Special Issue of the Journal of Organizational Change Management (Emerald) on

Reprogramming. Observed with social systems theory

Guest Editors: 

Steffen Roth, Excelia Business School, France; University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Vladislav Valentinov, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies, Halle, Germany; Next Society Institute, Kazimieras Simonavičius University, Lithuania

Closing date for manuscripts submission: 20/01/2026

This special issue of the Journal of Organizational Change Management invites submissions that explore how organisational change unfolds through processes of reprogramming—that is, through the revision and restructuring of internal decision premises—when observed with social systems theory. Inspired by and linked to the 2025 Luhmann Conference on “Programmes. Observed with social systems theory”, to be held at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, this issue builds on Niklas Luhmann’s theory of organisations as systems of decision communication. The conference investigates, inter alia, how organisations rely on programmes in order to navigate a complex, functionally differentiated society shaped by conflicting demands from economic, political, legal, educational, and or scientific subsystems. By reframing organisational change as reprogramming, this special issue seeks to move beyond behavioural or leader-centric approaches to change management. It invites contributors to observe how change occurs when organisations adjust their own internal logics—how decisions are made, why they are justified, and which internal and external expectations are taken seriously. Reprogramming is understood here not as technical adjustment or ideological rebranding, but as a structural transformation in the way organisations process and stabilise change.

Read the full Call for Papers here.

Background literature

• Kaczmarczyk, M. (2025), The reality of environment reimagined: Niklas Luhmann and the new ecological paradigm. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Vol. 42 No. 2, pp. 327-337.
• Kleve H., Roth S., Köllner T., and Wetzel R. (2020), The tetralemma of the business family. A systemic approach to business-family dilemmas in research and practice, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 433-446.
• Knudsen, M., & Kishik, S. (2024), Organizational change structures: exploring the organizational conditions for sustainable change in the agro-industry, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 37 No. 5, pp. 1012-1029.
• Roth S. (2021), Draw your organization! A solution-focused theory-method for business school challenges and change, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 713-728
• Roth S. (2019), Digital transformation of social theory. A research update, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 146 No. September, pp. 88-93.
• Roth S., Schneckenberg D., Valentinov V., and Kleve H. (2023), Approaching management and organization paradoxes paradoxically: The case for the tetralemma as an expansive encasement strategy, European Management Journal, Vol. 41 No. 2, pp. 191-198
• Roth S. and Sales A. (in press), Multifunctional organisation. A systems-theoretical concept and its practical implications, Kybernetes, DOI: 10.1108/K-05-2025-1387.
• Roth S., Valentinov V., Kaivo-oja J., and Dana L.-P. (2018), Multifunctional organisation models. A systems-theoretical framework for new venture discovery and creation, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 31 No. 7, pp. 1383-1400.
• Sales A., Mansur J., and Roth S. (2023), Fit for functional differentiation. New directions for personnel management and organizational change bridging fit theory and social systems theory, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 273-289.
• Valentinov, V., & Hajdu, A. (2021). Integrating instrumental and normative stakeholder theories: a systems theory approach. Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 699-712.
• van Assche, K., Valentinov, V., & Verschraegen, G. (2022), Adaptive governance: learning from what organizations do and managing the role they play, Kybernetes, Vol. 51 No. 5, pp.1738-1758.