The objective of this study is to examine the theoretical contribution of Robert Cooper’s work for organization studies. Cooper was one of the first authors to propose and develop a processual approach to the analysis of the organizational phenomenon. To accomplish this, the paper will discuss the main ideas present in Cooper’s works. His main works to be analyzed here include: The open field, Organization/disorganization, andFormal organization as representation. We will also analyze Cooper’s works dedicated to situate the body in the analysis of organizations, as well as those which elaborated the idea that Chia (1998a) called the ‘logic of the other’. We will also argue that this idea permeated all his writings. Finally, we will discuss what constitutes a theoretical contribution and what was the theoretical contribution of the writings of Cooper here analyzed for the study of organizations. We will also highlight some final considerations regarding how Cooper has been read in Brazil and how this theoretical encounter with this author may raise new possibilities for research in the Brazilian organization studies.
Processual Approach; Organization Studies; Otherness