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Ties to the Past in Organization Research: A Comparative Analysis of Retrospective Methods

Bowater School of Management and Marketing, Deakin University, Australia, julie.wolfram-cox{at}deakin.edu.au

John Hassard

Manchester Business School, Manchester UK and The Judge Institute of Management Studies, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK, john.hassard{at}mbs.ac.uk

This paper addresses a traditionally neglected area of management and organizational studies—retrospective research. It identifies, describes and analyses four positions on retrospective research: Controlling the Past, in which attempts are made to maximize accurate recall or to reveal potential sources of error or bias; Interpreting the Past, in which understanding of the present is informed by the construction of past reality; Co-opting the Past, in which causal explanations link the past and the present; and Representing the Past, which involves the problematization of time and research on time. These positions are compared in terms of, for example, method, philosophy, examplars and potential contribution. Finally, implications are drawn for the practice of retrospective research in management and organization studies.

Key Words: attribution • bias • retrospective research methods • sensemaking • time

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