orgtheory.net turns five! praise, critique and feedback
So, orgtheory.net turns five years old today. Thanks, all, for contributing (guest blogging, commenting, reading etc)!
Here’s what contributors, friends, commenters and readers had to say about the blog.
Why do you read orgtheory.net?
- Jerry Davis: “It is a lively buffet of diverse opinions on topics I care about. The “group blog” format means there is never (or, rarely) a dull moment, and some of the better threads maintain robust debates for days, weeks, or even months.”
- Huggy Rao: “orgtheory.net is something I have to read every morning after my first cup of coffee! Is is lively, opinionated, and most of all, interesting”
- Andrew Gelman: “I feel connected to you because we’re both on the Marginal Revolution blogroll. And I’m sure the feeling is bidirectional.”
- Ezra Zuckerman: ” The orgtheory guys are passionate about research and are open to all kinds of ideas from all kinds of sources (even the death star of economics!) This means that with some regularity, they expose to me to ideas and research that I might not otherwise come across. Thanks guys!”
- Shamus Khan: “Orgtheory posts are the miniskirts of academic writing. Long enough to cover the important stuff. Short enough to keep it interesting.” (To steal from the sexist advice I got on writing my dissertation).
- Katherine Chen: “To learn about fellow researchers’ work; orgtheory also reminds me that an engaged audience for organizational research does exist.”
- Jason Owen-Smith: “orgtheory.net is the place where I learned not to make grandiose claims about what’s most important to our field…”
- Peter Klein (from the Evil Twin): “Orgtheory.net is quite literally the reason I got into blogging. Nicolai Foss and I were admiring ‘Teppo’s new blog’ and decided we’d like to give it a try to. On many levels, orgtheory.net has been my model — scholarly and substantive but fun and irreverent. I don’t always agree with what I read — my blog is, after all, orgtheory.net’s evil twin — but I am inevitably challenged, informed, and/or amused. Orgtheory.net is one of the few blogs I check every day and, in many ways, the model of what an academic group blog should be. Keep up the great work! But try to be a little more, well, evil.”
- David Hoopes: “I like hearing what sociologists have to say about sociology.”
- Michael Heaney: “I read orgtheory.net to keep a close eye on Fabio.”
- Amit Nigam: “Procrastination. OK more than that. Thoughtful, smart, organizational perspectives on what is going on in the world – which is lacking both in journals and public discourse. It is one of the few places I know that translates perspectives and insights from org theory for a broad audience. “
- Brian Pitt: “Orgtheory.net is replete with provocative posts. Whether the topic is incorporating formal theory into sociology, ASA’s membership dues, or mixed research methods, you guys keep my attention. It is safe to say that I am addicted to viewing Orgtheory.net daily. I will add, however, that my addiction to Orgtheory.net began with the Grad Skul Rulz (I continue to refer to the Rulz!). “
- gossip and advice
- big names talking about important issues in soc
- It beats yahoo news for sociology talk
- I am troubled by the dominance of economics in social thought
- If i don’t it lingers in my feeds.
orgtheory.net is…
- a Republic of Letters for Organizational Scholars
- awesomely informative
- heady
- the only .net site I visit, causing me to question of the redundant and perhaps confusing orgtheory.org was alternately considered
- my one-stop shop for conference bingo
- the blog I cite most
- openminded about methodological pluralism in social science
- like Fighting Cock brand hot sauce: serious stuff, with a good sense of humor
- sometimes useful
- (When you really must surf, OrgTheory is…) the constructive time-waster for orgnerds
- a community of organizational researchers across different types of institutions who aren’t just content with giving an evalutatory glance at each other’s nametags at annual conferences
- wicked hard-core
- eclectic
- buttery goodness
- what an academic blog should be
- masculine
- fun to start the morning
- proof that sociology is not useless
- the last thing I look at on the computer before turning in.
- self-promoting
- academic in a sexy way and occasionally amusing
- never at a loss for words
- sexy and smart
- good?
- orgalicious
- a website
Other comments/feedback:
- orgtheory helped me to finish my phd successfully
- My wife and I discuss posts on orgtheory more regularly than either of us would probably like to admit.
- orgtheory summarizes why I didn’t drop out of grad school
- people around these parts know about it, even those i wouldn’t have suspected (i.e. people who, at least in their public discourse, talk about trying not to get caught up in the “culture” of sociology, to which i see orgtheory as contributing)
- Orgtheory summarizes why I took only one soc course in eight years of university.
- More Cowbell. Or Omar, whichever you can deliver.
