Reprogramming. Observed with social systems theory
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.
List of topic areas
Articles in this issue will examine how organisations manage and reflect change not by simply responding to environmental pressures, but by selectively reprogramming their internal decision premises. We welcome submissions that:
- Analyse how organisations revise conditional (“if-then”) and purposive (“goal”) programmes in the face of external complexity.
- Explore the interplay between change programmes and functional differentiation, especially in the context of organisational multifunctionality where decision systems must accommodate conflicting societal expectations.
- Reframe phenomena such as transformation, restructuring, innovation, or compliance as operations of systemic reprogramming.
- Theorise failed or ambiguous change as a result of incompatible or unstable programme configurations.
- Apply systems-theoretical concepts (e.g. decision premises, operational closure, structural coupling, functional performance) to empirical or theoretical problems in change management.
- Scrutinise current claims and efforts to “repurpose” organisations-including higher education institutions-to align them with sustainability or DEI agendas.
Contributions may span public, private, and hybrid sectors. Especially welcome are submissions that sceptically engage with grand change agendas-such as sustainability, diversity, and digitalisation-by showing how such agendas are processed (or resisted) through the internal programming of organisational decisions.
Submissions Information
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here.
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here.
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”.
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.
Key deadlines
This special issue is now open for submissions.
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 20/01/2026
Guest editors
Steffen Roth, Excelia Business School, France; University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, roths@excelia-group.com
Vladislav Valentinov, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies, Halle, Germany; Next Society Institute, Kazimieras Simonavičius University, Lithuania, valentinov@iamo.de
For more details refer here
