April 26, 2016
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Please note: This event is for invited researchers only.
Research is the heart of Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS), and we want to make sure that we support each other in developing high quality research. To that end, we created a forum for sharing and encouraging POS-related research ideas that are at various stages of development.
Questions about POS Research Incubator Sessions can be directed to Julia Lee at jooalee@umich.edu.
Talk Description:
What is the purpose of business? While most agree that business minimally involves the creation of value, a blurred double image of value haunts our discussion of purpose. The image of what counts as value for a single firm is laid atop an image of what counts as value for business in general. These two images cannot match. Indeed, the resulting conceptual blurriness is a classic example of a composition fallacy. We should never mistake the properties of a part for the properties of the whole. A theory of the firm is ill equipped to handle the many expectations we hold for business practice. As such, we seek to establish the beginnings of a theory of business, one that is both empirical and normative. Offering four central propositions about the purpose, accountability, control and success of business, we close with a consideration of several important theoretical issues and practical opportunities that await us in the years ahead.
Biography:
Jim Walsh is a longtime professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. His research explores the purpose, accountability and control of the firm and even more generally, business itself, in society. Engaging his students with these kinds of questions, he does his best to prepare the next generation to lead both in and for society. Jim served as the 65th president of the Academy of Management. See jamespwalsh.com fo