A Current and Future Agenda for Cognitive Research in Organizations†

Abstract

The study of cognition in organizational settings has expanded dramatically over the last decade in response to the interdisciplinary growth of cognitive science. The first papers to appear generated great enthusiasm for the possible applications of a cognitive perspective but, understandably, focused on cognition itself, tended to work in the absence of empirical data, were sceptical about the possibility of defining collective cognition, and introduced too many similar but somewhat inconsistent concepts. The papers in this volume illustrate how we have moved beyond those early days in several critical areas, as detailed below.