- Orgtheory helped me FINISH graduate school (and the dissertation)!
- I love the Grad Skool Rulz series.
- I really enjoy it. You do a nice job. Don’t tell Peter or Nicolai I said that though.
- orgtheory and its bloggers come up from time to time in professionalization discussions.
- more Omar Lizardo, please!
- I posted a copy of the blog, “writing your $^#@@ dissertation, part 2” above my desk. It really motivated me and I finished the $^#@@ dissertation! Thanks, orgtheory!
- What happened to Omar? I rely on him to help rep the cultural orgs folks, but he’s been radio silent for a while. Give him a raise maybe?
- orgtheory symbolizes the very reasons I’m going *back* to grad school, despite leaving for a short while.
- Happy Birthday!
orgtheory.net 
It’s not widely known that Sociology as a discipline was born on OrgTheory in or around 2006, and it was written by Org Theorists for Org Theorists.
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Kieran
April 22, 2011 at 2:56 pm
Happy Birthday Orgtheory!
You Loyal Readers @ PUP
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Eric S
April 22, 2011 at 3:06 pm
I plan to name my first child after orgtheory.
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Anon
April 22, 2011 at 3:10 pm
OrgTheory is the Scatterplot for people who take themselves very seriously.
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andrewperrin
April 22, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Thanks orgtheory readers, visitors, commenters, etc.
I would have been really surprised if you would have told me at the time of its founding that the blog would still be going five years later. At first it was just Teppo and I writing back and forth while our wonderfully supportive spouses made fun of us in the background.
I see the blog as an outgrowth of what I love about academia: talking and debating about ideas, reading and appreciating others’ work, and hearing strong opinions. So it’s very gratifying to see that others feel the same way about orgtheory.
Thanks!
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brayden king
April 22, 2011 at 4:53 pm
Perfect:
Braydon,
“…what I love about academia: talking and debating about ideas, reading and appreciating others’ work, and hearing strong opinions. So it’s very gratifying to see that others feel the same way…”.
Thanks to bloggers and readers for your great blogs and discussions. This is what I love about academia.
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David Hoopes
April 22, 2011 at 6:23 pm
[…] my favorite sociology blog, turns five today. Even if you’re not specifically interested in organizational sociology (like me), […]
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Rense Corten , Archive » Happy birthday, Orgtheory.net!
April 22, 2011 at 6:32 pm
The post was already pretty long, so here are the other answers to “orgtheory is…”
– a source for orgs scholars, but also for non-org sociologists (like me)
– stimulating
– cool
– interesting
– fun and informative
– (sorry, I’m no good at these)
– wicked hard-core
– a great forum for intellectual conversation and resources
– a great source of professional development advice in sociology about publishing, what makes a good job talk, finishing your dissertation, getting a sense of which journals have slow turnaround times, and much more; a lot of this “know-how” is shared informally and thus unequally across the discipline, so I’m glad that the internet makes it accessible to everyone
– eclectic
– fun to start the morning
– always a pleasure to read
– certainly in the top 10 of sociology blogs…
– Interesting and informative
– interesting and fun
– proof that sociology is not useless
– a community of organizational researchers across different types of institutions who aren’t just content with giving an evalutatory glance at each other’s nametags at annual conferences
– often full of hot air and self promotion, occasionally mixed with interesting insights
– fun, educational, little bit inspiring
– Organization theory from a sociological perspective. Or, sociology from and organization theory perspective.
– org…y
– Among the (if not the) most useful blogs I follow.
– remarkably civil
– academic in a sexy way and occasionally amusing
– a strategic theoretical framework of synergistically emergent hyperbole (how’s that for my buzz matrix)
– … never at a loss for words.
– a well-conceived social science group blog (sorry, not feeling too creative today!)
– reliably interesting
– a nice for interesting ideas.
– thought-provoking
– focused on what the major journals want.
– clever, interesting and accessible
– a very valuable and interesting blog in this field
– habit forming
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teppo
April 22, 2011 at 6:40 pm
Happy bday! Where else can I heart institutionalism and Friday Night Lights at the same time? Just add some posts about 19th-c. landscape wallpaper and all of my nerd fixations will be covered.
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carolinewlee
April 22, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Since we have the ‘data’ (and orgheads were kind enough to take the time to comment), here are the additional responses to ‘why do you read orgtheory.net’ –
– one of the only good sociology blogs
– It’s fun, it’s interesting, it’s diverse, I learn a lot and enjoy the discussions
– I’m a grad student. I enjoy the informal discussions of academic life. While I often learn something from the content of the posts, I learn more from the discussions about academic life, schools of thought, and approaches to the discipline.
