Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to revisit the potential of the New Deal as a research context in management and organization studies and, in doing so, forward the role one of its chief architects, Harry Hopkins, played in managing the economic crisis. The exploration takes us to multiple layers that work together to form context around Hopkins including the Great Depression, the Roosevelt Administration, and ultimately, the New Deal. By raising Harry Hopkins as an exemplar of historical-narrative exclusion, the authors can advance the understanding of his role in the New Deal and how his actions produced early insights about management (e.g. modern crisis management).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper experiments with the methodological assemblage of ANTi-History and microhistorical analysis that the authors call “ANTi-Microhistory” to examine the life narrative of Harry Hopkins, his early association with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and later, the New Deal. To accomplish this, the authors undertake a programme of archival research (e.g. the digital repository of The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum) and assess various materials (e.g. speeches, biographies and memoirs) from across multiple spaces.

Findings

The findings suggest Harry Hopkins to be a much more powerful actor in mobilizing New Deal policies and their effect on early management thought than what was previously accepted. In the process, the authors found that because of durable associations with Roosevelt, key policy architects of the same ilk as Harry Hopkins (e.g. Frances Perkins, Henry Wallace, Lewis Douglas, and others) and their contributions have been marginalized. This finding illustrates the significant potential of little-known historical figures and how they might shed new insight on the development of the field and management practice.

Originality/value

The aim is to demonstrate the potential of engaging historical research in management with the individual – Harry Hopkins – as a unit of analysis. By engaging historical research on the individual – be it well-known or obscure figures of the past – the authors are considering how they contribute to the understanding of phenomena (e.g. New Deal, Progressivism or Keynesian economics). The authors build on research that brings to focus forgotten people, communities and ideas in management studies but go further in advocating for space in the research to consider the scholarly potential of the individual.

中文翻译：

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恢复哈里·霍普金斯在新政中被忽视的作用的重要性：管理和组织研究的见解

目的

本文的目的是重新审视新政作为管理和组织研究的研究背景的潜力，并在此过程中推进其首席设计师之一哈里·霍普金斯在应对经济危机中所发挥的作用。这一探索将我们带到了多个层面，这些层面共同构成了霍普金斯大学的背景，包括大萧条、罗斯福政府，以及最终的新政。通过将哈里·霍普金斯作为历史叙事排斥的典范，作者可以加深对他在新政中的作用以及他的行为如何产生有关管理（例如现代危机管理）的早期见解的理解。

设计/方法论/途径

本文尝试了反历史和微观历史分析的方法组合，作者称之为“反微观历史”，以考察哈里·霍普金斯的生活叙事、他与富兰克林·D·罗斯福总统的早期交往以及后来的新政。为了实现这一目标，作者开展了一项档案研究计划（例如富兰克林罗斯福总统图书馆和博物馆的数字存储库）并评估来自多个空间的各种材料（例如演讲、传记和回忆录）。

发现

研究结果表明，哈里·霍普金斯在动员新政政策及其对早期管理思想的影响方面比以前所接受的更强大。在此过程中，作者发现，由于与罗斯福的持久联系，与哈里·霍普金斯类似的关键政策制定者（例如弗朗西斯·珀金斯、亨利·华莱士、刘易斯·道格拉斯等人）及其贡献已被边缘化。这一发现说明了鲜为人知的历史人物的巨大潜力，以及他们如何为该领域的发展和管理实践提供新的见解。

原创性/价值

目的是展示以个人（哈利·霍普金斯）为分析单位进行管理历史研究的潜力。通过对个人的历史研究——无论是过去著名的还是默默无闻的人物——作者正在考虑他们如何有助于理解现象（例如新政、进步主义或凯恩斯主义经济学）。作者的研究以管理研究中被遗忘的人、社区和思想为基础，但进一步倡导在研究中留出空间来考虑个人的学术潜力。