Research That Matters .
The contributions to this handbook contain numerous stimulating suggestions for further research within their particular focus area. In this concluding chapter we take a step further and propose a few overarching themes for future work that we believe would be useful for advancing the field as a whole. They grow out of our current map of the field's development and are influenced by our perceptions, o own research interests, and our experience. The themes on our agenda therefore reflect our sense of what is worthwhile to pursue in the coming years, and we hope that researchers and practitioners coming from varied cultural and professional backgrounds will be intrigued enough to join in pursuing some of these issues.
We emphasize this point because the spirit in which research is undertaken is a factor that is rarely addressed, an omission that often makes research agendas dry and ritualistic texts. In selecting overarching themes in this conclusion, we are driven by a sense that research on organizational learning and knowledge creation is a deeply humanistic endeavor that should lead to insights that can benefit members at all levels of organizations. Equally important, we believe that the actual research process should be designed to include diverse interests and perspectives. Learning and creating knowledge entails moving into new territories and taking risks, trying out different approaches, and engaging with people and ideas that seem contradictory and foreign. Scholars seeking to advance knowledge in this area and to generate research that matters in the future will do well to embed these considerations in the agendas they shape and the methodologies they select.