Linda Smircich

Linda Mary Smircich (* 1948 ) is an American organizational theorist and university professor. She is Professor of Organizational Theory and Management at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst .

Life

In 1969, Smircich took his first step into the academic world with a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York in Oswego . She moved to the Management School of Syracuse University , where she received her Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 1975 and her PhD in 1978 . From 1978 to 1982 she taught at the Pennsylvania State University and was visiting professor at the Åbo Akademi in Turku (Finland). She brought further visiting professorships, for example, to and at the University of Gothenburg . From 1998 to 2001 she headed the faculty at the university. Since 1993 she has been professor for organizational theory and management at the Isenberg School of Management.

Smircich also gained experience in the world of work outside of universities and, according to her own statements, became curious about the reasons why organizations are the way they are through her experiences with New York Telephone Co. (now Verizon Communications ) .

Research and Teaching

Smircich works as an economist in the field of management theory with a focus on organizational theory and organizational behavior. Her early work in the 1980s dealt in particular with the topics of organizational research, organizational culture , organizational alternatives, worker ownership in companies, entrepreneurship, organizational change (change management) and gender research . She attracted particular attention through her work The Case for Qualitative Research (1980) , published jointly with Gareth Morgan . Here the authors proposed a classification of research methods that is based on a continuum between subjectivist and objectivist models of thought and is still influential in classifying social science research today.

Building on a critique of the predominantly quantitative research of the 1960s and 1970s, such as that conducted by the Aston group , the article discusses the various competing methods of sociological research, with qualitative methods being the broader philosophical assumptions about the nature of reality and knowledge can be located. According to this approach, thinking is guided and restricted in certain paths by the metaphors used . To this day, the scheme presented in this article is used to classify the work of sociologists in research.

	Subjectivist approaches to the social sciences	${\displaystyle \longleftarrow \longrightarrow }$	Objectivistic approaches to the social sciences
Basic ontological assumptions	Reality as a projection of human imagination. Individual Experience & Awareness Transcendental Phenomenology and Sophism.	Reality as a social construction Individuals create meanings through language, routines, symbols, etc.	Reality as the area of ​​symbolic discourse, meaning, is preserved in human activity and interaction, subject to both regular activities and changes.	Reality as a contextual field of information. Adjustment and change while information is being exchanged.	Reality as a concrete process. Interacting, evolving and conditioned processes.	Reality as a concrete structure Consists of components whose behavior and activities are specifically observed.
Assumptions about the nature of man	The human being as pure spirit, consciousness and existence.	The human being as a designer, the creator of symbols.	The human being as an actor, the user of symbols.	The human being as an information processor.	The human being as adapting.	The human being as a reactant.
Epistemological point of view	Phenomenological insight, disclosure.	Understanding how social reality arises.	Understand the pattern of symbolic discourse.	Mapping the context.	Research and change system processes.	To create a science.
Preferred metaphors	Transcendent	Language games and skill texts	Theater culture	cybernetics	organism	machine
Research methods	Exploration of pure subjectivity	Hermeneutics	Symbolic analysis, social activity theory	Contextual analysis of characters	Historical analysis	Laboratory experiments, surveys
Exemplary research			Erving Goffman		Paul R. Lawrence and Jay Lorsch	Eric Lansdown dreary

Also worth mentioning is her work with Marta Calás on organizational culture, where Smircich is respected as a critical observer beyond the mainstream research.

bibliography

Books

• (1992) Organizations as shared meanings
• (1992) Authenticity in the superior-subordinate relationship: its measurement and relationship to commitment, involvement, role clarity, influence style, and satisfaction
• (1993) Rewriting gender into organization theorizing
• (1995) Critical perspectives on organization and management
• (1997) Postmodern management theory
• (1999) From "the woman's" point of view, feminist approaches to organization studies with Marta B Calás

items

• Gareth Morgan and Linda Smircich (1980) The Case for Qualitative Research ; The Academy of Management Review Vol. 5, No. 4 (Oct., 1980), pp. 491-500
• Smircich, L., & Morgan, G. (1982). Leadership: The Management of Meaning . The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 18, 257-273. doi : 10.1177 / 002188638201800303
• Smircich, L. (1983). Concepts of Culture and Organizational Analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28 (3): 339-358.
• Calas, MB and Smircich, L. (2014) Engendering the Organizational: Organization Studies and Feminist Theorizing. In P. Adler, P. du Gay, G. Morgan & M. Reed (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Sociology, Social Theory and Organization Studies: Contemporary Currents. London: Oxford University Press.
• Calas, MB, Smircich, L., and Holvino, E. (2014) Theorizing Gender- and Organization: Changing Times. ... Changing Theories? In S. Kumra, R. Simpson & R. Burke (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Gender in Organizations. London: Oxford University Press.
• Calas, MB, Ou, H., and Smircich, L. (2013) 'Woman' on the Move: Mobile Subjectivities after Intersectionality, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Vita of Linda Smircich on the website of the University of Massachusetts Amherst; accessed on September 24, 2017.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Warwick 6th International CMS Conference, 2009, Plenary Speakers: Professor Marta Calas & Professor Linda Smircich on the website of the University of Warwick; accessed on September 24, 2017.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Ann L. Cunliffe (2011) Crafting Qualitative Research: Morgan and Smircich - 30 Years On ; Organizational Research Methods 14 (4) 647-673; doi : 10.1177 / 1094428110373658 .
4. ↑ ^{a b} Linda Smircich (1983). Concepts of Culture and Organizational Analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28 (3): 339-358.
5. ↑ MB Calas and L. Smircich (1987) Post-Culture: Is the Organizational Culture Dominant but Dead? ; Manuscript presented on the occasion of the Third International Conference on Organizational Symbolism and Corporate Culture, Milan, June 1987. 52 pp.
6. ^ Véronique Perret; Marta Calás and Linda Smircich. Une lecture poststructuraliste féministe des connaissances en théorie des organizations on HAL - Science de l'homme et de la Société: Archive ouverte en Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société; accessed on October 28, 2017.
7. ↑ Peter J. Frost (1995) Introduction ; in Organization Science. Vol. 6, No. 2 (Mar.-Apr., 1995), p. 224.