Organization within Organization Studies: From Core Object to Unspecified, Awkward Relic

After the outbreak of the financial crises, scholars and public intellectuals have sought to uncover the roots of the current economic downturn. Prominent in this regard has been a renewed discussion of the appropriate balance between state regulation and laissez faire, as well as a critique of the preceding decades accelerated financial deregulation. The current crises, however, should also be seen in conjunction with its organizational dimensions. On the one hand, these dimensions can be traced to the beliefs held and the actions undertaken within a multitude of organizations, including banks, insurance companies, credit institutions, etc. On the other hand, these dimensions should also be regarded in conjunction with a range of historical developments within organization studies (OS) itself, where the core object of ‘the organization’ seems to have been problematized to such an extent that it is rather unclear what remains of this foundational theoretical construct. By attending to these latter historical developments, the paper argues that specific, yet highly diverse, modes of theorizing within OS progressively seem to have undermined organization studies’ core object. This loss, the paper claims, have made OS ill-suited to adequately respond to the organizational dimensions of the economic crisis. Only by reconnecting with and re-appropriating this core object can OS revitalize itself as a practically useful and relevant academic discipline.