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This is an edited re-release of our Episode 6, Part 2 on Max Weber's bureaucracy, originally from January 2016. Next week, we will provide an additional discussion where we bring Weber's ideas to contemporary times.

We are revisiting an older episode, our Episode 6 on Weber’s bureaucracy. The original episode explored the work objectively, trying to understand how Weber was encouraging the use of rational rules and hierarchical systems to foster greater stability in society rather than efficiency. But it never seemed to happen as bureaucracies became a dominant organizational form. By re-reading Weber through the lens of institutional logics, we hope to better understand why this is the case. This week, we release an edited version of Part 1 of the original episode.

Coming soon! We will re-examine one of our earlier episodes which deserves another look. Weber’s chapter on the meaning of bureaucracy (Episode 6) remains one of the most popular episodes on the program, but given how bureaucracy has become so dimly viewed, we wanted to give it another look with fresh eyes. Is there something we missed as bureaucracies formed?

In Part 2 of our episode on Gieryn’s 1983 article “Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from non-Science,” we review the main points in the context of contemporary tensions over society’s growing distrust of scientists and rejection of science. What factors may be contributing to this trend after so many decades where scientists have been considered noble individual or science considered an inherently good thing? What might be necessary to stem or reverse such trends?

We continue our series of discussions on the sociology of science and cover a seminal article that is commonly found as required reading in doctoral programs -- Thomas Gieryn’s 1983 article “Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from non-Science” from the American Sociological Review. This commentary draws from three different historical case studies to explore where the boundary is between what is or should be considered science or the autonomy granted to scientists and what is considered other forms of intellectual pursuit. In Part 1, we explore the cases that involve competition between the world of science and those of religion and engineering, of true science vs. pseudo-science, and of scientific openness and collaboration vs. national security and commensurate need for secrecy.

Coming soon! Our next episode features a 1983 article from Thomas Gieryn that discusses how the “boundary work” of scientists and others science contributes to a broader understanding of where science is separated from non-science or pseudo-science and scientists navigate the gap between their individual autonomy and the constraints placed on them by others such as government leaders. Through historical cases, Gieryn explores the contested spaces surrounding science and why the boundary will likely never be clear.

In Part 2 of our episode on Charles Perrow’s book Normal Accidents, we carry the framework forward into the 21st century to consider newer technological systems (especially in information technology) and the Y2K problem that was looming when the updated edition of the book was published in 1999. Is there any hope for mitigating the potential for new forms of high-risk accidents, or are we just stuck with having to deal with the occasional mass disaster?

This month we are discussing Charles Perrow’s book Normal Accidents that addresses the risks associated with complex, tightly coupled high-risk technological systems. Through analyses of numerous accidents and incidents involving nuclear power plants, petrochemical plants, aerospace and maritime systems, and others, Perrow derived a framework that showed how high-risk systems are prone to accidents if they are highly complex and the components are tightly coupled. He also argued that efforts to improve safety such as more meters and indicators can have the opposite effect of complicating the operator’s ability to control a catastrophic situation.

Coming soon! Our next episode features a 1999 book by Charles Perrow titled Normal Accidents that addresses the risks associated with complex, tightly coupled high-risk technological systems. With the Three Mile Island disaster and a host of other catastrophes, Perrow built a framework that helps forecast which kinds of technologies are most at risk. However, he suggests there are constraints regarding what one can do to preclude accidents.

In Part 2 of our episode on five works of Henry Mintzberg, we move toward the contemporary environment and ask ourselves how much has changed since the Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning was published. After all, some of the very systems that Mintzberg criticized heavily are still very much in use, and still appear to exhibit some of the same failings. So what should be done?

This month we return to the works of Henry Mintzberg, whose book Simply Managing we covered way back in Episode 14. This time, we decided to cover a number of works covering broad themes of strategy development and organizational planning, along with critiques of extant design school works. We divided five works among us to discuss in which he argues about why strategies and plans so often seem to fail, why planners seem so out of touch with the rest of the organization, and why even the processes of strategy development and planning may be inherently flawed.

Coming soon! We will cover a body of work by Henry Mintzberg. His career as a consultant and management researcher spans decades and has resulted in numerous works that provide critical perspectives on dominant schools of thought in organizational design, strategic, and planning. So instead of a single reading, we chose five and the cast members divided the works as they all converged on several common themes.

We now release a recording of a professional development workshop (PDW) called Queer Eye For Academics: Skills For Navigating Academic Life, held at the 2025 Academy of Management annual meeting. Inspired by the popular Queer Eye television series, this PDW offered a fresh approach to skill-sharing within academia, and featured six presenters – most early-career scholars from the LGBTQ+ community -- covering a variety of practical skills such as teaching, crafting research programs, and presenting, and interpersonal development skills such as engaging, fostering caring relations, and recognizing colleagues.

This month, we are presenting recordings of two events from the Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2025. The first event was Multimodal Impact: Translating Academic Knowledge via Contextual, Collaborative, and Collectivist Modes. This symposium brings together five presenters to explore diverse modes of translating academic expertise into practice. As management researchers increasingly strive to achieve societal impact, this event sought to understand how different communication modes can bridge the persistent research-practice divide.

In Part 2 of our episode on Kanter’s Commitment and Community, we examine in depth her conclusions about the distinction between “retreat” and “service” communities and why the former tends to fail while the latter shows greater chances of long-term success. However, we also debate on the meaning of “success” as being more nuanced that merely duration of the commune over time. We then discuss the implications for this study for the present day when Internet-based social movements of all forms and perspectives can be formed readily – but how and why do they last?