Books
Alvesson, Mats and Sandberg, Jorgen (2021). Re-imagining the Research Process: Conventional and Alternative Metaphors. London, United Kingdom: SAGE Publications. doi: 10.4135/9781529682656
Sveningsson, Stefan and Alvesson, Mats (2016). Managerial lives: leadership and identity in an imperfect world. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781316399026
Alvesson, Mats (2013). Understanding organizational culture. 2nd ed. London, United Kingdom: Sage.
Alvesson, Mats and Sandberg, Jorgen (2013). Constructing research questions : doing interesting research. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications. doi: 10.4135/9781529682588
Alvesson, Mats and Kärreman, Dan (2011). Qualitative research and theory development: Mystery as method. London: Sage Publications.
Alvesson, Mats (2011). Interpreting interviews. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications.
Alvesson, Mats and Sveningsson, Stefan (2008). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. New York, U.S.A.: Routledge.
Alvesson, Mats (2004). Knowledge work and knowledge-intensive firms. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.
Alvesson, Mats (2002). Postmodernism and social research. Phildelphia, Pa.: Open University.
Alvesson, Mats (2002). Understanding organizational culture. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications.
Book Chapters
Sveningsson, Stefan, Gjerde, Susann and Alvesson, Mats (2021). Organizational Psychology: When, Why, and How Is Identity Work (Less) Important in Organizational Life?. The Cambridge Handbook of Identity. (pp. 586-603) Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108755146.030
Sveningsson, Stefan and Alvesson, Mats (2020). Global leadership: sustaining classic managerialism. Research Handbook of Global Leadership: Making a Difference. (pp. 39-53) Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781782545354.00011
Alvesson, Mats and Kärreman, Dan (2017). Uncreative destruction: competition and positional games in higher education. The corporatization of the business school: Minerva meets the market. (pp. 111-127) edited by Tony Huzzard, Mats Benner and Dan Kärreman. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315640594-7
Alvesson, Mats and Spicer, André (2017). (Un)conditional surrender? Why do professionals willingly comply with managerialism?. The corporatization of business education: Minerva meets the market. (pp. 92-110) edited by Mats Benner, Tony Huzzard and Dan Kärreman. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315640594-6
Alvesson, Mats (2016). Organizational culture and health. Healthy at Work: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. (pp. 13-25) edited by Markus Wiencke, Mirella Cacace and Sebastian Fischer. Cham, Switzlerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-32331-2_2
Hartmann, Rasmus Koss, Kärreman, Dan and Alvesson, Mats (2016). CMS in Scandinavia: a hitchhiker's guide to the realm of the Scandocrits. Critical management studies: global voices, local accents. (pp. 144-158) edited by Christopher Grey, Isabelle Huault, Véronique Perret and Laurent Taskin. New York, NY, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315796086
Sandberg, Jorgen, Loacker, Bernadette and Alvesson, Mats (2015). Conceptions of process in organization and management: The case of identity studies. The Emergence of Novelty in Organizations. (pp. 318-344) edited by Raghu Garud, Barbara Simpson, Ann Langley and Haridimos Tsoukas. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198728313.003.0012
Du Billing, Yvonne and Alvesson, Mats (2014). Leadership: a matter of gender?. Oxford handbook of gender in organizations. (pp. 200-222) edited by Savita Kumra, Ruth Simpson and Ronald J. Burke. New York, United States: Oxford University Press.
Alvesson, Mats and Spicer, Andre (2014). Critical perspectives on leadership. Oxford handbook of leadership and organizations. (pp. 40-56) edited by David Day. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Alvesson, Mats and Sandberg, Jörgen (2014). Problematization meets mystery creation: generating new ideas and findings through assumption challenging research. Critical Management Research: Reflections from the Field. (pp. 23-41) edited by Emma Jeanes and Tony Huzzard. London, UK: Sage. doi: 10.4135/9748146288610.n2
Alvesson, Mats and Sandberg, Jörgen (2014). Problematization meets mystery creation: generating new ideas and findings through assumption-challenging research. Critical management research: reflections from the field. (pp. 23-40) edited by Emma Jeanes and Tony Huzzard. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications. doi: 10.4135/9781446288610.n2
Alvesson, Mats and Sveningsson, Stefan (2013). Essay: authentic leadership critically reviewed. Authentic leadership : clashes, convergences and coalescences. (pp. 39-54) edited by Donna Ladkin and Chellie Spiller. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781781006382.00010
Sveningsson, Stefan, Alvehus, Johan and Alvesson, Mats (2012). Managerial leadership: Identities, processes, and interactions. The Work of Managers: Towards a Practice Theory of Management. (pp. 69-86) edited by Stefan Tengblad. Oxford United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199639724.003.0004
Alvesson, Mats and Sveningsson, Stefan (2012). Un- and re-packing leadership: context, relations, constructions, and politics. Advancing relational leadership research: a dialogue among perspectives. (pp. 203-225) edited by Mary Uhl-Bien and Sonia M. Ospina. Charlotte, NC, USA: Information Age Publishing.
