Articles by Stephanie Decker
This article reviews recent attempts at mapping research paradigms in Management and Organization... more This article reviews recent attempts at mapping research paradigms in Management and Organizational History and argues that the old distinctions between supplementarist, integrationist, and reorientationist approaches have been superseded by attempts at integrating historical research in organization studies. A typology of these integrationist approaches differentiates between pluralist and unitary integration, as well as between models based on either historical theory or organization theory. Each has distinct weaknesses and strengths, but essentially all limit their integration of historical research paradigms to only a few. As a result, there is a danger that history might become reduced to a methodology, an empirical endeavor, narrative representations, or indeed be considered the subject of research rather than a research approach in its own right. I argue that all of these present an impoverished picture of the rich research traditions available in the discipline of history, which has unique insights and approaches to offer to the study of organizations.
To cite this article: Andrea Colli, Stephanie Decker, Abe de Jong, Paloma Fernández Pérez, Neil
R... more To cite this article: Andrea Colli, Stephanie Decker, Abe de Jong, Paloma Fernández Pérez, Neil
Rollings & Ray Stokes (2016) Editorial: special issues in Business History, Business History, 58:1,
1-5, DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2015.1060961
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2015.1060961
This paper is freely available from the publisher's website until June 2015: http://www.tandfonl... more This paper is freely available from the publisher's website until June 2015: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/fbsh20/57/1
We agree with de Jong et al.'s argument that business historians should make their methods more explicit and welcome a more general debate about the most appropriate methods for business historical research. But rather than advocating one ‘new business history’, we argue that contemporary debates about methodology in business history need greater appreciation for the diversity of approaches that have developed in the last decade. And while the hypothesis-testing framework prevalent in the mainstream social sciences favoured by de Jong et al. should have its place among these methodologies, we identify a number of additional streams of research that can legitimately claim to have contributed novel methodological insights by broadening the range of interpretative and qualitative approaches to business history. Thus, we reject privileging a single method, whatever it may be, and argue instead in favour of recognising the plurality of methods being developed and used by business historians – both within their own field and as a basis for interactions with others.
How history matters for organizations is subject to debate, in which overly simplistic descriptio... more How history matters for organizations is subject to debate, in which overly simplistic descriptions of organization theory and history are juxtaposed, that do not do justice to the internal diversity of these disciplines. When the focus is shifted to specific research agendas, such as microhistory and institutional work, similarities emerge in terms of challenging macro-social modes of inquiry that aim to bring the individual back into theorizing by researching complex and equivocal responses to institutional forces. What microhistory can contribute to the research agenda of institutional work is a further challenge to the definition of institutions and institutional paradoxes, as well as a more emancipatory rather than an inertial view of the past and the multiple ways in which history may be employed to question the status quo or envisage a different future. Importantly, it also offers alternative research methods that permit research into longer time spans through retrospective methods such as archival research or oral history.
Business History 56,2 (2014): 336-9, Feb 5, 2014
Organization 21,4 (2014): 515 - 543, Jul 1, 2014
Research on organizational spaces has not considered the importance of collective memory for the ... more Research on organizational spaces has not considered the importance of collective memory for the process of investing meaning in corporate architecture. Employing an archival ethnography approach, practices of organizational remembering emerge as a way to shape the meanings associated with architectural designs. While the role of monuments and museums are well-established in studies of collective memory, this research extends the concept of spatiality to practices of organizational remembering that focus on a wider selection of corporate architecture. By analyzing the historical shift from colonial to modernist architecture for banks and retailers in Ghana and Nigeria in the 1950s and 1960s on the basis of documents and photographs from three different companies, this article shows how archival sources can be used to untangle the ways in which companies seek to ascribe meaning to their architectural output. Buildings allude to the past and the future in a range of complex ways that can be interpreted more fully by reference to the archival sources and the historical context of their creation. Social remembering has the potential to explain why and how buildings have meaning, while archival ethnography offers a new research approach to investigate changing organizational practices.
