We address management and organization studies’ (MOS) mounting relevance challenge of creating knowledge that matters far more to researchers than practitioners. Organization development (OD), a subfield of MOS, can help bridge the research–practice gap. OD was once a valued contributor to MOS creating applied knowledge to change and improve organizations. Yet that contribution gradually diminished and today OD is a marginal member of the MOS community. A historical–evolutionary analysis reveals the causes for that decline and suggests how to bring OD back in to address the relevance challenge. Our proposal involves the application of OD action research, an engaged and collaborative form of inquiry that creates knowledge in the service of helping organizations improve themselves.
AckoffR. L. (1974). Redesigning the future A systems approach to societal problems. John Wiley & Sons Inc.
4.
Agarwal-TronettiR.HoetkerG. (2007). A Faustian bargain? The growth of management and its relationship with related disciplines. Academy of Management Journal, 50(6), 1304-1322. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2007.28165901
5.
AguinisH. (1993). Action research and scientific method: Presumed discrepancies and actual similarities. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 29(4), 416-431. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886393294003
6.
AguinisH.CummingsC.RamaniR.CummingsT. (2020). “An A is an A”: The new bottom line for valuing academic research. Academy of Management Perspectives, 34(1), 135-154. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2017.0193
7.
AguinisH.ShapiroD. L.AntonacopoulouE.CummingsT. G. (2014). Scholarly impact: A pluralist conceptualization. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 13(4), 623-639. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2014.0121
AlvessonM.DeetzS. (1996). Critical theory and postmodernism approaches to organization studies.” In CleggS.HardyC.NordW. (Eds.), Handbook of organization studies (pp. 191-217). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781848608030.n8
AugierM.MarchJ. (2011). The roots, rituals, and rhetorics of change: North American business schools after Second World War. Stanford Business Books.
12.
AugierM.MarchJ.SullivanB. (2005). Notes on the evolution of a research community: Organization studies in Anglophone North America. Organization Science, 16(1), 85-95. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1040.0108
13.
BanksG. C.PollackJ. M.BochantinJ. E.KirkmanB. L.WhelpleyC. E.O’BoyleE. H. (2016). Management’s science–practice gap: A grand challenge for all stakeholders. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6), 2205-2231. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2015.0728
14.
BarendsE.RousseauD. (2018). Evidence-based management: How to use evidence to make better organizational decisions. Kogan.
15.
BarendsE.RousseauD. M.BrinerR. B. (2014). Evidence-based management: The basic principles. Amsterdam.
16.
BartunekJ. M. (2007). Academic–practitioner collaboration need not require joint or relevant research: Toward a relational scholarship of integration. Academy of Management Journal, 50(6), 1323-1333. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMJ.2007.28165912
17.
BartunekJ. M. (2014). Academic-practitioner relationships: What NTL started and what management scholarship keeps developing. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 50(4), 401-422. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886314548671
18.
BartunekJ. M.RynesS. L. (2010). The construction and contributions of “Implications for Practice”: What’s in them and what might they offer?Academy of Management Learning & Education, 9(1), 100-117. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMLE.2010.48661194
19.
BartunekJ. M.RynesS. L. (2014). Academics and practitioners are alike and unlike: The paradoxes of academic–practitioner relationships. Journal of Management, 40(5), 1181-1201. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206314529160
20.
BartunekJ. M.McKenzieJ. (2017). Academic-practitioner relationships: Developments, complexities and opportunities. Routledge.
21.
BartunekJ. M.WoodmanR. (2015). Beyond Lewin: Toward a temporal approximation of organization development and change. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2, 157-182. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032414-111353
BennisW. G.O’TooleJ. (2005). How business schools lost their way. Harvard Business Review, 83(5), 96-104.
24.
BensonG.LawlerE. E. (2020). The practitioner-academic gap: A view from the middle (Center for Effective Organizations Working Paper Series, G20-01 [697]). University of Southern California.