Alvesson, Mats (2012). Managing consultants: control and identity. The Oxford handbook of management consulting. (pp. 1-24) edited by Timothy Clark and Matthias Kipping. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199235049.013.0015
Alvesson, Mats and Sveningsson, Stefan (2011). Identity work in consultancy projects: Ambiguity and distribution of credit and blame. Discourses of deficit. (pp. 159-174) edited by Christopher N. Candlin and Jonathan Crichton. Hampshire, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.
Alvesson, Mats (2011). Leadership and organizational culture. The SAGE handbook of leadership. (pp. 151-164) edited by Alan Bryman, David Collinson, Keith Grint, Brad Jackson and Mary Uhl-Bien. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications.
Alvesson, Mats (2011). Leaders as saints: Leadership through moral peak performance. Metaphors we lead by: Understanding leadership in the real world. (pp. 51-75) edited by Mats Alvesson and Andre Spicer. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203840122-9
Alvesson, Mats and Kärreman, Dan (2011). 'Meritocracy' verus 'Sociocracy': Personnel concepts and HRM in two IT/management consulting firms. Managing modernity: Beyond bureaucracy?. (pp. 154-175) edited by Stewart Clegg, Martin Harris and Harro Hopfl. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Alvesson, Mats (2011). Organizational culture: Meaning, discourse, and identity. The Handbook of Organizational Culture and Climate. (pp. 11-28) edited by Neal M. Ashkanasy, Celeste P. M. Wilderom and Mark F. Peterson. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage Publications. doi: 10.4135/9781483307961.n2
Alvesson, Mats (2009). Critical perspectives on strategic HRM. The Routledge Companion to Strategic Human Resource Management. (pp. 52-67) edited by John Storey, Patrick M. Wright and David Ulrich. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203889015-11
Alvesson, M. and Ashcraft, K. L. (2009). Critical methodology in management and organization research. The SAGE handbook of organizational research methods. (pp. 61-77) edited by David Buchanan and Alan Bryman. London, U.K.: Sage Publications.
Alvesson, M. (2008). The future of critical management studies. The Sage Handbook of New Approaches in Management and Organization. (pp. 13-26) edited by D. Barry and H. Hansen. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications.
Alvesson, Mats and Thompson, Paul (2005). Post-bureaucracy?. The Oxford handbook of work and organization. (pp. 485-505) edited by Stephen Ackroyd, Rosemary Batt, Paul Thompson and Pamela S. Tolbert. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199299249.003.0025
Thompson, Paul and Alvesson, Mats (2005). Bureaucracy at work: misunderstandings and mixed blessings. The values of bureaucracy. (pp. 89-114) edited by Paul du Gay. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Alvesson, Mats (2004). Organizational culture and discourse. The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse. (pp. 317-336) edited by David Grant, Cynthia Hardy, Cliff Oswick and Linda L. Putnam. London, U. K.: Sage Publications. doi: 10.4135/978-1-84860-812-2.n15
Alvesson, Mats (2004). Organization: from substance to image?. Organizational identity : a reader. (pp. 161-182) edited by M. J. Hatch and M. Schultz. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Alvesson, Mats and Willmott, Hugh (2004). Identity regulation as organizational control producing the appropriate individual. Organizational identity : a reader. (pp. 436-465) edited by M. J. Hatch and M. Schultz. Oxford, United States: Oxford University Press.
Alvesson, Mats (2003). Critical organization studies. The Northern Lights - organization theory in Scandinavia. (pp. x-x) edited by Barbara Czarniawska and Guje Sevón. Malmö, Sweden: Liber.
