Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Variations in Organization Science celebrates Donald T Campbell's many contributions to organization science, presenting new variations which stem directly from his work. Contributing authors review and extend Campbell's theories in four major areas: blind variation, selection and retention especially inside firms; multilevel co-evolution in organizational parts and wholes; process level analysis and modeling epistemology and methodology. The book includes an unusual appendix, Donald T Campbell's curriculum vitae.
Synopsis
In my judgment this book in honor of Donald T. Campbell will be very influential and highly cited. . . . It will become a must read for Ph.D. students and scholars in strategy and organization theory. -Arie Lewin, Duke University The topics in this volume are cutting edge, and the contributors are first-rate. The book is well anchored-Donald T. Campbell has had a profound influence on the field. Moreover, the book is well-conceptualized-socio-cultural evolution, co-evolution, methods modeling, and epistemology are key issues in organization science right now. -Michael Tushman, Harvard University If he were an assistant professor today, what would social science giant Donald T. Campbell be pursuing in the field of organization science? Joel A. C. Baum and Bill McKelvey explore this question in Variations in Organization Science. This volume reveals and celebrates Campbell's many contributions to organization science by presenting new variations that stem directly from his work. Rather than analyze Campbell's theories, the authors present ideas that Campbell might have pursued if he were currently a doctoral student. This volume is unique in its focus on coevolution and multilevel coevolutionary analysis, as well as in its range of subject matter from empirical studies to leading-edge epistemological discourses. Each of the book's four main sections focuses on a major aspect of Campbell's legacy: blind variation, selection, and retention; multilevel coevolution; process level analysis and modeling; and epistemology and methodology. In addition, the volume includes a Foreward by Barbara Frankel Campbell and an unusual Appendix: Donald Campbell's complete curriculum vitae. Variations inOrganization Science should be on the top of the reading list for any organization scientist interested in organizational evolution, change, and competitiveness. This volume will also appeal to any scholar interested in the human and social capital base of firms and how organizational knowledge and learning work to provide the basis of competitive advantage.
Table of Contents
Donald Campbell's evolving influence on organization science / Bill McKelvey and Joel A.C. Baum -- The accidental entrepreneur : Campbellian antinomies and organizational foundings / Howard E. Aldrich and Amy Kenworthy -- Interorganizational imitation : the hidden engine of selection / Anne S. Miner and Sri V. Raghavan -- Types of variation in organizational populations : the speciation of new organizational forms / Hayagreeva Rao and Jitendra V. Singh -- Blind (but not unconditioned) variation : problems of copying in socio-cultural evolution / Elaine Romanelli -- Selection processes inside organizations : the self-reinforcing consequences of success / Danny Miller -- Whole-part coevolutionary competition in organizations / Joel A.C. Baum -- Venture capital dynamics and the creation of variation through entrepreneurship / Philip Anderson -- Sub-organizational evolution in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry / Paul Ingram and Peter Roberts -- On the complexity of technological evolution : exploring coevolution within and across hierarchical levels in optical disc technology / Lori Rosenkopf and Atul Nerkar -- Evolution in a nested hierarchy : a geneology of Twin Cities health care organizations, 1953-1995 / Andrew H. Van de Ven and David N. Grazman -- Static and dynamic variation and firm outcomes / Tammy L. Madsen, Elaine Mosakowski and Srilata Zaheer -- Organizations as networks of actions / Brian T. Pentland -- Evolutionary models of local interaction : a computational perspective / Alessandro Lomi and Erik R. Larsen -- Self-organization, complexity catastrophe and microstate models at the edge of chaos / Bill McKelvey -- Donald Campbell's methodological contributions to organization science / Martin G. Evans -- What can management researchers learn from Donald T. Campbell, the philosopher? an exercise in hermeneutics / Margaretha Hendrickx -- Toward Campbellian realist organization science / Bill McKelvey.