Abstract
It is with deep regret that we mark the death of David Hickson on 22 June 2016. A full obituary, authored by Bob Hinings, can be read via the EGOS website (http://www.egosnet.org/book_of_condolences_professor_david_j_hickson). However, a few words about David’s pivotal role in the journal Organization Studies are certainly appropriate here in the journal. There is no doubt that David was a significant scholar in the field of Organization Studies. His name is synonymous with the Aston studies of organizational structure, size and technology; with the strategic contingencies’ view of power in organizations; with cross-national comparative studies; and with the analysis of strategic decision processes and performance. It was this kind of scholarship and his experiences in Canada and North America that were the foundation for his burning desire that European scholars should have an equally strong voice to that of scholars from North America who were publishing in predominantly North American journals.
As a founding member of the European Group for Organization Studies, David was keenly aware of the need for mobilizing the European scholarly voice. One of the key ways in which David implemented this was to be the founder and first Editor-in-Chief of this journal, Organization Studies. From the start, it was not clear to David that the journal was going to be a long-lasting success, but eleven years later when he finished his marathon term as Editor-in-Chief, the journal had become an established feature of high-quality scholarship with a reputation developing across the continents. Now, in 2016, the journal is one of the international flagship journals in Organization Studies and right up to his death David was immensely proud of the journal’s success and his key role in the early stewardship of Organization Studies. His legacy has continued to be vibrant and salient for his successors at the journal.
There is little doubt that founding Editors have a strong influence on the trajectory and nature of their journals. But David’s influence was extraordinary. A key factor in this was David’s belief that interesting papers should be considered for publication. By this he meant papers which, for example, dealt with topics not usually published in the mainstream North American journals, or which dealt with organizational issues in uncommon or unfamiliar contexts such as little-known or emerging countries. ‘Interesting’ did not mean shoddy for David. He was insistent on quality no matter what the paper was trying to say. In this, he exercised an extremely sharp editorial eye, able to pick out the slightest inconsistency, the vague unsupported argument and any lack of attention to theory and method. He was a perfectionist, often sharper as Editor than many of the reviewers of the various papers he oversaw. It is testimony to David’s considerable influence on the field that two of his PhD students became, in turn, Editors-in-Chief of Organization Studies (Stewart Clegg and David Wilson). The rest, as they say, is history – and a successful one too.
It is difficult to imagine a world without Organization Studies. And the world of Organization Studies would be all the poorer for the lack of it. But the reason Organization Studies exists at all and has become a success is down to one man – David Hickson. It is to him that all of us as previous or existing Editors-in Chief pay our immense respects and offer our deepest sympathies to his family. He leaves behind Marjorie, his wife, his son and daughter, Adrian and Luci, as well as five grandchildren.