Alvesson, M. and Billing, Y. (2002). Beyond body-counting. A discussion of the social construction of gender. Gender, identities, and the culture of organizations. (pp. 72-91) edited by Iiris Aaltio and Albert J. Mills. New York, NY USA: Routledge.
Journal Articles
Rintamäki, Jukka and Alvesson, Mats (2023). Resisting Whilst Complying? A Case Study Of A Power Struggle In A Business School. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 22 (2), 257-273. doi: 10.5465/amle.2020.0070
Alvesson, Mats, Einola, Katja and Schaefer, Stephan M. (2022). Dynamics of wilful ignorance in organizations. British Journal of Sociology, 73 (4), 839-858. doi: 10.1111/1468-4446.12963
Essén, Anna, Knudsen, Morten and Alvesson, Mats (2022). Explaining Ignoring: Working with Information that Nobody Uses. Organization Studies, 43 (5), 725-747. doi: 10.1177/0170840621998720
Alvesson, Mats and Jonsson, Anna (2022). Organizational dischronization: on meaning and meaninglessness, sensemaking and nonsensemaking. Journal of Management Studies, 59 (3), 724-754. doi: 10.1111/joms.12790
Alvesson, Mats and Einola, Katja (2022). The gaslighting of authentic leadership 2.0. Leadership, 18 (6), 814-831. doi: 10.1177/17427150221125271
Sandberg, Jörgen and Alvesson, Mats (2021). Clarifying and expanding the theory typology: a reply to readers’ comments. Marketing Theory, 21 (3), 147059312110127-440. doi: 10.1177/14705931211012746
Sandberg, Jörgen and Alvesson, Mats (2021). Meanings of Theory: Clarifying Theory through Typification. Journal of Management Studies, 58 (2), 487-516. doi: 10.1111/joms.12587
Alvesson, Mats and Sandberg, Jörgen (2021). Pre-understanding: An interpretation-enhancer and horizon-expander in research. Organization Studies, 43 (3), 395-412. doi: 10.1177/0170840621994507
Alvesson, Mats (2020). Upbeat leadership: A recipe for – or against – “successful” leadership studies. Leadership Quarterly, 31 (6) 101439, 101439. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2020.101439
Gjerde, Susann and Alvesson, Mats (2020). Sandwiched: exploring role and identity of middle managers in the genuine middle. Human Relations, 73 (1), 124-151. doi: 10.1177/0018726718823243
Alvesson, Mats and Sandberg, Jörgen (2020). The Problematizing Review: A Counterpoint to Elsbach and Van Knippenberg’s Argument for Integrative Reviews. Journal of Management Studies, 57 (6) joms.12582, 1290-1304. doi: 10.1111/joms.12582
Einola, Katja and Alvesson, Mats (2019). The making and unmaking of teams. Human Relations, 72 (12), 1891-1919. doi: 10.1177/0018726718812130
Alvesson, Mats (2019). Waiting for Godot: eight major problems in the odd field of leadership studies. Leadership, 15 (1), 27-43. doi: 10.1177/1742715017736707
Alvesson, Mats and Spicer, André (2019). Neo-institutional theory and organization studies: a mid-life crisis?. Organization Studies, 40 (2), 199-218. doi: 10.1177/0170840618772610
Alvesson, Mats (2018). Grandiosity, and functional stupidity. The Psychologist, 31, 50-53.
