What is this podcast?
Talking About Organizations is a monthly (two weeks on, two weeks off) conversational podcast about management and organization studies. Delivered in a format best described as somewhere between a reading group and a panel discussion, the podcast tackles one book/journal article/idea per episode. It is free, not-for-profit and publicly available for all to enjoy!
During the first 32 episodes, Talking About Organizations was supported by the wonderful people from the IKON Research Centre at the University of Warwick Business School (esp. Jacky Swan, Davide Nicolini, and Dawn Coton), to whom we are forever grateful for placing their trust (and money!) into something as unconventional as an organization studies podcast at the time. During episodes 33-56, the podcast was supported by the University of Sussex Business School, UK. From Episode 62-98, we were supported by our listeners, Management Learning Journal, and the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS).
Since Episode 99, Management Learning Journal continues to be our primary sponsor, and we have been working very closely with them on expanding the podcast mission to serving as a resource for organization and management scholars and students. More on that in a moment.
What is the purpose of this podcast?
The purpose of the podcast is two-fold: (1) to make conversations about management and organization studies widely available, and (2) to spark further discussions, ideas, and dialogue around the fundamental ideas on which contemporary management science and practice are based.
On the one hand we are eager to open up the field of organization and management studies to as many people as possible. Not only are we passionate about the research we do, we feel that there is not enough awareness of what organizational scholarship does and the insights it contributes to the understanding and everyday conduct of work in organizations. First, we really believe that there is some incredible stuff happening in this field and would like to have this podcast make it accessible to everyone else. Second, we hope people will find what we talk about interesting enough to share their problems and questions. This could give us ideas for research that others might find useful and allow us to better engage with a broader audience. We might not be able to answer all the questions we get, but we will definitely have ideas about them that you may find useful. Finally, making this podcast gives us the opportunity to read all kinds of amazing texts and discuss them in detail with friends and informed colleagues. It deepens our learning in a way that is both enjoyable and purposeful. And the best part is that you get the full effect of this learning by just listening in! (also it lets the geeks in our group play around with technology and recording equipment – yay!)
“This is a delightful way to introduce people to important organizational literature with minimal time investment. I look forward to future installments. My compliments”
— W. Earl Carnes, Senior Adviser to U.S. Government (retired)
“I thought the dialogue was both sophisticated and natural; so a great accomplishment. Plus, I think you all four achieved a fair assessment of the Taylor; he is often maligned and not put in his proper historical context. Great coverage”
— Dr. Paul R. Carlile, Allen Questrom Professor and Dean of Innovation at Boston University, US
Who are you?
Talking About Organizations is really lucky to have a group of 11 people working on the podcast. We are all scholars of management and organizations in one way or another, although we do not profess to be the ultimate authority on any of the topics that we cover. The podcast is, after all, informal and conversational… We maintain a rotating roster so that not everyone is on every episode (we aim for no more than 4 people per episode).
The current team are: Dr. Tom Galvin (US Army War College), Dr. Pedro Monteiro (Copenhagen Business School), Dr. Miranda Lewis (Bayes Business School, London), Dr. Ralph Soule (Independent Researcher), Dr. Gretta Corporaal (University of Oxford), Ms. Catherine Jackson (Compton Fundraising Consultants), Dr. Sarah Otner (Kingston Business School), Dr. Samantha Ortiz-Casillas (Centro de InvestigaciĂłn y Docencia EconĂłmicas, Mexico City), Dr. Leonardo Melo Lins (University of Sao Paolo), Mr. Rohin Borpujari (PhD Candidate, London Business School), and Mr. Frithjof Wegener (PhD Candidate, Warwick Business School).
Former members of the team (though always with us in spirit) are: Dr. Dmitrijs KravÄŤenko (Stockholm School of Economics in Riga), Dr. Jarryd Daymond (University of Sydney), Dr. Ella Hafermalz (VU Amsterdam), Dr. Maikel Waardenburg (Utrecht University), Dr. Joe Bradley (Leading Change LLC), and Mr. Yousaf Nishat-Botero (City University London, The Business School).
Why should I listen to the podcast?
Our aims are to be both educational and entertaining! All the people on this podcast have a degree of knowledge/familiarity with the topics we will be discussing and will bring their own personal perspectives to the table in an interactive and dynamic exchange of ideas. We hope that anyone listening to the podcast will learn interesting things without otherwise having to sit through actual lectures or seminars. That being said, if you are a student, combining your curriculum with our podcast will certainly yield superior results! Another benefit of the podcasts is that you don’t have to say ‘no’ to what you are doing in order to say ‘yes’ to this podcast – you can listen to us at a time and place of your choosing, like driving or jogging (watch out for traffic!).
Who are the target audience?
