These slides accompanied a talk I gave at the 2017 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, August 7, 2017, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA as part of a symposium on "Addressing Grand Challenges with Institutional Research: The Critical Role of Power." The session was organized by Florian Ueberbacher (University of Zurich), Giuseppe Delmestri (WU Vienna University of Economics and Business), and Elizabeth Goodrick (Florida Atlantic University). Presenters included: Joel Gehman (University of Alberta), Johanna Mair (Hertie School of Governance), Kamal Munir (University of Cambridge), and Florian Ueberbacher (University of Zurich). Discussants were Royston Greenwood (University of Alberta) and Andreas Georg Scherer (University of Zurich). The Symposium was sponsored by the Organization and Management Theory Division and co-sponsored by the Social Issues in Management and Critical Management Studies Divisions. Abstract: This symposium focuses on how grand challenges can be addressed by taking an institutional theory perspective, and it puts particular emphasis on the role of power in this regard. Taking an institutional theory lens for the study of grand challenges has the advantage of both improving our understanding of grand challenges and of further developing theory. In this symposium, we will focus on the role of investigating different forms of power for making institutional theory particularly appropriate and relevant for the study of grand challenges. In particular, we will critically evaluate (1) what the types and constellations of systemic forms of power are that underpin grand challenges, and (2) what types and constellations of episodic forms are necessary to tame and resolve grand challenges. The format we are proposing will create an environment of active debate among scholars from the fields of organization theory, business and society, and critical management studies.

1. Tackling Grand Challenges:
Research Prospects at the Intersection of
Robust Action Strategies and Power
Joel Gehman Academy of Management Annual Meeting
@joelgehman August 7, 2017

2. The issues we face are
so big and the targets are
so challenging that we
cannot do it alone, so
there is a certain humility
and a recognition that we
need to invite other
people in. When you look
at any issue, such as
food or water scarcity, it
is very clear that no
individual institution,
government or company
can provide the solution.
-- Paul Polman
CEO of Unilever

5. “formulations of global problems
that can be plausibly addressed through
coordinated and collaborative effort.”

6. 1) What counts as a global problem, and which of
the many potential formulations of such problems
should prevail?
2) What counts as addressing such a challenge,
and who might adjudicate whether and when this
has occurred at all, to say nothing of globally?
3) How might we coordinate and collaborate on
such efforts, which would seem to necessarily
occur across people, places and times?

9. Robust Action:
noncommittal actions
that keep future lines of
action open in strategic
contexts where
opponents are trying to
narrow them
Padgett & Powell, 2012

15. Tackling Grand Challenges at the
Intersection of Robust Action and Power
Faces of power
(i.e., coercion, manipulation,
domination, subjectification)
Sites of power
(i.e., power enacted in,
through, over, and against)
Grand challenges
(i.e., complexity, uncertainty
and evaluativity)
• What role do the different
faces of power play in the
constitution of grand
challenges?
• What is the role of grand
challenges in the
constitution of these faces
of power?
• How is power sited in,
through, over and against
grand challenges?
• How do grand challenges
provide sites for power?
Robust action strategies
(i.e., participatory architecture,
multivocal inscription and
distributed experimentation)
• How do robust action
strategies enable and
constrain the faces of
power?
• How do the faces of power
enable and constrain robust
action strategies?
• How do robust action
strategies enable and
constrain sites of power?
• How do sites of power
enable and constrain robust
action strategies?

16. Thank You!