Alvesson, Mats and Blom, Martin (2018). Beyond leadership and followership. Working with a variety of modes of organizing. Organizational Dynamics, 48 (1), 28-37. doi: 10.1016/j.orgdyn.2017.12.001
Alvesson, Mats and Gabriel, Yiannis (2016). Grandiosity in contemporary management and education. Management Learning, 47 (4), 464-473. doi: 10.1177/1350507615618321
Alvesson, Mats and Karreman, Dan (2016). Intellectual failure and ideological success in organization studies: the case of transformational leadership. Journal of Management Inquiry, 25 (2), 139-152. doi: 10.1177/1056492615589974
Alvesson, Mats and Robertson, Maxine (2016). Money matters: teflonic identity manoeuvring in the investment banking sector. Organization Studies, 37 (1), 7-34. doi: 10.1177/0170840615593591
Blom, Martin and Alvesson, Mats (2014). Leadership On Demand: followers as initiators and inhibitors of managerial leadership. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 30 (3), 344-357. doi: 10.1016/j.scaman.2013.10.006
Alvesson, Mats and Sandberg, Jorgen (2014). Habitat and habitus: boxed-in versus box-breaking research. Organization Studies, 35 (7), 967-987. doi: 10.1177/0170840614530916
Alvesson, Mats (2013). Do we have something to say? From re-search to roi-search and back again. Organization, 20 (1), 79-90. doi: 10.1177/1350508412460996
Alvesson, Mats and Sandberg, Jorgen (2013). Has management studies lost its way? Ideas for more imaginative and innovative research. Journal of Management Studies, 50 (1), 128-152. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2012.01070.x
Alvesson, Mats and Karreman, Dan (2013). The closing of critique, pluralism and reflexivity: A response to Hardy and Grant and some wider reflections. Human Relations, 66 (10), 1353-1371. doi: 10.1177/0018726713477460
Alvesson, Mats and Spicer, Andre (2012). A stupidity-based theory of organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 49 (7), 1194-1220. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2012.01072.x
Alvesson, Mats and Spicer, Andre (2012). Critical leadership studies: The case for critical performativity. Human Relations, 65 (3), 367-390. doi: 10.1177/0018726711430555
Lundholm, Susanne E., Rennstam, Jens and Alvesson, Mats (2012). Understanding hierarchy in contemporary work. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 35, 113-140. doi: 10.1108/S0733-558X(2012)0000035007
Alvesson, Mats and Sveningsson, Stefan (2011). Management is the solution: Now what was the problem? On the fragile basis for managerialism. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 27 (4), 349-361. doi: 10.1016/j.scaman.2011.08.002
Alvesson, Mats (2011). De-essentializing the knowledge intensive firm: Reflections on sceptical research going against the mainstream. Journal of Management Studies, 48 (7), 1640-1661. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2011.01025.x
Alvesson, Mats and Karreman, Dan (2011). Decolonializing discourse: Critical reflections on organizational discourse analysis. Human Relations, 64 (9), 1121-1146. doi: 10.1177/0018726711408629
Alvesson, Mats and Kärreman, Dan (2011). Organizational discourse analysis - well done or too rare? A reply to our critics. Human Relations, 64 (9), 1193-1202. doi: 10.1177/0018726711408630
Alvesson, Mats and Sandberg, Jörgen (2011). Generating research questions through problematization. The Academy of Management Review, 36 (2), 247-271. doi: 10.5465/AMR.2011.59330882
Sandberg, Jörgen and Alvesson, Mats (2011). Ways of constructing research questions: Gap-spotting or problematization?. Organization, 18 (23-24), 1-22. doi: 10.1177/1350508410372151
Alvesson, Mats (2010). Self-doubters, strugglers, storytellers, surfers and others: Images of self-identities in organization studies. Human Relations, 63 (2), 193-217. doi: 10.1177/0018726709350372
Alvesson, Mats, Bridgman, Todd and Willmott, Hugh (2009). Introduction. The Oxford Handbook of Critical Management Studies, 1-6. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199595686.013.0001
Alvesson, M., Karreman, D., Sturdy, A. and Handley, K. (2009). Unpacking the client(s): Constructions, positions and client-consultant dynamics. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 25 (3), 253-263. doi: 10.1016/j.scaman.2009.05.001
Spicer, A., Alvesson, M and Karreman, D (2009). Critical performativity: The unfinished business of critical management studies. Human Relations, 62 (4), 537-560. doi: 10.1177/0018726708101984
Karreman, D and Alvesson, M (2009). Resisting resistance: Counter-resistance, consent and compliance in a consultancy firm. Human Relations, 62 (8), 1115-1144. doi: 10.1177/0018726709334880
Karreman, Dan and Alvesson, Mats (2008). The communicative constitution of what? A response to Jian et al. Discourse & Communication, 2 (3), 321-325. doi: 10.1177/1750481308091913
Alvesson, Mats, Hardy, Cynthia and Harley, Bill (2008). Reflecting on reflexivity: Reflexive textual practices in organization and management theory. Journal of Management Studies, 45 (3), 480-501. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2007.00765.x
Alvesson, M. and Karreman, D. (2008). On the social nature of explicating mystery construction in theory development: A response to McKinley. Academy of Management Review, 33 (2), 543-545.
