Department of Management Studies
The Department of Management Studies offers a dynamic environment for scholarship and learning.
Qual+
The Qual+ center (est. 2023) advances greater cooperation and capacity building around topics of qualitative methodologies within the School of Business at Aalto, and leverages Aalto’s world class qualitative research skills internationally.
About Qual+
Qual+ promotes methodological and theoretical pluralism in management studies and invites all forms of qualitative research, including mixed and merged methods.
The center's main objectives include advancing methodological connections across researchers, helping researchers learn and develop new methodologies, promoting multidisciplinary dialogue concerning the use of qualitative methodologies, and exploring future trends in qualitative methods.
The center brings researchers together by organizing seminars, workshops, and community-building events. It builds on a long tradition of qualitative research scholarship at the School of Business (and its predecessor, the Helsinki School of Economics) and leverages Aalto’s world-class qualitative research skills internationally.
Anything you'd like to share with the Qual+ community? Reach out to qual-plus@aalto.fi
Let us know if you have relevant news you'd like us to share through our mailing list, newsletter and/or LinkedIn page.
We are happy to spread the word about upcoming events, calls-for-paper, conference calls, or courses; or new interesting articles or books you have come across – or published!
Read the latest newsletter below!
Upcoming events
Qual+ and CARMA course: Doing Process Research for Insight and Impact
Doing Process Research for Insight and Impact
Qual+ Advanced Doctoral Course on Case Studies in Business and Management Research
Advanced doctoral course on case studies, organized in collaboration with Kataja.Courses
When: November 12-14, 2026
Teacher/instructor: Emerita Professor Ann Langley
This doctoral course, organized in close collaboration with CARMA, concentrates on process research and process theorizing, and covers the following topics:
• The nature of process research and process research questions
• Choices and challenges in designing process studies
• Strategies for theorizing from process data
• Navigating the involvement paradox in process research
• Visualizing processes
• Writing up process research: unpacking a case history
The course is led by Ann Langley, Emerita Professor of Management at HEC Montréal and Distinguished Research Environment Professor at University of Warwick. Until August 2020, she held the Chair in Strategic Management in Pluralistic Settings and was codirector of the Strategy as Practice Study Group at HEC Montréal. She completed her undergraduate and master’s degrees in the United Kingdom and obtained her Ph.D. in management at HEC Montreal in 1987 after several years working in both private and public sectors as an analyst and consultant. Her research deals with strategic management processes and practices appropriate to “pluralistic” settings, i.e., organizational contexts where objectives and values are multiple and ambiguous, where power and influence are shared among a variety of stakeholders, and where the knowledge required to make decisions is distributed among people at many levels and in different positions.
Apply for the course:
Instructions for registration coming soon!
When: November 30 - December 4, 2026
6 ECTS
Teachers: Professor Rebecca Piekkari (rebecca.piekkari@aalto.fi) and Professor Catherine Welch, (welchc@tcd.ie)
The purpose of this advanced methods course is to introduce doctoral students from Europe and around the world to the diversity of ways of conducting case study research and to improve their own research practice. In practice, this is ‘two courses in one’ as we also cover the implications of philosophy of science for case study research. The course aims to provide an overview of recent trends and debates on the case study in management and organization research. This course will focus on issues that are often left out of methodology courses and training, notably: What are the different views on the theoretical contribution that a case study can make, and what lies behind these differences?
This course is organized in collaboration with Kataja.
More information about the course here: https://kataja.eu/events/advanced-doctoral-course-on-case-studies-in-business-and-management-research-8/.
Apply for the course by filling out this form: https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/BDF82FDBE0A4F6DF.
Qual+ / CARMA symposium: Advancements in Qualitative Research Methods
A two-day symposium consisting of two methods workshops and one paper development workshop. The workshop consisted of two methods workshops during which the facilitators shared recent advances in qualitative research methods, focusing on strengthening and elucidating the links between qualitative methods and theorizing, and a paper development workshop, during which symposium attendees may present their ideas for future qualitative research methods projects and receive feedback from research methods experts. Orgnaized in collaboration with CARMA.
When: June 8-9, 2026
Where: Aalto University, School of Business
Teachers: Professor Tine Köhler (University of Melbourne), Professor Catherine Welch (Trinity College), and Lecturer Maria Rumyantseva (University of Sydney).
Qual+ / CARMA course: Introduction to Qualitative Methods: Ethnography
A two and a half-day course with Professor Michael Pratt aimed at gaining a solid foundation in qualitative methods by learning ethnographic methods. Organized in collaboration between Qual+ and CARMA.
When: June 10-12, 2026
Where: Aalto University, School of Business
Teachers: Professor Michael Pratt (Boston College)
Qual+ course | Learning to See: A Course in Ethnography and Discourse Analysis (6 ECTS)
This course offers doctoral students a blend of theoretical and practical insights into ethnography and discourse analysis. Through interactive sessions, independent assignments, and collaborative projects, you'll gain hands-on skills in research design, data collection and analysis, and explore the impact of language on identity, interaction, and power dynamics in diverse contexts.
When: June 12-17, 2026
Where: Aalto University, School of Business
Teacher: Professor Jo Angouri
EIBA Methods Summer School 2025 | Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Big Data: Opportunities and Challenges for International Business Research
When: 1–5 September 2025
Where: WU-Vienna
Organizers: Jonas Puck jonas.puck@wu.ac.at and Jakob Müllner jakob.muellner@wu.ac.at
Qual+ course | Learning to See: A Course in Ethnography and Discourse Analysis (6 ECTS)
This course offers doctoral students a blend of theoretical and practical insights into ethnography and discourse analysis. Through interactive sessions, independent assignments, and collaborative projects, you'll gain hands-on skills in research design, data collection and analysis, and explore the impact of language on identity, interaction, and power dynamics in diverse contexts.
