Imagine.. Seminar with Barbara Slavich
ABSTRACT. This study examines how a new category gains form and meaning in the presence of multiple logics, competing labels, and multiple modes of sensegiving and sensemaking. We analyze the work of four emblematic chefs associated with the emerging category of ‘molecular gastronomy’ from 1995 to 2015: Grant Achatz, Ferran Adrià, Heston Blumenthal, and Massimo Bottura. We show that category formation is a circular and iterative process, consisting of three sub-processes that take place recurrently until its stabilization: creation of innovative work, contestation emerging from the misinterpretation of innovators’ efforts, and consolidation of the meanings and practices associated with the new category. Our study reveals that a new category’s label that is in opposition with the intended meaning of the creators can nonetheless bring that category forward by triggering creators’ engagement in politics of meaning. We conclude by discussing implications of our work and outlining future research directions.
BIO. Barbara Slavich is Associate Professor in the Department of Management at IESEG School of Management (Paris) and Affiliate Professor of Organization and Human Resources Management at SDA Bocconi School of Management (Milan). She holds a double PhD degree in Management from ESADE Business School (Barcelona, Spain) and Università Ca’ Foscari (Venice, Italy). She was visiting scholar at Duke University, North Carolina (USA). She is the Director of the Master in Fashion Management at IESEG School of Management. She teaches courses on organization theory and design, organizational behavior, creativity and innovation management. She has published her research in academic peer reviewed journals, like Organization Studies, Journal of Business Research, European Management Journal, International Journal of Arts Management, and in edited books, like the Oxford Handbook of Creative Industries. Her research focuses on creativity management, identity, status and social evaluations in creative industries.
Please register to: alh.ioa@cbs.dk no later than Monday the 8th of February.
The seminar is free of charge and for everyone who might be interested - academics or practitioners alike.
The seminar will be in English.