On refugee integration as organizing processes—Action nets, agency, and power

Abstract

There has been growing interest recently in the role of organizations in supporting the integration of refugees into the receiving country's labor market and society. In much of this literature, organizations are conceptualized as stable entities and instruments designed to achieve specific collective objectives. While the formal aspects of organization cannot be ignored, the present excessive focus on them inhibits a more profound understanding of the intricacies of the everyday organizing of refugee integration, much of which takes place in between, outside, across, and despite organizations. This paper aims to review emerging approaches in the study of organizing critically, with particular focus on European management and organization studies. It seeks to demonstrate the value of these approaches in exploring and understanding the efforts to integrate refugees into European labor markets and societies.