Organisation researcher Barbara Czarniawska has died
Professor emerita in management studies Barbara Czarniawska has been described as innovative, inspiring and always curious. During her more than 50-year-long academic career, she worked towards a broader understanding of organising.
Barbara Czarniawska grew up and completed her PhD in Warsaw. After postdoctoral studies at MIT in the US, she came to Sweden in 1984. In 1996, she received offers from both Yale University and Cambridge University, but chose the Gothenburg Research Institute (GRI), the interdisciplinary research institute at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.
Creating the theory of translation
Thematically, Barbara Czarniawska linked insights from studies of technology and society and the humanities, with emerging findings from Swedish case studies of organising. On this basis, she created the theory of translation, the ongoing negotiation and interpretation that is central to organisational change. Barbara Czarniawska focused on processes that lead to organising, contributing to insights into how the construction of gender shapes working life in different ways in different countries.
Her scientific achievements were recognised through membership of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of Sciences and Letters, the Societas Scientiarum Fennica and the British Academy. During her lifetime, she was awarded no less than six honorary doctorates at various universities and countries.
Barbara Czarniawska supervised an unusually large number of doctoral students both in Sweden and abroad. Her international network was extensive and her solid language skills contributed to the fact that she regularly published and taught in English, Italian, Swedish and Polish.
Barbara Czarniawska passed away after a period of illness on 7 April 2024. She was 75 years old.