Organizational Fields as Mnemonic Communities

Abstract

The organizational field has become an influential construct in management theory. Despite its prominence, the construct has defied precise definition. Most definitions emphasize either structural elements of fields (fields as place) or their ideational elements (fields as meaning systems). Missing from this analysis is an appreciation of how meaning is given to structural relations. The authors’ core thesis is that memory is a critically important bridging construct through which meaning is given to place. They demonstrate that organizational fields are historical accretions of shared memories that are reproduced and become objectified over time until they acquire the status of ontological reality. The term mnemonic fields is introduced to capture the understanding that fields are cognitions of network relations that are created, maintained and changed through processes of collective remembering.