Reclaiming “Anthropology: The forgotten behavioral science in management history” – Commentaries

Authors

Fred Luthans, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Ivana Milosevic, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Beth A. Bechky, University of California, DavisFollow
Edgar H. Schein, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyFollow
Susan Wright, Aarhus University, CopenhagenFollow
Davydd J. Greenwood, Cornell UniversityFollow

Date of this Version

2013

Citation

Published in Journal of Organizational Enthnography 2:1 (2013), pp. 92–116 doi: 10.1108/JOE-04-2013-0008

Comments

Copyright © 2013 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Used by permission

Abstract

Purpose – This collection of commentaries on the reprinted 1987 article by Nancy C. Morey and Fred Luthans, “Anthropology: the forgotten behavioral science in management history”, aims to reflect on the treatment of the history of anthropological work in organizational studies presented in the original article.

Design/methodology/approach – The essays are invited and peer-reviewed contributions from scholars in organizational studies and anthropology.

Findings – The scholars invited to comment on the original article have seen its value, and their contributions ground its content in contemporary issues and debates.

Originality/value – The original article was deemed “original” for its time (1987), anticipating as it did considerable reclamation of ethnographic methods in organizational studies in the decades that followed it. It was also deemed of value for our times and, in particular, for readers of this journal, as an historical document, but also as one view of the unsung role of anthropology in management and organizational studies.