Academy of Management Review 39,3 (2014)
"If history matters for organization theory then we need greater reflexivity regarding the episte... more "If history matters for organization theory then we need greater reflexivity regarding the epistemological problem of representing the past; otherwise, history might be seen as merely a repository of ready-made data. To facilitate this reflexivity, we set out three epistemological dualisms derived from historical theory to explain the relationship between history and organization theory: (1) in the dualism of explanation, historians are preoccupied with narrative construction whereas organization theorists subordinate narrative to analysis; (2) in the dualism of evidence historians use verifiable documentary sources whereas organization theorists prefer constructed data; and (3) in the dualism of temporality, historians construct their own periodization whereas organization theorists treat time as constant for chronology. These three dualisms underpin our explication of four alternative strategies for organizational history: corporate history, consisting of a holistic, objectivist narrative of a corporate entity; analytically structured history, narrating theoretically conceptualized structures and events; serial history, using replicable techniques to analyze repeatable facts; and ethnographic history, reading documentary sources “against the grain.” Ultimately, we argue that our epistemological dualisms will enable organization theorists to justify their theoretical stance in relation to a range of strategies in organizational history, including narratives constructed from documentary sources found in organizational archives."
Notes: The MPRA paper version is an old draft.
- Alternative access to the paper at: http://eprints.aston.ac.uk/16148/
"Abstract: The article e... more - Alternative access to the paper at: http://eprints.aston.ac.uk/16148/
"Abstract: The article expands existing categorisation of political and economic governance by including literature on less developed countries (LDCs). In order to understand corporate political activities in LDCs, analysis needs to go beyond static factors (political risk) and include dynamic factors such as diplomatic relations and ‘arenas of power’, and consider the role of the investor’s home country relative to the host economy. In four consecutive case studies of negotiations between the US multinational Kaisers and the US and Ghana government in the early 1960s, it is shown that the company reached levels of influence that are at odds with existing explanations.
Keywords: Corporate Political Activities, Volta River Project, Kwame Nkrumah, Kaiser Aluminum & Chemicals Company, Ghana""""
* Pre-published version available here: http://eprints.aston.ac.uk/16143/ -
"Abstract: This art... more * Pre-published version available here: http://eprints.aston.ac.uk/16143/ -
"Abstract: This article traces the historical genesis of corruption in two West African countries: Ghana and Nigeria. It argues that corruption in Africa is an institution that emerged in direct response to colonial systems of rule which superimposed an imported institutional system with different norms and values on an existing institutional landscape, despite the fact that both deeply conflicted and contradicted each other. During decolonization and after independence, corruption, although dysfunctional, fully evolved into an institution that allowed an uneasy cohabitation of colonial and domestic African institutions to grow into a composite, syncretic system facilitated by generalized corruption.""
Journal of Management Studies, Jan 1, 2010
Alternative access here: http://eprints.aston.ac.uk/16438/ -
Black Economic Empowerment is a hig... more Alternative access here: http://eprints.aston.ac.uk/16438/ -
Black Economic Empowerment is a highly debated issue in contemporary South Africa. Yet few South Africans realize that they are following a postcolonial trajectory already experienced by other countries. This paper presents a case study of British firms during decolonization in Ghana and Nigeria in the 1950s and 1960s, which saw a parallel development in business and society to that which occurred in South Africa in the 1990s and 2000s. Despite fundamental differences between these states, all have had to empower a majority of black citizens who had previously suffered discrimination on the basis of race. The paper employs concepts from social capital theory to show that the process of postcolonial transition in African economies has been more politically and socially disruptive than empowerment in Western countries. Historical research contributes to our understanding of the nature of institutional shocks in emerging economies.
Business History Review, Jan 1, 2007
Development, modernity, and industrialization became dominant themes in corporate advertising in ... more Development, modernity, and industrialization became dominant themes in corporate advertising in Africa in the 1950s and remained prevalent through the following two decades while many African nations were gaining independence. British business operating there created a publicity strategy that couched their presence in less developed countries in terms of a commitment and a positive contribution to the progress of the new states. Eventually, British companies tried to "Africanize" their corporate image through these campaigns.
