Nobody Needs Sociology of Organizations. On the Dwindling Impact of Sociological Reflection on Organizational Theory and Practice.

Sociological reflection has always been at the very core of organizational science – it is a fact well recognized by theorist and practitioners alike, that sociologists have made some of the greatest contributions to the field. In the recent decades, however, both the quality and quantity of relevant sociological reflection on organizations has decreased.

Based on both my academic and consulting experience as an organizational sociologist and psychologist I will argue that this is due to the fact that Sociology of Organization is losing its ground to the field of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, that offers both theoretical and practical contributions to the field of organizational behavior from within a dominating and a well-structured research paradigm. This paradigm, unfortunately, doesn’t have its counterpart in a multi-paradigmatic and diverse field of sociological reflection.

I will present an argument that in order to stay relevant, Sociology of Organizations has to (1) reevaluate its role as a positive force for organizational change in the 21st century workplaces (2) build stronger institutional relationships with the fields of Industrial and Organizational Psychology and Management Science (3) establish a strong research paradigm that would institutionally build the foundation for the dialogue between sociologists, psychologists, management scientists and practitioners alike.