Organization Studies Research Network

Founded in 1993, the Network grew out of the Knowledge, Culture & Change in Organizations conference series, which set out to understand how organizations learn, adapt, and transform under conditions of uncertainty. From the beginning, it approached organization studies as an interdisciplinary field, drawing on sociology, management, political science, cultural studies, education, and systems thinking to explore how work, leadership, collaboration, and governance are changing.

Over time, the International Conference on Knowledge, Culture & Change in Organizations has partnered with universities and research institutes in North America, Europe, and the Asia–Pacific region. Hosts have included institutions such as the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, the University of British Columbia (Vancouver) Universidad San Pablo CEU (Madrid), The Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.), the University of Oxford, Copenhagen Business School, RMIT University (Melbourne), the University of Konstanz, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, and the University of Auckland. Each meeting has developed a distinctive theme—ranging from organizational knowledge and innovation to digital transformation, productive diversity, leadership, and “organization in uncertain worlds”—shaped by the concerns and intellectual traditions of the host.

Alongside the conference, the Organization Studies Journal Collection has provided a venue for peer-reviewed research across organizational theory and practice, including work published in The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Organizational Studies, Change Management: An International Journal, and Organizational Cultures: An International Journal. These journals explore topics such as organizational structures and systems, culture and identity, diversity and inclusion, leadership and decision-making, networks and alliances, and processes of adaptation and change.

The Organization Studies Book Imprint extends this work into long-form scholarship, publishing monographs and edited volumes on themes such as organizational knowledge, culture, leadership, governance, creativity, and institutional transformation. Together, the conference, journals, and books have helped to articulate an approach to organization studies that is conceptually robust, empirically grounded, and attentive to practice.

Today, the Organization Studies Research Network continues to serve as a global forum for thinking about organizations in uncertain worlds. Through its annual conference, publishing platforms, and CGScholar Member Knowledge Community, it supports an ongoing conversation about how organizations are imagined, designed, and lived—and how they might evolve to meet the demands of more complex, interconnected, and contested futures.

• 1993 – Multicultural Organizations, Hilton Hotel, Sydney, Australia
• 1995 - Productive Diversity, Wesley Conference Centre, Sydney, Australia
• 2003 - Knowledge Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
• 2004 - Knowledge Management and Change, University of Greenwich, London, UK
• 2005 - 'Knowledge' And 'Culture'' - Organisational Intangibles & Their Tangible Value, University of the Aegean, Rhodes, Greece
• 2006 - Knowledge Organisations, Knowledge Economy, Knowledge Society, Monash University Centre, Prato, Italy
• 2007 - Transforming Organizational Culture, Singapore Management University, Singapore
• 2008 - Knowledge, Collaboration and Cultural Transformation in Organizations, Cambridge University, UK
• 2009 - Knowledge in a Complex World, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• 2010 - Learning, Sharing, Imagination, HEC Montréal, Montréal, Canada
• 2011 - Organizations in Flux, Universidad San Pablo CEU, Madrid, Spain
• 2012 - Sustainability Initiatives, Organization Culture and Change, University Center, Chicago, USA
• 2013 - Collaborative Leadership, UBC Robson Square, Vancouver, Canada
• 2014 - The Business of Ethics in Business Ethics, Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
• 2015 - Productive Diversity: The Dynamics of Organizational Cultures, University of California, Berkeley, USA
• 2016 - Climates of Change—Organizations in a Time of Ecological and Social Vulnerability, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA
• 2017 - Succeeding and Achieving in Diverse Communities and Organizations, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
• 2018 - Navigating Change in Shifting Cultural Landscapes: Disruptive, Generative, Transformative? University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
• 2019 - The New Story of Organizing, UBC Robson Square, Vancouver, Canada
• 2020 - Choosing Leadership, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA (Virtual)
• 2021 - Preparing Organizations for New Digital Futures: New Rules of Engagement for the Fourth Industrial Revolution? University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (Virtual)
  
• 2022 - Organizational Memetics: Nature-Centered Perspectives on Organizations, Alvernia University, Pennsylvania, USA (Virtual)
  
• 2023 - Rethinking Organizational Resilience, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
  
• 2024 - The Future We Want: Organizational Responsibilities for Climate Responses, Lusiada University, Lisbon, Portugal
  
• 2025 - Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity: Navigating Intercultural Leadership, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus