Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: 1. Historical perspective: The Pragmatist adventure, from anti-Cartesianism to anti-Taylorism... -- 1.1. Metaphysical Club (1872): The origins and first steps of pragmatism -- 1.2. Fight against Cartesian idealism -- 1.3. Main figures of classical pragmatism: Peirce, James, Dewey, and Mead -- 1.4. Era of decline: from Pragmatism to pragmatism -- 1.5. Walter Shewhart: The anti-Taylorian exploration at the Hawthorne Works (1924) -- 1.6. From the linguistic turn to the pragmatic turn: Rorty and Putnam -- 2. Semiotic mediation at the heart of organizing: Questioning the representation/reality dichotomy -- 2.1. Representationalist mainstream of organization studies -- 2.2. Two mass distribution companies: A difficult logistic integration -- 2.3. Struggling for work safety in a building company -- 2.4. Discussion of the cases: The pragmatist critique of representationalism -- 2.5. Pragmatist theory of semiotic mediation -- 2.6. Pragmatist basis of the mediation concept: Thirdness and triadic sign -- 2.7. Semiotic mediation: The gate to temporality and sociality -- 2.8. Reassessing sociomateriality -- 2.9. Conclusion: Signs insinuate ghosts into organizational situations -- 3. Habits: The actional view of organizations -- 3.1. From the actional to the informational paradigm of organization: A historical "drama" -- 3.2. Two cases -- 3.3. Pragmatist focus on action and meaning -- 3.4. Pragmatist theory of habit -- 3.5. Revisiting the two cases -- 3.6. Activity as a collective discourse expressed in the language of habits -- 3.7. Some convergences with other theoretical frameworks -- 3.8. Conclusion -- 4. Inquiry: The process of thinking, acting, and mediating -- 4.1. Introduction -- 4.2. Searching for performance in the cardiology department of a hospital -- 4.3. Pragmatist definitions of inquiry: Belief, doubt, and situation -- 4.4. Inquiring versus controlling and problem-solving frameworks: In search of a problem -- 4.5. Inquiring as a social process: The community of inquiry -- 4.6. From the "mind first" dualism (thought versus action) to thought/action integration -- 4.7. Inquiry involves three types of inference: Abduction, deduction, induction -- 4.8. Inquiry is mediated and mediating -- 4.9. Methodological and managerial implications -- 4.10. Conclusion: Habit and inquiry, a recursive theory of action -- 5. Trans-action: Beyond the individual/collective dualism, the dialogical approach to sociality -- 5.1. Introduction -- 5.2. Sharedness" mainstream and its limitations -- 5.3. Few cases -- 5.4. Pragmatist dialogical and trans-actional approach to sociality -- 5.5. Dewey and Bentley's theory of trans-action -- 5.6. Trans-actional approach to sociality -- 5.7. Conclusion -- 6. Community of inquiry: Trans-actional inquiry and common concern -- 6.1. Introduction -- 6.2. Case study: Communities of inquiry and communities of practice at Electricite de France (EDF) -- 6.3. Classical pragmatism and communities of inquiry -- 6.4. Two types of solidarity, two types of community -- 6.5. Communities of process, activity systems, and shared concerns -- 6.6. Managerial applications of the pragmatist approach to the community of inquiry -- 6.7. Conclusion -- 7. Abduction -- 7.1. Introduction -- 7.2. Historical definitions of abduction -- 7.3. Abduction as a social process -- 7.4. Case study: Re-inventing urban planning -- 7.5. Discussion of the case: Four key characteristics of the tested process -- 7.6. Abduction in the organizational world -- 7.7. Conclusion: The social process of abduction fabulates the collective future -- 8. Value and valuation -- 8.1. Introduction -- 8.2. Four short stories of valuation -- 8.3. From dualist value to pragmatist valuation -- 8.4. Valuation process is mediated by valuation tools -- 8.5. Conclusion: What is at stake in the pragmatist approach to valuation? -- 9. Pragmatism, a process perspective on organizations -- 9.1. Introduction -- 9.2. Process turn in organization studies -- 9.3. Six questions raised by the process approach to organizations -- 9.4. Pragmatism: A process-oriented thought -- 9.5. Process of organizing in the light of pragmatist analyses -- 9.6. Conclusion: Some managerial and methodological implications -- 10. Pragmatist influence on managerial ideas and practices: The strange history of lean management -- 10.1. Introduction -- 10.2. Mary Parker Follett, "prophet of management" -- 10.3. Chester Barnard: Cooperation and authority -- 10.4. Donald Schon and reflection-in-action -- 10.5. Action research and the Tavistock Institute -- 10.6. Pragmatist sources of quality and "lean" management -- 10.7. Original features of "lean management" inspired by pragmatism -- 10.8. Call center case -- 10.9. Dominant practices of "lean" management today: Back to Taylorism -- 10.10. Conclusion.