The Origins of the Extreme Contexts Community (2014–2017)

The origins of the Extreme Contexts community can be traced to a series of international workshops initiated in 2014. These workshops brought together scholars from different countries and disciplines who shared an interest in understanding organizing under conditions characterized by uncertainty, disruption, danger and adversity. Ten years later, the theoretical, methodological and empirical focuses remain heterogenous – but focused on a context sensitive approach to extreme contexts.

The first Extreme Contexts Workshop was organized at HEC Montréal in 2014 by Linda Rouleau (HEC Montréal), Markus Hällgren (Umeå University), Geneviève Musca (Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense), and Viviane Sergi (UQAM). The workshops were organized around keynotes, paper presentations and master classes. The workshop drew inspiration from the emerging literature on extreme contexts, particularly the definition proposed by Hannah et al. (2009), who described extreme contexts as settings:

“…where one or more extreme events are occurring or are likely to occur that may exceed the organization’s capacity to prevent and result in an extensive and intolerable magnitude of physical, psychological, or material consequences to—or in close physical or psycho-social proximity to—organization members.”

The enthusiasm generated by the first meeting led to two further workshops:

• 2015 – Umeå University
• 2017 – Paris Dauphine University

Each workshop attracted approximately fifty participants and became the starting point of the international network of scholars interested in extreme contexts, and the associated newsletter.

During the 2015 workshop, the initial ideas for what later became the Academy of Management Annals review article on Extreme Contexts were first presented and discussed.

Alongside these workshops, the first In Extremis Workshop was launched in Umeå in 2015. Unlike traditional paper-development workshops, In Extremis emphasized collaborative discussion, experimentation, and intellectual exchange. The workshop has continued ever since.

Beginning in 2016, the growing interest in Extreme Contexts was also reflected in dedicated tracks and sub-themes at major conferences, including EGOS, EURAM, and the Academy of Management Annual Meeting.

Consolidating the Field (2018)

A major milestone came in 2018 with the publication of “A Matter of Life and Death: How Extreme Context Research Matters for Management and Organization Studies” in Academy of Management Annals. Reviewing 138 studies published between 1980 and 2016, the article synthesized existing research and proposed a context-sensitive approach for the fragmented literature and proposed a future research agenda for the field.

More importantly to the community, the review provided a shared intellectual foundation for what had until then been an emerging international network of researchers connected through workshops and conference activities. It represented an important step in consolidating the Extreme Contexts Community.

Building on this momentum, Markus Hällgren, Linda Rouleau and Mark de Rond (Cambridge University) officially launched the Extreme Contexts Newsletter in 2018. The newsletter connected researchers across institutions, disseminated research opportunities, announced events, and strengthened relationships within the growing international network. It remains one of the community’s central communication channels. The Organizing Extreme contexts website also saw the light of the day (www.organizingextremecontexts.org). 

Building an International Community (2018–2024)

As the community continued to grow, efforts shifted toward creating sustainable structures that would enable long-term collaboration.

One important milestone was the establishment of the Extreme Contexts Standing Working Group (SWG) at the EGOS Colloquium. The proposal was developed by Markus Hällgren, Linda Rouleau, Mark de Rond, Samer Faraj (McGill University), Kathleen Sutcliffe (John Hopkins University), Daniel Geiger (University of Hamburg) and Anja Danner-Schröder (RPTU).

Support for the proposal came directly from the emerging Extreme Contexts network, with more than one hundred researchers from around the world endorsing the initiative. The SWG was approved in 2020 and quickly became one of the most popular SWG/subthemes at EGOS. Following its initial four-year period, it was extended for an additional two years. During this period, the SWG leadership evolved as Samer Faraj and Linda Rouleau stepped down from the SWG coordination in 2024 and were succeeded by April Wright (now Warwick Business School) and Sophie Jané (Umeå University).

The SWG became an important platform for intellectual exchange and community building. Across the years, participants became friends and colleagues, stimulating numerous collaborations, paper-development workshops, conference symposia, and special issues ever since. In 2022, Extreme Contexts became the central theme of the Process Organization Studies (PROS) Conference, represented by Mark de Rond and April Wright (Warwick University). In 2026, a book volume based on the PROS theme, edited by Mark de Rond, April Wright, Ann Langley (HEC Montreal), and Haridimos Tsoukas (University of Cyprus), is published.

Moving Online (2020–)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the community’s activities moved online.

In 2020, Markus Hällgren, Linda Rouleau, April Wright, and Derin Kent (then Aalto University, now Warwick Business School) launched the Extreme Contexts Virtual Seminar Series. At a time when international conferences had largely ceased, the seminar series provided an important platform for scholarly exchange and helped sustain the rapidly growing international community. 

Expanding Community Activities

As the community matured, additional initiatives were introduced to support researchers at different career stages and foster collaboration beyond conferences.

These initiatives include:

• Extreme Contexts Newsletter (Coordinated by Markus Hällgren 2018-2022; 2022- Anja Danner-Schröder)
• LinkedIn, website, Youtube (Coordinated by Kijan Vakilzadeh (Freie Universität Berlin) and Markus Hällgren, 2018-) 
• Virtual Seminar Series (Coordinated by Derin Kent & Markus Hällgren, 2020-; including April Wright & Linda Rouleau 2020-2024)
• Mentorship Programme (Coordinated by Madeleine Rauch, University of Cambridge, 2024-) 
• R&R Club (Coordinated by Robin Burrows (York University) & Sophie Jané, 2024-)
• Caring with Extreme Contexts researchers (Coordinated by Gloria Kutcher, University of Southampton; Anja Danner-Schröder, 2026-)

Continued Developments

The year 2025 marked another important milestone.

The first WBS Extreme Contexts Summit was held at Warwick Business School, organized by Derin Kent and Adrian Marrison (Warwick University), further demonstrating the growing international interest in Extreme Contexts research and providing the community with a space for intellectual exchange and paper presentations.

The same year also saw the publication of the Journal of Management Studies Special Issue on Extreme Contexts, featuring six articles addressing different aspects of organizing in extreme contexts. In the accompanying editorial, Markus Hällgren, Daniel Geiger, Linda Rouleau, Kathleen Sutcliffe and Eero Vaara (Oxford University) reviewed the development of the field between 2016 and 2025 and outlined future directions for both the research field and the community, including three perspectives on extreme contexts. 

Community Stewardship

Since its beginnings in 2014, the Extreme Contexts Community has intentionally remained institutionally independent.

Individual universities have hosted workshops, conferences, seminars, and other initiatives, and many institutions have made important contributions to the community’s development. However, no single university serves as the organizational home of the community. Instead, the community is sustained through voluntary contributions from researchers across institutions, disciplines, countries, and career stages. The idea is that this makes the community stronger and more resilient.

Today, overall coordination of the community is provided by Markus Hällgren, while individual initiatives are stewarded by members of the community. Current stewardship includes contributions from Derin Kent, Madeleine Rauch, Robin Burrows, Sophie Jané, Kijan Vakilzadeh, Gloria Kutcher, Anja Danner-Schröder, Laura Ferris, Richard O’Quinn, and many others who continue to invest their time and expertise in strengthening the community.

As the community continues to evolve, its founding principle remains unchanged: to provide an open, welcoming, collaborative, and institutionally independent forum for everyone interested in advancing research on organizing in extreme contexts. If you are interested in supporting the community, please reach out! 

Email: info@organizingextremecontexts.org
The LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14245317/

Website: www.organizingextremecontexts.org

The history of the Extreme Contexts Community continues to unfold. As the saying goes, the future is yet to be written. We look forward to writing the next chapter together!