BodrožićZ.AdlerP. S. (2018). The evolution of management models: A neo-Schumpeterian theory. Administrative Science Quarterly, 63(1), 85-129. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839217704811
27.
BradburyH. (2008). Quality and “actionability”: What action researchers offer from the tradition of pragmatism? In ShaniA.MohrmanS.PasmoreW.StymneB.AdlerN. (Eds.), Handbook of collaborative management Research (pp. 583-600). Sage.
28.
BrownL. D.LeachM.CoveyJ. (2008). Organization development for social change. In CummingsT. G. (Ed.), Handbook of organization development (pp. 593-613). Sage.
BunkerB.AlbanB. (2006). The handbook of large group methods: Creating systemic change in organizations and communities. Jossey-Bass.
31.
BunkerB.AlbanB.LewickiR. (2004). Ideas in currency and OD practice: Has the well gone dry?Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 40(4), 403-422. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886304270372
32.
BurkeW. W. (2017). Organization change: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Sage.
33.
BurkeW. W. (2018). The rise and fall of the growth of organization development: What now?Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 70(3), 186-206. https://doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000116
34.
BurkeW. W.NoumairD. A. (2015). Organization development: A process of learning and changing (3rd ed.). Pearson Education.
35.
BurnesB. (2019). The role of Alfred J. Marrow and the Harwood Manufacturing Corporation in the advancement of OD. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 55(4), 397-427. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886319865270
36.
BurnesB.CookeB. (2012). Review article: The past, present and future of organization development: Taking the long view. Human Relations, 65(11), 1395-1429. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726712450058
37.
BurnsT.StalkerG. (1961). The management of innovation. Tavistock.
38.
BusheG.MarshakR. (2009). Revisioning organization development: Diagnostic and dialogic premises and patterns of practice. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 45(3), 348-368. https://doi:10.1177/0021886309335070
39.
CalasM.SmircichL. (1999). Past postmodernism? Reflections and tentative directions. Academy of Management Review, 24(4), 649-671. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1999.2553246
CoghlanD. (2011a). Action research: Exploring perspectives on a philosophy of practical knowing. Academy of Management Annals, 5(1), 53-87. https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2011.571520
47.
CoghlanD. (2011b). Organization development and action research: Then and now. In BojeD.BurnesB.HassardJ. (Eds.), The Routledge companion to organizational change (pp. 46-58). Routledge.
48.
CoghlanD. (2019). Doing action research in your own organization (5th ed.). Sage.
49.
ColquittJ.Zapata-PhelanC. (2007). Trends in theory building and theory testing: A five-decade study of theAcademy of Management Journal. Academy of Management Journal, 50(6), 1281-1303. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2007.28165855
50.
CooperriderD. L.WhitneyD.StavrosJ. M. (2008). Appreciative inquiry handbook (2nd ed.). Crown.
51.
CorleyK.GioiaD. (2011). Building theory about theory building: What constitutes a theoretical contribution?Academy of Management Review, 36(1), 2-32. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2009.0486
52.
CraneD. (1972). Invisible colleges. University of Chicago Press.
53.
CummingsT. G. (1984). Transorganizational development. Research in Organizational Behavior, 6, 367-422.
54.
CummingsT. G. (2007). 2006 Presidential address: Quest for an engaged Academy. Academy of Management Review, 32(2), 355-360. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2007.24349184
55.
CummingsT. G. (2011). How business schools shape (misshape) management research. In MohrmanS.LawlerE. E. (Eds.), Useful research: Advancing theory and practice (pp. 331-350). Berrett-Koehler.
56.
CummingsT. G.CummingsC. (2014). Appreciating organization development: A comparative essay on divergent perspectives. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 25(2), 141-154. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21186
57.
CummingsT. G.MolloyE. S. (1977). Improving productivity and the quality of work life. Praeger.
58.
CummingsT. G.MolloyE. S.GlenR. (1977). A methodological critique of fifty-eight selected work experiments. Human Relations, 30(8), 675-708. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872677703000802
59.
