The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Anna Jonsson . Photo

Anna Jonsson

Senior lecturer

Anna Jonsson . Photo

Professional blinders? The novel as an eye-opener in organizational analysis

Author

  • Maria Grafström
  • Anna Jonsson

Summary, in English

Scholarly textbooks often follow a logic where suitable empirical cases are selected to illustrate the theoretical and analytical points that we as scholars want to make. But what would happen if we would do the opposite: build a textbook on a novel written by a novelist for such purpose and let the theories explain the actions and emotions of fictional characters? In this article, we share and reflect upon our experiences of co-authoring a textbook in organization theory together with a professional novelist. We argue that the novel can function as an eye-opener in organizational analysis, forcing us to look beyond more static and rationalistic perspectives on organizations as well as the stereotypes of such. We build and relate our experiences to the growing literature about using fiction in scholarly work and discuss the potential of such genre-bending work when we bring in flesh and blood into the analyses.

Department/s

  • Department of Business Administration

Publishing year

2019

Language

Swedish

Pages

146-158

Publication/Series

Culture and Organization

Volume

25

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Routledge

Topic

  • Business Administration

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1477-2760