Ideally, anyone should be able to listen to this but due to the nature of what we do for a living (all of us are, after all, full-time academics) it is plausible that a basic level of background knowledge may be required. We think that our peers, industry practitioners as well as students of management, organizations, sociology, and philosophy of all levels are probably the main target audience.
What is the format of the episodes?
It’s atomistic; meaning that while there may be sequences of episodes covering some large or particularly interesting topics, each episode is self-contained and is focused on an isolated reading or set of readings. We have undergone several format changes over the years, but we generally break the episode into parts to keep them at a reasonable length. Two parts of 40-50 minutes is the current norm and has been so since about episode 50. Usually, Part 1 is about the reading, Part 2 goes into more depth and brings in other literature, and provides implications and future research directions. But you will find some episodes that are three parts of about 30 minutes each and a small number of episodes that are only one part (for example, our 100th episode special on the State of Organization Studies).
From episodes 1-34 and Episode 84 onward, most episodes include a “supplement” or “summary,” aimed at those who don’t have time to listen to a full episode. And some episodes have a “sidecast,” where one or more cast members have decided to do a special additional episode with insights and reflections that followed from a recording.
“I found the podcast refreshing and thoroughly enjoyable. The conversation was insightful, instructive and the comments often sharp and perceptive. I am really impressed.”
— Dr. Davide Nicolini, Professor at University of Warwick Business School, UK
“I really enjoyed this podcast. The discussion hit on all the aspects of the book that are both good and troubling.”
— Dr. Janice Tolk, Adjunct Assistant Professor at University of Tennessee Space Institute, US
How are the “LIVE” episodes different from regular episodes?
As academics, we naturally attend or host a lot of conferences and related events, and these are often ripe for excellent dialogue on current research directions around contemporary problems. So we decided to host “LIVE” episodes based on topics generated at those venues as opposed to our “regular” episodes that are centered on one of eight themes. We record these in order to share with you interesting conversations, cutting-edge thinking, leading practices and opinions etc. Special episodes always involve a guest or two.
“This is a brilliant podcast, building upon the idea that a lot of management scholars actually have no time to read the original masterpieces in their field. Here, we get them presented in a neat package, including a critical analysis of content as well as applicability and relevance. What I like the most is that the discussants do not leave out the social and historical background of the readings as well as the authors. Listening to the podcast will help you better understand the foundational concepts of management and organization theory as well as help develop an instrumentarium for how to read and properly understand such texts.”
— Dr. Daniel Semper, Research Fellow at WU Vienna, Austria
“Talking About Organizations strikes the balance between acumen and accessibility.”
— Dr. Philipp Hukal, Assistant Professor at Copenhagen Business School, DK
What about the Appendices?
In our original site, we included a separate blog that allowed podcasters and guests to post on topics inspired by an Episode. In the new site, we decided that it was better to incorporate those extra posts as part of the associated Episodes.
“For sophisticated and engaging discussions of organization theory, look no further than the Talking About Organizations site. Highly recommended.”
— Dr. Chris Grey, Professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
“I really enjoyed the Taylor podcast. It was informative, helps you understand the man, his book and bring them to life. Nice to have a range of perspectives too.”
— Dr. Gerald McGivern, Professor at University of Warwick Business School, UK
Do I have to do the reading for each episode?
You don’t have to… It will, however, make help the podcasts make sense in terms of understanding what we are talking about on a qualitatively different level. In addition to this, you may be surprised how much of what you experience in everyday life today originated from ideas expressed in the texts we intend to cover.
How do you decide on topics?
This is a two-fold, very serious process. One, we will try to start at the beginning of organizational science (at least in the early days of this podcast) and two, we will choose to read what we are interested in. Where there is common ground between these two variables, our topics will emerge. We also aim to explore topics suggested to us by listeners, so do contact us with any ideas.
Can I get involved?
Sure – just get in touch with us and say hello! We always have things we want to do but are unable to due to time constraints so initiative and enthusiasm from our listeners is super great news!
“TAOP blends the best of modern technology with the joys of the old-fashioned conversation. It gave me permission to slow down, pour a glass of sherry, snuggle in a comfortable chair, listen in and take an occasional note, knowing I could share my thoughts later on its blog.”
— Albie M. Davis, Writer and former Director of Mediation for the Massachusetts District Courts, US
“I found the TAO-podcasts an excellent and very engaging way of introducing both classical and contemporary organization and management theories. So keep up the good work!”
— Dr. Jörgen Sandberg, Professor at University of Queensland Business School, Australia
“Here is a very worthwhile initiative – an impressive number of podcasts about organizational theory conducted by PhD students and junior faculty. Some big names in org theory make guests appearances…”
— Nicolai J. Foss, Professor at Bocconi University, Italy