As a trading port, Liverpool had many long-standing connections across the globe, especially with... more As a trading port, Liverpool had many long-standing connections across the globe, especially with the colonies of the British empire. A quick browse through the Red Book of West Africa, a business directory of the 1920s, reveals a large number of Liverpool merchants who established offices in one or more of the four West African colonies (Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia).
The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Jan 1, 2005
News etc. by Stephanie Decker
Prepared for the "Beyond Chandler – Intellectual Impulses for Business and Management History Tom... more Prepared for the "Beyond Chandler – Intellectual Impulses for Business and Management History Tomorrow" workshop at Queen Mary University, London, June 26th 2009
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Articles by Stephanie Decker
Rollings & Ray Stokes (2016) Editorial: special issues in Business History, Business History, 58:1,
1-5, DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2015.1060961
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2015.1060961
We agree with de Jong et al.'s argument that business historians should make their methods more explicit and welcome a more general debate about the most appropriate methods for business historical research. But rather than advocating one ‘new business history’, we argue that contemporary debates about methodology in business history need greater appreciation for the diversity of approaches that have developed in the last decade. And while the hypothesis-testing framework prevalent in the mainstream social sciences favoured by de Jong et al. should have its place among these methodologies, we identify a number of additional streams of research that can legitimately claim to have contributed novel methodological insights by broadening the range of interpretative and qualitative approaches to business history. Thus, we reject privileging a single method, whatever it may be, and argue instead in favour of recognising the plurality of methods being developed and used by business historians – both within their own field and as a basis for interactions with others.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00076791.2014.887809#.VWgoW0_BzRY
"Abstract: The article expands existing categorisation of political and economic governance by including literature on less developed countries (LDCs). In order to understand corporate political activities in LDCs, analysis needs to go beyond static factors (political risk) and include dynamic factors such as diplomatic relations and ‘arenas of power’, and consider the role of the investor’s home country relative to the host economy. In four consecutive case studies of negotiations between the US multinational Kaisers and the US and Ghana government in the early 1960s, it is shown that the company reached levels of influence that are at odds with existing explanations.
Keywords: Corporate Political Activities, Volta River Project, Kwame Nkrumah, Kaiser Aluminum & Chemicals Company, Ghana""""
"Abstract: This article traces the historical genesis of corruption in two West African countries: Ghana and Nigeria. It argues that corruption in Africa is an institution that emerged in direct response to colonial systems of rule which superimposed an imported institutional system with different norms and values on an existing institutional landscape, despite the fact that both deeply conflicted and contradicted each other. During decolonization and after independence, corruption, although dysfunctional, fully evolved into an institution that allowed an uneasy cohabitation of colonial and domestic African institutions to grow into a composite, syncretic system facilitated by generalized corruption.""
Black Economic Empowerment is a highly debated issue in contemporary South Africa. Yet few South Africans realize that they are following a postcolonial trajectory already experienced by other countries. This paper presents a case study of British firms during decolonization in Ghana and Nigeria in the 1950s and 1960s, which saw a parallel development in business and society to that which occurred in South Africa in the 1990s and 2000s. Despite fundamental differences between these states, all have had to empower a majority of black citizens who had previously suffered discrimination on the basis of race. The paper employs concepts from social capital theory to show that the process of postcolonial transition in African economies has been more politically and socially disruptive than empowerment in Western countries. Historical research contributes to our understanding of the nature of institutional shocks in emerging economies.
