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The article is a response to a critique of the author's paper on conceptual engineering (CE)which appeared in the October 2021 issue of Academy of Management Review. The original paper, "Optimizing concepts: Conceptual engineering in the field of management" by P.T. Makowski, outlined a new perspective for theory building by showing how methods of conceptual engineering enable systematic development of conceptual competences. The critique by Oswick, et al. argues that CE is difficult to implement as a tool to optimize concepts especially in precision engineering and CE cannot be a normative enterprise. In this rebuttal, Makowski addresses these two points.

This conceptual paper presents the analytical theory of agency (ATA), an overlooked philosophical approach to the concept of action, to develop its theoretical basis in routines research in which the constructs of action and agency play crucial roles. It expounds, in the framework of ATA, the ideas of the spectrum of intentionality, kinds of action, and collective agency, which help advance the rigor of action-theoretical concepts in routines research as well as reveal the rationale of the microfoundational approach to routine actions. To uncover the developmental potential of ATA, the article discusses the most crucial conceptual challenges for routines research; it also briefly examines the limitations and future work related to using ATA in the management field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper out lines an ovel perspective for theory building by showing howme thods of conceptual engineering enable systematic development of conceptual competences. Conceptual engineering is a hot topic in philosophy, with many interesting achievements and applications. Using it in organization and management theory may shed new light on the most typical conceptual strategies in theory building, so-called conceptualization sandre conceptualizations, and help systematically improve them. Focusing on organization and management theory, the paper introduces conceptual engineering as a tool toopt imizeconceptsin the management field,and builds a proof of concept on two selected examples from routinesre search. Besidespaving a new wayin theory development, conceptual engineering gives an interesting solution to the rigor-relevance problemas it shows that the scientificper spectiveon the practical relevance of a theory requiresrigoronthe level of concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article is to shed light on the nature of organizational routines, taking into account the research traditions of philosophy of action and analytical sociology. The article proposes a perspective that integrates different research disciplines and reveals the complexity of the issue of collective intentionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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