– interesting new ideas
– down-to-earth
– org theory at its best
– it is useful and its post are well written
– to find out about new and interesting things going on in sociology
– It’s interesting
– diverse, thought-provoking writing
– Fun
– to keep up on the latest interesting tidbits in both the
professional and academic side of Sociology
– to be exposed to work/ideas/debates in organizational theory
keep up with current events in sociology
– Intellectual conversation, networking, random fun posts
– big names talking about important issues in soc
– Fun, work, updates, academic trends, conferences
– It’s an informed, engaging, and current source of information about the discipline.
– To keep current on Organizational Behaviour topics (after finishing my MBA a year ago.)
– it provides valuable insights about the sociology profession to aspiring scholars such as myself. plus, there’s plenty of
– interesting non-sociological stuff
– It’s interesting to see what others are doing outside of my narrow area of biology.
– because I learn a lot about soc current events and cutting edge research
– To know what sociologists are up to. Orgtheory (especially Fabio) makes it easy to see where economics and sociology meet
To learn about fellow researchers’ work; orgtheory also reminds me that an engaged audience for organizational research does exist
– I thought I was reading orgtheory.wordpress.com
– shits and giggles
– because is better than reading the sports news
– The salient reason is that I am interested in following the threads of sociology research and reading this blog is much cheaper than buying lunch for sociologists.
– To keep up with the field
– Easy way to see how sociologists think
– Orgtheory allows for a low-impact engagement with the discipline, and reading it feels like a break from real work without being as guilt inducing as Pawn Stars (i.e. I can successfully compartmentalize reading orgtheory as “kinda, sorta work related”, although it doesn’t feel like it).
– to procrastinate and push my own ideas against those in the posts and comments, and get a feel for what’s on the minds of other young scholars, since they are the people with whom my own work will most likely be engaging
– interested in the thoughts of org theorists who conduct good research and care about the world. posting regularly helps, too.
– to try and wrap my brain around org theory, since i didn’t get
enough of it in grad school
– Orgtheory does exactly what a good academic blog should do : frequent, short, insightful posts, various and sometimes contradictory voices, and good balance between a social science analysis of the news and deeper theoretical insights. Moreover, it’s a great tool to stay update on what’s happening in American sociology. Quite surpisingly, we are not taught much untranslated literature here in France, at least outside of our sub-field, and orgtheory is quite helpful in filling the gap.
– Excellent comments, for one. I also really like the way you are willing to think through and take quick stances on current events and emerging research. Half of the time it reads to me like a great seminar, and the other half of the time it reads like the happy hour that follows said seminar. I don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but it often reads in the Tyler Cowen style — make an interesting, counter-intuitive, or controversial claim, then reason through the implications of that claim. Nothing is out-of-bounds and you’re not worried about getting it exactly right every time.
– I read orgtheory.net because it is the best place I’ve found to keep up with conversations on the state of the social sciences and on research topics that are congruent to what it is that I study. As a faculty member in a relatively small department with no one else that has similar research interests, the site has been a really useful way for me to remain connected between conferences with an ongoing and important scholarly discussion and has proved essential in driving important moments in my research and writing process. I do appreciate the opportunity to be part of the conversation.
– To keep current on what’s going on in the field of organizations
Get a sense of what good and interesting management scholars are thinking about.
– It gives me a good review of what’s happening in sociology (or well, a certain kind of sociology). I am an STS person — and I’m in a minority in our program (most are interested in cultural anthropology or history of technology) — so this is a great source for me. Plus we share similar interests, I think — education, inequality, class, habitus, etc.
– To interact with different perspectives on organizational behavior and strategy, which provides a good complement to my current role as a consultant for businesses. Also, I think the postings are extremely interesting.
– to keep fresh on what scholars who don’t work for search engine or other big data firms publish and are working on.
– “I enjoy the casual, personable tone. Also, I like how the authors stick their necks out on some things… there isn’t the constant hedging that plagues so much academic writing and blogging.
– Also, it’s remarkably free of name-dropping for an academic blog, which is much appreciated.
– I’ve thought about grad school in sociology, so this is a good way to keep up with what’s going on in the field. And it’s just fascinating stuff to talk about…it’s horribly cliche but reading orgtheory is much like enjoying a good conversation”
– because it is full of interesting topics and dialogs
– I am Ph.D. student of Organization Behavior/Theory at XLRI , Jamshedpur India. After a stint of almost decade in corporate , I am turning to Academics. I found “Rules of graduate school” , I find then useful, interesting and it hooked me with the site. I find articles very interesting , I come to know lot of things , which we really don’t discuss in this part of the world. That gives me different perspective to look at things. Hence I continue reading it…
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teppo
April 22, 2011 at 7:04 pm
OK, and I missed Ezra Zuckerman’s entry. I’ll post it here:
WHY DO YOU READ ORGTHEORY.NET?
