Theory Building in Applied Disciplines

PART THREESuccessful Theory Building

9 Case Example: Marsick and Watkins’s Learning Organization Theory

10 Case Example: Chermack’s Scenario-Planning Theory

11 Figuring Out the Present Status of a Theory

12 Whatcha Gonna Do?

THEORY BUILDING IS important work. Many scholars and scholarly practitioners avoid theory building because it can span over long periods of time. Concurrently, many expert practitioners avoid the detail and precision required to document what they know. Either way, knowledge is lost, and applied disciplines do not advance as much as they could.

Available examples of applied discipline theories rarely are complete—that is, displaying efforts through all five phases of the method. Unfortunately, people have all too often used ...