When: 2–16 May 2025
Where: Aalto University School of Business
Teacher: Professor Jo Angouri
Kataja course | Feminist Theories and Organization Studies: Dialogue on New Bases (6 ECTS)
When: 4–6 June 2025
Where: Pyhätunturi (organized by University of Lapland)
Instructors: Alison Pullen (Professor of Gender, Work and Organization, Macquarie University, Australia), Susan Meriläinen (Professor of Management, University of Lapland), Saija Katila (Adjunct professor, Senior Lecturer, Aalto School of Business)
Course coordinator: Ilmari Miettunen (University of Lapland)
2–6 September 2026 | EIASM/EDEN course: Advanced Doctoral Seminar on Case Studies in Business and Management Research (6 ECTS)
When: 2–6 September 2024
Where: Aalto University School of Business
Instructors: Professor Rebecca Piekkari, Aalto University School of Business, and Associate Professor Catherine Welch, The University of Sydney Business School
Course coordinator: Arrieta Valentina, Aalto University School of Business
5–7 June 2024 | Qual+ workshop: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)
When: 5–7 June 2024
Where: Online & Aalto University School of Business
Instructor: Peer C. Fiss, Professor of Management & Organization and Sociology at the University of Southern California, U.S.
15–21 May 2024 | Qual+ course: Learning to See: A Course in Ethnography and Discourse Analysis (6–9 ECTS)
When: 15–21 May 2024
Where: Aalto University School of Business
Instructor: Professor Jo Angouri
9–11 April 2024 | Philosophical Underpinnings and Ongoing Debates of Marketing and Consumer Research (6 / 7,5 ECTS)
When: 9–11 April 2024
Where: Aalto University School of Business
Course instructors: Henrikki Tikkanen (Professor of Marketing and Consumer Research at Aalto University School of Business), Joel Hietanen (Professor of Socio-technical Change in Consumer Society at Centre for Consumer Society Research, University of Helsinki) and Jacob Östberg (Professor of Marketing at Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University, Sweden)
Reading tips
Writing the fascination for extreme contexts: Darwin’s reverie.
Musca Neukirch, G., & Gherardi, S. (2026). Culture and Organization, 1–25.
Full paper available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14759551.2025.2593983
Collectively Committing to ‘What Is Interesting’ in Qualitative Research: A methodological application of interactional sociolinguistics.
Kibler, E., Salmivaara, V., Lutman-White, E., Farny, S., & Angouri, J. (2026). Organization Studies.
Full paper available at:https://doi.org/10.1177/01708406261418190
What if the Case is ‘Elusive’? Methodological Challenges for Qualitative Research in International Relations and Global Governance.
De Donà, M. (2026). International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 25.
Full paper available at:
https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069261429329
Near-Histories and Strategy Emergence: A Microhistorical Perspective
Juha-Antti Lamberg, Eero Vaara, Pasi Nevalainen, and Henrikki Tikkanen. (2026). Administrative Science Quartetly, 71(1).
The paper sheds light on how even unrealized strategic plans, so-called near-history episodes, can generate unexpected processes and dynamics that ultimately shape organizational trajectories. Using a microhistorical lens, the authors examine Nokia’s evolution to explain how anticipation, emotion, and network mobilization play a critical role in strategy emergence.
https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:fe4d8d93-40e1-42c5-8df7-85f4169fc97
Cultivating insightful theory-building in qualitative research
by Ewald Kibler (Aalto University), Eero Vaara (Saïd Business School, University of Oxford) and Lauri Laine (Aalto University), published in the Journal of Business Venturing Insights (vol. 24) in 2025.
In this 10th Anniversary Special Collection paper, authors argue for moving beyond the production of ‘stand-alone’ theoretical models toward what they call insightful theory-building, a mode of inquiry that prioritises the development of clear, actionable insights that others can build upon.
Handbook of Feminist Research Methodologies in Management and Organization Studies
Cambridge Handbook of Qualitative Digital Research
Qualitative Management Research in Context Data Collection, Interpretation and Narrative
Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for Information Systems: New Pespectives
The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (6th ed)
Philosophy and Management Studies: A Research Overview
The Research Impact Agenda: Navigating the Impact of Impact
Routledge Companion to Organizational Diversity Research Methods
Past Qual+ events
Past seminars, workshops, courses and other events organized by Qual+ or relevant to the Qual+ community.
Qual+ team
Alice Wickström, Chair
DMS, BIZ
Marjo-Riitta Diehl
DMS, BIZ
Sampsa Hyysalo
DD, ARTS
Saija Katila
DMS, BIZ
Ulla-Maija Uusitalo
Aalto Executive Education
Frank Martela
DIEM, SCI
Johanna Moisander
DMS, BIZ
Antti Rousi
Aalto Data Agents, RES
Timo Vuori
DMS, BIZ & DIEM, SCI
Henri Weijo
DM, BIZ
Saku Mantere, Chair
McGill University, Canada
Catherine Cassell
Durham University, UK
Agnieszka Chidlow
University of Birmingham, UK
Joep Cornelissen
Erasmus University, Netherlands
Ibrat Djabbarov
Imperial College London, UK
Silvia Gherardi
University of Trento, Italy
Michael Pratt
Boston College, USA
Eero Vaara
Oxford University, UK
Maxim Voronov
York University, Canada
Catherine Welch
Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Jo Angouri
Maria Andrea De Villa
Marjo-Riitta Diehl
Saku Mantere
Eero Vaara
Timo Vuori
School of Business
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