Alvesson, Mats and Empson, Laura (2008). The construction of organizational identity: Comparative case studies of consulting firms. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 24 (1), 1-16. doi: 10.1016/j.scaman.2007.10.001
Alvesson, Mats, Ashcraft, Karen Lee and Thomas, Robyn (2008). Identity matters: Reflections on the construction of identity scholarship in organization studies. Organization, 15 (1), 5-28. doi: 10.1177/1350508407084426
Alvesson, Mats and Karreman, Dan (2007). Constructing mystery: Empirical matters in theory development. Academy of Management Review, 32 (4), 1265-1281. doi: 10.5465/AMR.2007.26586822
Alvesson, M. and Karreman, D. (2007). Unraveling HRM: Identity, Ceremony, and Control in a Management Consulting Firm.. Organization Science, 18 (4), 711-723. doi: 10.1287/orsc.1070.0267
Kärreman, Dan, Alvesson, Mats and Wenglén, Robert (2006). The charismatization of routines: Management of meaning and standardization in an educational organization. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 22 (4), 330-351. doi: 10.1016/j.scaman.2006.10.008
Alvesson, M. and Robertson, M. (2006). The best and the brightest: The construction, significance and effects of elite identities in consultancy firms. Organization, 13 (2), 195-224. doi: 10.1177/1350508406061674
Alvesson, Mats and Kärreman, Dan (2006). Professional Service Firms as Collectivities: A Cultural and Processual View. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 24, 203-230. doi: 10.1016/S0733-558X(06)24008-4
Karreman, Dan and Alvesson, Mats (2004). Cages in Tandem: Management Control, Social Identity, and Identification in a Knowledge-Intensive Firm. Organization, 11 (1), 149-175. doi: 10.1177/1350508404039662
Alvesson, Mats and Kärreman, Dan (2004). Interfaces of control. Technocratic and socio-ideological control in a global management consultancy firm. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 29 (3-4), 423-444. doi: 10.1016/S0361-3682(03)00034-5
Alvesson, Mats and Sveningsson, Stefan (2003). Managers doing leadership: The extra-ordinarization of the mundane. Human Relations, 56 (12), 1435-1459. doi: 10.1177/00187267035612001
Sveningsson, S. and Alvesson, M. (2003). Managing managerial identities: Organizational fragmentation, discourse and identity struggle. Human Relations, 56 (10), 1163-1193. doi: 10.1177/00187267035610001
Alvesson, Mats (2003). Methodology for close up studies - struggling with closeness and closure. Higher Education, 46 (2), 167-193. doi: 10.1023/A:1024716513774
Alvesson, Mats and Sveningsson, Stefan (2003). Good visions, bad micro-management and ugly ambiguity: Contradictions of (non-)leadership in a knowledge-intensive organization. Organization Studies, 24 (6), 961-988. doi: 10.1177/0170840603024006007
Alvesson, Mats (2003). Beyond neopositivists, romantics, and localists: a reflexive approach to interviews in organizational research. Academy of Management Review, 28 (1), 13-33. doi: 10.2307/30040687
Alvesson, M. and Sveningsson, S. (2003). The great disappearing act: difficulties in doing "leadership". The Leadership Quarterly, 14 (3), 359-381. doi: 10.1016/S1048-9843(03)00031-6
Alvesson, Mats (2003). Interpretive unpacking: moderately destabilizing identities and images in organization studies. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 21, 3-27. doi: 10.1016/S0733-558X(03)21001-6
Alvesson, Mats and Willmott, Hugh (2002). Identity regulation as organizational control: Producing the appropriate individual. Journal of Management Studies, 39 (5), 619-644. doi: 10.1111/1467-6486.00305
Karreman, Dan, Sveningsson, Stefan and Alvesson, Mats. (2002). The return of the machine bureaucracy? Management control in the work settings of professionals. International Studies of Management and Organization, 32 (2), 70-92.
Alvesson, Mats, Kärreman, Dan and Swan, Jacky (2002). Departures from knowledge and/or management in knowledge management. Management Communication Quarterly, 16 (2), 282-291. doi: 10.1177/089331802237242
Conference Papers
Stephens, Anna M., Alvesson, Mats and Sandberg, Jorgen (2019). They complain but they don’t do anything: complaining and complying in a university. 35th EGOS Colloquium, Edinburgh, Scotland, 4-6 July 2019.
Alvesson, Mats and Sandberga, Jorgen (2009). Generating research questions through problematization: The case of research in power, resistance and hegemony in organizations. 25th EGOS Colloquium 2009: Passion for creativity and innovation, Barcelona, Spain, 2-4 July 2009.