaction between people. This way of understanding life and work in organisations has clear implications for the way research in organisations is carried out. The kind of research which is implied by the complex responsive process perspective is focused on experiences in daily practice, which are represented in reflective narratives and reflected upon in so called learning sets. In this paper this research approach is discussed and related to existing approaches of theorising about organisations. What are the basic elements of the research which the complex responsive process perspective implies? And how can this research approach be related to broader traditions of theorising about organisations?

Keywords: complex responsive process; Stacey; methodology; narrative research; withness research; theorising; quality criteria; qualitative research; non-dualistic; reflection; reflexion; communities of interpretation; reflective narratives; learning sets; organisational theory.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2016.079366

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2016 Vol.17 No.4, pp.491 - 513

Received: 25 Feb 2015
Accepted: 10 Feb 2016
Published online: 27 Sep 2016 *

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