Georges Romme

A. Georges L. (Sjoerd) Romme (born 1960) is a Dutch organizational theorist and professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at the Eindhoven University of Technology.

Georges Romme received a MSc in economics from Tilburg University and in 1992 a PhD degree in business administration from Maastricht University. Since 2005 he is professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), and since 2007 also dean of the Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences department.

In the early 1990s, Georges Romme introduced Boolean comparative analysis to the organization and management sciences. He also developed and pioneered the "thesis circle", a tool for collaboratively supervising final (BSc or MSc) projects.

He was one of the original pioneers who brought design thinking and the design sciences to organization studies. A key idea put forward by Romme (2003) and Romme & Endenburg (2006) is that design principles are instrumental in connecting description and explanation (by researchers) to design and construction (by practitioners). As such his work established the idea that social science-based research serves to advance the body of knowledge on management and organization, but needs to be complemented by pragmatic design knowledge for practitioners (e.g. managers, consultants).

Books, a selection

• 1992. A Self-organization Perspective on Strategy Formation, doctoral dissertation, Maastricht University Press.

Articles, a selection

• Romme, A.G.L. (1995), Self-organizing processes in top management teams: a Boolean comparative approach. Journal of Business Research, vol. 34: 11-34.
• Romme, A.G.L. (1997). Work, authority, and participation: the scenario of circular organizing. Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 10: 156-166.
• Romme, A.G.L. (1999), Domination, self-determination and circular organizing. Organization Studies, vol. 20: 801-832.
• Romme, A.G.L. (2003), Organizing education by drawing on organization studies. Organization Studies, vol. 24: 697-720.
• Romme, A.G.L. (2003), Making a difference: Organization as design. Organization Science, vol. 14: 558-573.
• Romme, A.G.L. (2004), Unanimity rule and organizational decision-making: a simulation model. Organization Science, vol. 15: 704-718.
• Romme, A.G.L., & G. Endenburg (2006), Construction Principles and Design Rules in the Case of Circular Design. Organization Science, vol. 17 (2): 287-297.
• Dunbar, R.L.M., A.G.L. Romme & W.H. Starbuck (2008), Creating better understandings of organizations while building better organizations. In: D. Barry & H. Hansen (eds.), Handbook of New Approaches to Organization Studies, p. 554-571. Los Angeles: Sage, 2008.
• Jelinek, M., A.G.L. Romme & R.J. Boland (2008), Organization studies as a science for design: Creating collaborative artefacts and research, introduction to the special issue 'Organization Studies as a Science for Design', Organization Studies, vol. 29: 317-329.
• Van Burg, E., A.G.L. Romme, V.A. Gilsing & I.M.M.J. Reymen (2008), Creating university spinoffs: a science-based design perspective. Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 25: 114-128.