Introduction:: History in organisation studies

There have been various calls in the literature more recently for engaging with history in the study of organisations and their management.1 They have been joined by a number of studies that have either had an explicit historical focus or that have clearly incorporated an historical perspective in their examination of organisational and managerial phenomena.2 The appeal for greater engagement with history has, for the most part, come as a reaction to the largely ahistorical character that organisation studies has gained during its development as a separate discipline in the second half of the twentieth century.3 As Kieser has also observed,4 this has turned out to be the case despite the fact that, in looking back to its roots, the study of organisations can claim a heritage that has been attentive to historical influences. The turn away from history can and has been attributed to the scientistic slant that has come to dominate the field since the 1960s, particularly in North America.5 As Zald has noted,6 with such detachment, organisation studies has remained aloof to the more recent debates around the connections of history to social science. © 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd.