Re-Imagining the Research Process: Conventional and Alternative Metaphors - Paperback

by Mats Alvesson (Author), Jorgen Sandberg (Author)

This book offers a unique solution to the shortage of more imaginative and engaging research by re-imagining the core elements of the research process.

In contrast to existing methods, which mainly focus on standard ingredients in the research process, the metaphorical approach taken here offers a more varied and comprehensive platform for producing novel, influential and relevant research. The set of guiding principles suggested in the book provides researchers with the resources to break away from existing conventions and templates for conducting and writing research.

Re-imagining the Research Process: Conventional and Alternative Metaphors is suitable for upper-undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers interested in challenging traditional views of the research process.

Mats Alvesson holds a chair in the Business Administration department at Lund University in Sweden and is also a part-time professor at University of Queensland Business School, Australia and at Cass Business School, UK.

Jorgen Sandberg is Professor at UQ Business School, University of Queensland, Australia, and Distinguished Research Environment Professor in Organization Studies at the Warwick Business School, UK.

Author Biography

Mats Alvesson holds a chair in the Business Administration department at Lund University in Sweden and is also part-time professor at University of Queensland Business School and at City University, London. He has done extensive research and published widely in the areas of qualitative and reflexive methodology, critical theory, organizational culture, knowledge work, identity in organizations, gender, organizational change, leadership etc. His latest books include Reflexive Leadership (with Blom and Sveningsson, SAGE, 2016) and Return to Meaning: A Social Science with Something to Say (with Gabriel and Paulsen, University Press, 2017).

Jörgen Sandberg is Professor in Management and Organization in the UQ Business School, Australia, and Distinguished Research Environment Professor in Organization Studies at Warwick Business School, UK. He is Co-Lead of Practice and Process Studies, a multidisciplinary research group within UQ Business School. His main research interests include competence and learning in organizations; practice, process, sensemaking theory; theory development; philosophy of science; and research methodology. He has published extensively in top-tier journals, as well as several books including Skillful Performance: Enacting Capabilities, Knowledge, Competence and Expertise in Organizations (with Rouleau, Langley and Tsoukas, Oxford University Press, 2017), Constructing Research Questions: Doing Interesting Research (with Alvesson, SAGE, 2013), and Managing Understanding in Organizations (with Targama, SAGE, 2007). He also serves on the editorial boards for several preeminent journals, such as Academy of Management Review, Journal of Organizational Behavior and Organization Studies.