“I read orgtheory for three reasons:
1. The orgtheory guys are passionate about research and are open to all kinds of ideas from all kinds of sources (even the death star of economics!) This means that with some regularity, they expose to me to ideas and research that I might not otherwise come across. Thanks guys!
2. Too much academic discussion involves private discussions that do not move our field(s) forward because they are not made public. I’m a big believer in public spaces where critical and unconventional thoughts can be publicly aired. And orgtheory provides a very valuable service in this regard. For instance, where else but on orgtheory can you hear statements like the following:
“Do you know that DiMaggio & Powell 1983 has 3,933 cites, and that the number of citations has been steadily increasing (375 in 2008, 402 in 2009, 461 in 2010…. )? Perhaps this doesn’t surprise you, but I have never understood why people like this paper so much. Every year, I run my PhD students through the following exercise (inspired by Mizruchi & Fein 1999). 1. Ask each student to summarize an empirical case of “isomorphism” without using any conceptual terms—just the facts! 2. Collect the descriptions and write them all on the board. 3. Then ask all the students to write down on a sheet of paper which events they classify as normative isomorphism, which as mimetic, which as coercive. 4. Now measure the interrater reliability. It’s terrible, right? And what then does this tell you about the utility of the framework? And how depressing is it that while this paper gets so many cites, more recent papers that have clearly moved the bar forward get so much less attention (e.g., Strang and Macy 2001 is one of my favorite papers in this space in the last decade, and it has 96 citations, with a *decline* in recent years [18 in 2008, 15 in 2009, 10 in 2010]). Even if you think that D&P 1983 was great in 1983, do you think that these citations trends are a sign of health for our field?”
Isn’t it great to have a public forum in which such heretical statements can be made, and dispel the pluralistic ignorance underlying the apparent consensus in our field?
3. The orgtheory guys seem to hate each other’s work, and they obviously hate mine, and yet they put out a joint blog, and they were gracious enough to let me guest-blog on it.
(Obviously, this is tongue and cheek. The problem I’m pointing too is that the nature of such a private blog sponsored by people who have careers to worry about is that there is inevitably too little criticism of (and too many “”shout-outs”” for) the other contributors, their friends, and senior people in the field. I’m not sure what the orgtheory guys might do about this, but I think it is a big issues for blogs like this [like scatterplot]).”
OTHER COMMENTS (still from Ezra):
“1. My participation in orgtheory began with a spirited, even contentious debate, about the propriety of blogging about research seminars (see https://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2007/09/20/assumptions/#comment-51249, and the subsequent discussion). I think it says a lot about orgtheory that this debate sucked me in rather than repelled me, and Gabriel and I are now best buds (at least, this is what he tells me…. ).
2. I love the fact that by publicly using the term “”orgtheory”” in a way that is at some variance with its use in the Academy of Management (essentially, by including a lot more sociology), the very name of this blog plays with people’s minds and provides some lessons about the social foundations of categories.”
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teppo
April 22, 2011 at 7:09 pm
It’s my one-stop shop for understanding the performativity debates!
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joshmccabe
April 22, 2011 at 7:12 pm
“The orgtheory guys seem to hate each other’s work, and they obviously hate mine, and yet they put out a joint blog, and they were gracious enough to let me guest-blog on it.”
Nice!!
Academia really does need some humor.
I think everyone here takes their work more seriously than they take themselves. This is the way it should be. Sorely lacking throughout the academy (all disciplines) and the entire world.
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David Hoopes
April 22, 2011 at 7:25 pm
I’ve been reading orgtheory for over a year (this is my first comment!) and it’s just a powerful inspiration for an undergraduate sociology student like me.
Happy Birthday!
(from Brazil)
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Weverthon
April 23, 2011 at 12:52 am
A deep thanks to all my co-bloggers and a special thanks for Bryaden and Teppo for inviting me join this wonderful enterprise. It’s been an honor.
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fabiorojas
April 23, 2011 at 3:44 am
Orgtheory posts are the miniskirts of academic writing. Long enough to cover the important stuff. Short enough to keep it interesting.
(To steal from the sexist advice I got on writing my dissertation).
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Shamus Khan
April 23, 2011 at 11:39 am
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