Turning Theory into Action: Undesirable Consequences of Implementing Organization and Management Theory

Velux Foundation, Denmark

Organization and Management Theory aims at developing academic knowledge that is useful for organizational actors in pursuit of organizational and societal goals. Current debates focus on the presence or absence of such relevance, not on its nature. Prior research shows, however, that academic knowledge, even when relevant to practice, sometimes produces outcomes that are not anticipated and that on some occasions turn out to be undesirable for society. This situation occurred, for instance, when SKAT implemented tools inspired by New Public Management, which contributed to the dividend crisis. The current project aims at developing knowledge about how, and under which conditions, undesirable outcomes arise from academic knowledge when implemented in organizational practice. The purpose is to contribute to preventing, identifying and alleviating unanticipated consequences of academic knowledge that are undesirable for society.