News etc. by Stephanie Decker
Rollings & Ray Stokes (2016) Editorial: special issues in Business History, Business History, 58:1,
1-5, DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2015.1060961
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2015.1060961
We agree with de Jong et al.'s argument that business historians should make their methods more explicit and welcome a more general debate about the most appropriate methods for business historical research. But rather than advocating one ‘new business history’, we argue that contemporary debates about methodology in business history need greater appreciation for the diversity of approaches that have developed in the last decade. And while the hypothesis-testing framework prevalent in the mainstream social sciences favoured by de Jong et al. should have its place among these methodologies, we identify a number of additional streams of research that can legitimately claim to have contributed novel methodological insights by broadening the range of interpretative and qualitative approaches to business history. Thus, we reject privileging a single method, whatever it may be, and argue instead in favour of recognising the plurality of methods being developed and used by business historians – both within their own field and as a basis for interactions with others.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00076791.2014.887809#.VWgoW0_BzRY
"Abstract: The article expands existing categorisation of political and economic governance by including literature on less developed countries (LDCs). In order to understand corporate political activities in LDCs, analysis needs to go beyond static factors (political risk) and include dynamic factors such as diplomatic relations and ‘arenas of power’, and consider the role of the investor’s home country relative to the host economy. In four consecutive case studies of negotiations between the US multinational Kaisers and the US and Ghana government in the early 1960s, it is shown that the company reached levels of influence that are at odds with existing explanations.
Keywords: Corporate Political Activities, Volta River Project, Kwame Nkrumah, Kaiser Aluminum & Chemicals Company, Ghana""""
"Abstract: This article traces the historical genesis of corruption in two West African countries: Ghana and Nigeria. It argues that corruption in Africa is an institution that emerged in direct response to colonial systems of rule which superimposed an imported institutional system with different norms and values on an existing institutional landscape, despite the fact that both deeply conflicted and contradicted each other. During decolonization and after independence, corruption, although dysfunctional, fully evolved into an institution that allowed an uneasy cohabitation of colonial and domestic African institutions to grow into a composite, syncretic system facilitated by generalized corruption.""
Black Economic Empowerment is a highly debated issue in contemporary South Africa. Yet few South Africans realize that they are following a postcolonial trajectory already experienced by other countries. This paper presents a case study of British firms during decolonization in Ghana and Nigeria in the 1950s and 1960s, which saw a parallel development in business and society to that which occurred in South Africa in the 1990s and 2000s. Despite fundamental differences between these states, all have had to empower a majority of black citizens who had previously suffered discrimination on the basis of race. The paper employs concepts from social capital theory to show that the process of postcolonial transition in African economies has been more politically and socially disruptive than empowerment in Western countries. Historical research contributes to our understanding of the nature of institutional shocks in emerging economies.
The majority of studies on companies in less developed countries have focused on two subjects: the role of business during decolonisation and the debate on whether multinational companies exploit or aid the development of their host countries. This thesis, however, departs from these research agendas in order to focus on the local interaction between British business and West African societies. The debates surrounding decolonisation and development were important factors framing this encounter. British companies created a self-justification and a sense of mission that legitimised their presence in Ghana and Nigeria. The internal historical records indicate that companies maintained a long-term commitment to create and maintain local goodwill.
The first part of the thesis analyses the relationship between companies and host governments, which went from initial conflict through a long phase of cooperation. The consensus on economic development, which developed in the 1940s, to which colonial officials, African politicians and British corporate principals all subscribed, was seriously challenged only in a global wave of expropriations in the 1970s. During decolonisation, British firms gained social capital through corporate policies that linked to official development programmes, good publicity and extensive political networking. Each of these elements remained important features of the companies’ strategies after independence, until the late 1960s and 1970s when the development consensus was challenged by radical theories. However, legislation that enforced national participation and ownership of foreign businesses in West Africa did not exclusively target Western multinationals, but was more detrimental to the interests of Lebanese and other African residents.
The second part of the thesis focuses on British companies’ relationship with their African labour force. The employment of Africans in senior positions was effective in creating local goodwill, but also caused problems for corporate control. Compared with the civil service, business was slow in giving responsibility to Africans, but differences between sectors depended not only on how much technical knowledge was required but also on how early and intensely companies had been criticised publicly. Extensive training programmes and long-term socialisation were the techniques used to ensure trust and loyalty between European principals and their African agents, but over time the bargaining position of the latter was strengthened as a result of the rising economic nationalism of the 1970s."
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