PWD AOM 26 - Decentralization in Organizations: Theory, Empirics, and Practice
We are pleased to invite submissions for an upcoming Professional Development Workshop (PDW) at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting focused on advancing research on decentralization in organizations.
Decentralization, defined as the redistribution of formal authority through shorter communication lines, distributed decision-making, and adjusted coordination and control mechanisms, has become a critical force shaping how organizations respond to contemporary challenges - from growing skepticism toward managerial hierarchies to demands for transparency, inclusion, and agility. This shift is visible across a wide range of organizational contexts, from established corporations experimenting with self-managing teams and flattened hierarchies, to new organizational forms such as platform cooperatives, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and commons-based communities that treat decentralization not merely as a structural adjustment but as a foundational design principle. While interest in decentralization is growing, the scholarly discourse remains fragmented: competing definitions, heterogeneous empirical settings, and diverging ideological commitments have made it difficult to establish clear theoretical foundations or cumulate insights across studies.
Through a two-part PDW combining a panel discussion and paper workshop roundtables, we bring together scholars across organizational theory, strategy, organizational behavior, and organization development and change to move beyond ideological debates toward a more coherent and actionable research agenda. Building on three prior AOM sessions, this fourth edition shifts focus from mapping existing work to specifying concrete pathways for theory building and empirical research.
Panelists & roundtable hosts:
• Ying-Ying Hsieh, University College London, United Kingdom
• Niki Khorasani, University of Manitoba, Canada
• Michael Y. Lee, INSEAD, France
• Philipp Reineke, Stanford University, USA
• Trevor Young-Hyman, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Themes for Paper Submissions
For our paper workshop, we invite submissions that engage with (but are not limited to) the following themes:
• Theoretical refinement and conceptual clarity in decentralization research
• Empirical opportunities and methodological innovations for studying decentralized organizations (e.g. open-source communities, DAOs, platform cooperatives, and self-managing firms), including novel data sources and methods
• New forms of organizing built on decentralization as a core principle, such as holacracy, sociocracy, and commons-based peer production
• Technology (e.g., AI, blockchain) as a frontier for new forms of decentralization
• The potential value of decentralization in enabling sustainability (e.g., Degrowth
• Worker well-being, inclusion, and participation in decentralized settings
• Tensions, failures, and boundary conditions of decentralization in practice
• Comparative and multi-level perspectives on decentralization across organizational and societal contexts
We welcome early-stage ideas, working papers, and projects in development. Submissions will be used to facilitate a developmental roundtable session, where participants will receive feedback from panelists and peers. Alignment with the research expertise of the round-table hosts is recommended:
· Ying-Ying Hsieh -Studies the organizational design, governance, and coordination of blockchain-based Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and the implications of these novel forms for collaborative innovation.
· Niki Khorasani - Focuses on the drivers of social change and the micro-processes that enable the collective shaping of sustainable organizations, with particular attention to how entrepreneurs challenge the institutional myth of economic growth and explore degrowth alternatives.
· Michael Y. Lee - Explores the dynamics and consequences of radically decentralized systems, examining how organizations can facilitate greater self-management without sacrificing coordination.
· Philipp Reineke - Examines how emerging technologies such as blockchain and AI interact with novel organizational forms, with a dissertation focus on how decentralized decision-making on blockchains shapes participation dynamics in DAOs´.
· Trevor Young-Hyman - Examines how formal and informal organizational structures impact organizational performance and worker welfare, with recent work focusing on decentralized organizations, multi-stakeholder governance, and worker ownership.
Submission Requirements
• A brief extended abstract (2–3 pages) outlining your research question, theoretical framing, and (if applicable) empirical context and results.
Deadline: Please upload your submissions here by June 30th, 2026. Submissions will be evaluated after the deadline. Please reach out at julian.jonathan.markus@wu.ac.at if you have any questions.
We look forward to building an insightful and collaborative conversation on decentralization and its implications for organizational research and practice.
All the best,
Julian Jonathan Markus, Rebecca Hewett, and Elisa Sauerbier
WU Vienna | Rotterdam School of Management | University of Mannheim
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Julian Jonathan (J.J.) Markus
PhD Candidate
WU Vienna U. of Economics and Business.
Vienna
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