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We elaborate these perspectives in terms of the ebb and flow of ideas and eras. Against these instrumental views, we revisit the work of Robert Cooper, namely the ever-open purpose of expressive organizations, and contrast this with fixist views of purpose in instrumental organizations. We engage with the logic of open purpose and sketch a way of rethinking purpose as a general orientation that constantly evolves and changes over time in interaction with its ecosystem. <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/26317877211054860","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,11]],"date-time":"2021-11-11T05:46:04Z","timestamp":1636609564000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["\u2018Open Purpose\u2019: Embracing Organizations as Expressive Systems"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"2","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6083-4283","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stewart","family":"Clegg","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway"},{"name":"Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Miguel Pina e","family":"Cunha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Arm\u00e9nio","family":"Rego","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cat\u00f3lica Porto Business School, Universidade Cat\u00f3lica Portuguesa, Lisboa, Portugal"},{"name":"BRU-Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa, ISCTE-IUL"}]},{"given":"Filipe","family":"Santos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidade Cat\u00f3lica Portuguesa, Lisboa, Portugal"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-26317877211054860","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.hrmr.2016.11.001"},{"key":"bibr2-26317877211054860","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/9781789734171"},{"key":"bibr3-26317877211054860","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0170840607096386"},{"key":"bibr4-26317877211054860","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2393449"},{"key":"bibr5-26317877211054860","volume-title":"The functions of the executive","author":"Barnard C.","year":"1938"},{"key":"bibr6-26317877211054860","first-page":"541","volume":"6","author":"Barry N.","year":"2002","journal-title":"Independent Review"},{"key":"bibr7-26317877211054860","first-page":"26","volume-title":"Milton Friedman 50 years later","author":"Bebchuk L.","year":"2020"},{"key":"bibr8-26317877211054860","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4337\/9781839101144"},{"key":"bibr9-26317877211054860","unstructured":"Big Society Capital (2015). 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