Research in, with and for practice

Together with leading scholars Philippe Lorino and Barbara Simpson, we’ll explore how pragmatist thinking can transform the way we study, teach and organise. On the second day, Professor Simpson will reflect on the need and value of pragmatism in organisation studies, sharing insights from her new book Diffracting Collaborative Leadership.

Workshop 1 - Research in, with and for practice

With contributions from Barbara Simpson and Philippe Lorino
Pragmatism in organisation studies
Monday 15 December 2025

You are invited to a workshop on research in, with and for practice at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS). Two renowned scholars, Barbara Simpson and Philippe Lorino, will present how scholars can contribute to practice transformation and how we can train students to do so. In two sessions, we will discuss how a pragmatist approach differs from mainstream research and what this means for researching in, with and for practice.

Both speakers emphasise the centrality of experience in research. Over time, an overly detached model of research has taken hold in universities, leaving education out of step with societal needs. Pragmatism offers promising ways to change this, paths already championed a century ago by figures such as Mary Parker Follett and Chester Barnard.

Following a brief theoretical introduction, we will explore research approaches that make a practical difference. Some cases are provided by the AUAS research group Governance, Finance & Accounting; other researchers are warmly invited to bring their cases. Barbara and Philippe will offer comments to strengthen these cases while staying close to a pragmatist perspective on organisation and change.

About Barbara Simpson

Barbara Simpson is Professor of Leadership and Organisation Dynamics at Strathclyde Business School. A New Zealander living in Scotland and a physicist turned organisational researcher, she works across disciplinary and cultural boundaries to generate new insights. Her research and teaching are shaped by process philosophy, especially the Pragmatists, and by the challenges of practising in authentically processual ways.

About Philippe Lorino

Philippe Lorino is Emeritus Professor at ESSEC Business School and an adviser to the French Nuclear Safety Authority. Trained at École Polytechnique (Paris) with a PhD in management, he has served as a senior civil servant and as a manager in an international manufacturing company. Drawing on pragmatist philosophy, he studies organisations as organising processes rather than stable structures, with pluralistic inquiry aimed at exploring uncertain futures, supporting collective learning and controlling risk in high-risk activities. He applies semiotic approaches to design managerial instruments and methods, and has worked across industries including energy, telecommunications, rail, chemicals, banking and public services. His book Pragmatism and Organization Studies (Oxford University Press) won the 2019 EGOS Book Award.

Date: Monday 15 December 2025
Time: 09:00–16:00
Location: AUAS, Business Campus – Corry Tendeloo building
Registration: email e.douque@hva.nl

Workshop 2 - Diffracting Collaborative Leadership: A Pragmatist project

Professor Barbara Simpson
Tuesday 16 December 2025

In this workshop, Barbara Simpson explores her recent book Diffracting Collaborative Leadership (see abstract below). Combining short content segments with participatory exercises, the session deepens understanding of leadership as a future-oriented social process, and how this can inform practices of organising, teaching and researching. We begin by unpacking the three ideas in the title - leading, collaborating and diffracting - drawing on recent theory and participants’ experience.

The book identifies five movements of leading - associating, experimenting, making, feeling and caring - derived from an empirical study of a senior management team, diffracted through the writings of classical Pragmatists such as George Herbert Mead, Jane Addams, John Dewey and Mary Parker Follett. We will consider their relevance in today’s worlds-on-the-move and conclude by identifying ways to develop leading as a dynamic, creative and liberating form of practising.

Book abstract - Diffracting Collaborative Leadership: A Pragmatist project

Leadership, as an area of research, remains a source of endless fascination. So much has been written, and yet the questions keep coming, almost as if we are asking the wrong questions. This book proposes that leadership in organisations can be understood as a complementary duality of leaders and leading. Whereas “leaders” are extensively researched in the organisational literature, the processes of “leading” remain under-developed, not least due to methodological challenges. Grappling with a world-on-the-move calls for processual approaches that invite researchers to participate in the ongoing flow. Pragmatist philosophy offers a systematic way to engage with the fluidities of leading. Using Pragmatism to diffract the experiences of a senior management team in an arts-based company, the book explores leading as a creative, collaborative process of future-making, suggesting that leadership is what we do when we don’t know what to do.

Time: 09:00–12:00
Location: AUAS, Business Campus – Corry Tendeloo building
Registration: email e.douque@hva.nl

For more information about the workshops, contact f.j.de.graaf@hva.nl