CummingsT. G.WorleyC. (2019). Organization development and change (11th ed.). Cengage.
60.
CyertR.MarchJ. (1963). A behavioral theory of the firm. Prentice Hall.
61.
DavisG.MarquisC. (2005). Prospects for organization theory in the early twenty-first century: Institutional fields and mechanisms. Organization Science, 16(4), 332-343. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1050.0137
62.
DrnevichP. L.MahoneyJ. T.SchendelD. (2020). Has strategic management research lost its way?Strategic Management Review, 1(1), 35-73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/111.00000004
EmeryF.ThorsrudE. (1969). Form and content in industrial democarcy: Some experiences from Norway and other European countries. Tavistock.
65.
EmeryF.TristE. L. (1973). Towards a social ecology: Contextual appreciation of the future in the present. Springer.
66.
EmeryM.PurserR. E. (1996). The search conference: A powerful method for planning organizational change and community action. Jossey-Bass.
67.
EngelstadP. H.GustavsenB. (1993). Swedish network development for implementing national work reform strategy. Human Relations, 46(2), 219-248. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872679304600205
68.
FabianF. (2000). Keeping the tension: Pressures to keep the controversy in the management discipline. Academy of Management Review, 25(2), 350-371. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2000.3312922
FiedlerF. (1967). A theory of leadership effectiveness. McGraw-Hill.
71.
FrenchW. (1982). Introduction: The emergence and early history of organization development. Group & Organization Studies, 7(3), 261-278. https://doi.org/10.1177/105960118200700302
GeorgeG.Howard-GrenvilleJ.JoshiA.TihanyiL. (2016). Understanding and tackling societal grand challenges through management research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6), 1880-1895. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.4007
74.
GibbonsM.NowotnyH.SchwartzmanS.ScottP.TrowM. (1994). The new production of knowledge. Sage.
75.
Gomez-MejiaL. R.BalkinD. B. (1992). Determinants of faculty pay: An agency theory perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 35(5), 921-955. https://doi.org/10.5465/256535
76.
GrayB. (1989). Collaborating: Finding common ground for multiparty problems. Jossey-Bass.
77.
GrayB.PurdyJ. (2018). Collaborating for our future: Multistakeholder partnerships for solving complex problems. Oxford University Press.
78.
GreenwoodD. (2002). Action research: Unfulfilled promises and unmet challenges. Concepts and Transformation, 7(2), 117-139. https://doi.org/10.1075/cat.7.2.02gre
79.
GreenwoodD.LevinM. (2006). Introduction to action research: Social research for social change (2nd ed.). Sage.
80.
GustavsenB.FinneH.OscarssonB. (2001). Creating connectedness: The role of social research in innovation policy. John Benjamins.
KieserA.LeinerL. (2012). Collaborate with practitioners: But beware of collaborative research. Journal of Management Inquiry, 21(1), 14-28. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492611411923
89.
KieserA.NicolaiA.SeidlD. (2015). The practical relevance of management research: Turning the debate on relevance into a rigorous scientific research program. Academy of Management Annals, 9(1), 143-233. https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2015.1011853
90.
KilduffM.MehraA. (1997). Postmodernism and organizational research. Academy of Management Review, 22(2), 453-481. https://doi.org/10.2307/259330
91.
KornfeldW.HewittC. (1981). The scientific community metaphor. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 11(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSMC.1981.4308575
92.
KuhnT. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.
93.
LawlerE. E.MohrmanA. M.Jr.MohrmanS. A.LedfordG. E.Jr.CummingsT. G. (1985). Doing research that is useful for theory and practice. Lexington Books.
94.
LawrenceP.LorschJ. (1967). Organization and environment: Managing differentiation and integration. Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University.
LewinK. (1952). Group decision and social change. In NewcombeT.HartleyE. (Eds.), Readings in social psychology (pp. 197-211). Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
97.
LindhultE. (2019a). Scientific excellence in participatory and action research: Part I. Rethinking research quality. Technology Innovation and Management Review, 9(5), 6-21. http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1238
98.
LindhultE. (2019b). Scientific excellence in participatory and action research: Part II. Rethinking objectivity and reliability. Technology Innovation and Management Review, 9(5), 22-32. http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1238
MarrowA. J.BowersD. G.SeashoreS. E. (1967). Management by participation: Creating a climate for personal and organizational development (1st ed.). Harper & Row.
McLarenP. (2019). Stop blaming Gordon and Howell: Unpacking the complex history behind the research-based model of business education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 18(1), 43-58. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2017.0311
109.
MeyerJ.RowanB. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83(2), 340-363. https://doi.org/10.1086/226550
110.
MirvisP. (1988). Organization development: Part I—An evolutionary perspective. In PasmoreW.WoodmanR. (Eds.), Research in organizational change and development (Vol. 2, pp. 1-57). JAI
111.
MirvisP. (1990). Organization development: Part II—A revolutionary perspective. In PasmoreW.WoodmanR. (Eds.), Research in organizational change and development (Vol. 4, pp. 1-66). JAI
112.
MohrmanS.CummingsT. G. (1990). Self-designing organizations: Learning how to create high performance. Addison Wesley.
113.
MohrmanS.LawlerE. E. (2011). Useful research: Advancing theory and practice. Berrett-Koehler.
114.
NewtonT. (2010). Knowledge and practice: Organization studies within a historical and figurational context. Organization Studies, 31(9-10), 1369-1395. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840610374400
115.
NodoushaniO. (2000). Epistemological foundations of management theory and research methodology. Human Systems Management, 19(1), 71-80.
116.
PalmerD. (2006). Taking stock of the criteria we use to evaluate one another’s work:ASQ 50 years out. Administrative Science Quarterly, 51(4), 535-559. https://doi.org/10.2189/asqu.51.4.535
117.
ParkerM.JaryD. (1995). The McUniversity: Organization, management and academic subjectivity. Organization, 2(2), 319-338. https://doi.org/10.1177/135050849522013
118.
PerezC. (2002). Technological revolutions and financial capital: The dynamics of bubbles and golden ages. Edward Elgar.
119.
PerrowC. (2000). An organizational analysis of organizational theory. Contemporary Sociology, 29(3), 469-476. https://doi.org/10.2307/2653934
120.
PettigrewA. M. (1997). The double hurdles for management research. In ClarkeT. (Ed.), Advancement in organizational behaviour: Essays in honour of D. S. Pugh (pp. 277-296). Dartmouth Press.
121.
PfefferJ. (1993). Barriers to the advance of organizational science: Paradigm development as a dependent variable. Academy of Management Review, 18(4), 599-620. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1993.9402210152
122.
PfefferJ.SalancikG. (1978). The external control of organizations: A resource dependence perspective. Harper & Row.
123.
PfefferJ.SuttonR. (2006). Hard facts, dangerous half-truths and total nonsense: Profiting from evidence-based management. Harvard Business School Press.
RapoportR. N. (1970). Three dilemmas in action research: With special reference to the Tavistock experience. Human Relations, 23(6), 499-513. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872677002300601
130.
ReasonP.BradburyH. (2001). Handbook of action research. Sage.
131.
Responsible Research for Business and Management. (2020). A vision of Responsible Research in Business and Management. https://www.rrbm.network
132.
RogersC. R. (1951). Client-centered therapy. Houghton Mifflin.
RosenauP. (1992). Post-modernism and the social sciences: Insights, inroads, and intrusions. Princeton University Press.
135.
RynesS.BartunekJ.DaftR. (2001). Across the great divide: Knowledge creation and transfer between practitioners and academics. Academy of Management Journal, 44(2), 340-355. https://doi.org/10.5465/3069460
136.
ScheinE. (1969). Process consultation: Its role in organization development. Addison-Wesley.
137.
SchlossmanS.SedlakM.WechlerH. (1987). The “new look:” The Ford Foundation and the revolution in business education.”Selections, 14(1), 8-28.
