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The place of work in organization studies and management has waxed and waned. Yet, today, social and technological developments have raised again interest in the study of work and this curated discussion brings together experts in key approaches to this topic. Seven contributions have been selected to provide a panorama of what we know about work while pointing to some uncharted territories worthy of future exploration. The contributions outline the principles behind and value of systemic, contextualized, or holistic view of work and report insights on how changes in some work components reverberate in its broader ecology. We hope this curated discussion will make us more aware of the collective journey scholars have charted so far while posing new questions and opening or re-directing new avenues of inquiry.

This essay in honor of ASQ 's 70th volume surveys how technology-driven changes in scholarly publishing have introduced algorithmic management to organizational research. The internet greatly reduced the cost of publishing journals and prompted an orders-of-magnitude increase in the number of journals and articles while also foregrounding quantitative metrics for scholarship. Given the academic incentive system of publish or perish, the new online ecosystem has encouraged problematic practices by scholars and publishers that threaten the standards and values of organizational theory. The advent of generative artificial intelligence within this milieu is almost certain to worsen the publishing trends we have already experienced. Drawing on prior literature about the centrality of deep intellectual engagement through reading, writing, and interactions with colleagues, we propose a set of reforms to preserve the sacredness of craft and community at the core of our scholarly work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The place of work in organization studies and management has waxed and waned. Yet, today, social and technological developments have raised again interest in the study of work and this curated discussion brings together experts in key approaches to this topic. Seven contributions have been selected to provide a panorama of what we know about work while pointing to some uncharted territories worthy of future exploration. The contributions outline the principles behind and value of systemic, contextualized, or holistic view of work and report insights on how changes in some work components reverberate in its broader ecology. We hope this curated discussion will make us more aware of the collective journey scholars have charted so far while posing new questions and opening or re-directing new avenues of inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines generative AI's broader implications for the social construction of categories. Building on the Orlikowski and Scott's concept of the 'digital undertow', we consider how generative AI's influence will likely extend beyond immediate technological benefits and lead to deeper shifts in the societal structures and occupational identities constituting conventional categories. We extrapolate from emerging findings that suggest that, while generative AI improves efficiency and the average quality of a creative product, it also tends to reduce the advantages of expertise and induce a homogenization of what is creatively produced as outputs. We consider how such dynamics might play out in the specific case of the changing roles of screenwriters and studio executives within the television and film industries. With this focused thought experiment, our overall aim is to draw attention to the broader implications of change brought forth by this technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of Julian Orr's ethnographic study of the work practices of knowledge workers, for research on the relation between work, occupations, and organizations is examined. The trends of research on the organization theory are discussed.

An introduction to a section of the journal is presented in which the editor discusses reviews of several books including "Unknotting the Heart: Unemployment and Therapeutic Governance in China" by Jie Young; "Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs;" and "Seeing like a Rover."