Theorizing from the extreme

Florence Allard-Poesi () and Jan Dul
Additional contact information
Florence Allard-Poesi: IRG - Institut de Recherche en Gestion - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Is it possible to advance a theoretical argument based on a strong logical inference from a single, disaster case? What can be the contributions of such analytical strategy? The article develops a method for analyzing data from a disaster case to contribute to theory development for ‘normal' organizational functioning. We propose a method inspired by Mackie's (1965) concept of INUS: An Insufficient but Necessary factor in a collection of factors that is Unnecessary but Sufficient for the effect. The method allows us to distinguish between essential (causal) and anecdotal factors in the analysis of events, actions and cognitions that result in a sudden extreme and undesired outcome (e.g., a disaster). It identifies the causal chain that consists of collections of factors that were sufficient to lead to the disaster, and develops theoretical propositions about the conditions that can avoid such disaster. The contributions of the research are threefold. First, we show that a single, disaster case can be used to develop a strong theoretical argument which specifies causality among factors. Second, complementing prior qualitative analytical strategies, we propose a method that helps to identify the chain of collections of factors that were sufficient to precipitate the organization into the disaster. Third, we provide step-by-step guidelines to graphically represent the process under analysis.

Keywords: Extreme Contexts; Qualitative methodologies; Disaster analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-07-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in 36th EGOS virtual colloquium, Sub-theme 14 [SWG] The Role of Organizing in Extreme Contexts, Jul 2020, Hambourg, Germany

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03907058

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().