138.
SchwarzG.CummingsC.CummingsT. (2017). Devolution of researcher care in organization studies and the moderation of organizational knowledge. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 16(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2014.0167
139.
SchwarzG.StensakerI. (2020). Research a pandemic: Letting COVID-19 drive our research. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 56(3), 261-265. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886320937820
140.
ShadishW.CookT.CampbellD. (2001). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference (2nd ed.). Cengage.
141.
ShaniA. B.CoghlanD. (2018). Enhancing action, research and collaboration in organization development. Organization Development Journal, 36(3), 37-43.
142.
ShaniA. B.CoghlanD. (2019). Action research in business and management: A reflective review. Action Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750319852147
ShapiroD. L.KirkmanB. L.CourtneyH. G. (2007). Perceived causes and solutions of the translation problem in management research. Academy of Management Journal, 50(2), 249-266. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2007.24634433
145.
SharmaG.BansalP. (2020). Cocreating rigorous and relevant knowledge. Academy of Management Journal, 63(2), 386-410. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.0487
146.
SimonH. A. (1996). The sciences of the artificial (3rd ed.). MIT Press.
147.
SimsekZ.BansalP.ShawJ. D.HeugensP.SmithW. K. (2018). From the editors—Seeing practice impact in new ways. Academy of Management Journal, 61(6), 2021-2025. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2018.4006
148.
StarkeyK.TiratsooN. (2007). The business school and the bottom line. Cambridge University Press.
149.
StoutenJ.RousseauD.CremerD. (2016). Successful organizational change: Integrating the management practice and scholarly literatures. Academy of Management Annals, 12(2), 752-788. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2016.0095
150.
StogdillR.CoonsA. (1957). Leader behavior: Its description and measurement. Bureau of Business Research, Ohio State University.
151.
ten HaveS.ten HaveW. D.HuijsmansA. B.OttoM. (2016). Reconsidering change management: Applying evidence-based insights in change management practice. Routledge.
152.
ThompsonJ. (1967). Organizations in action. McGraw-Hill.
153.
TristE. (1983). Reference organizations and the development of inter-organizational domains. Human Relations, 36(3), 269-284. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872678303600304
154.
TristE.HigginG. W.MurrayH.PollockA. B. (1963). Organizational choice. Tavistock.
155.
TristE.MurrayH. (1993). The social engagement of social science, a Tavistock anthology (Vol. 2): The socio-technical perspective. University of Pennsylvania Press.
156.
TristE.MurrayH.TristB. (1997). The social engagement of social science, a Tavistock anthology (Vol. 3): The socio-ecological perspective. University of Pennsylvania Press.
157.
TsuiA. S. (2013). The spirit of science and socially responsible scholarship. Management and Organization Review, 9(3), 375-394. https://doi.org/10.1111/more.12035
158.
van AkenJ. E. (2007). Design science and organization development interventions: Aligning business and humanistic values. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 43(1), 67-88. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886306297761
159.
Van de VenA. H. (2007). Engaged scholarship: A guide for organizational and social research. Oxford University Press.
WhitleyR. (2003). From the search for universal correlations to the institutional structuring of economic organization and change: The development and future of organization studies. Organization, 10(3), 481-501. https://doi.org/10.1177/13505084030103008
167.
WhyteW. F. (Ed.). (1991). Participatory action research. Sage.
168.
WhyteW. F.GreenwoodD. J.LazesP. (1989). Participatory action research: Through practice to science in social research. American Behavioral Scientist, 32(5), 513-551. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764289032005003
169.
WilliamsonO. (1975). Markets and hierarchies: Analysis and antitrust implications. Free Press.
170.
WorrenN.RuddleK.MooreK. (1999). From organizational development to change management: The emergence of a new profession. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 35(3), 273-286. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886399353002
171.
ZsolnaiL.ThompsonM. (2020). Responsible research for better business: Creating useful and credible knowledge for business and society. Palgrave Macmillan.
