# Redefining Interdisciplinary Research Through Practice How sensitization, reflexivity, and mobilization transform complex collaboration - **Source:** [Journal of Management Studies](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14676486) - **Published:** 2026-09-11 - **Topic:** [Leadership](https://brifing.si/c/leadership) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/4dedf747-15af-4808-9099-e49cffd88f73 ## The Problem with Current IDR Approaches Traditional interdisciplinary research (IDR) frameworks focus excessively on typological classifications and structural solutions, missing the dynamic practical work required for effective collaboration. These approaches assume integration is primarily an epistemological challenge, overlooking the ontological multiplicity inherent in cross-disciplinary work. Structural interventions alone create enabling conditions but fail to ensure successful outcomes, as they neglect the lived experience of practitioners navigating diverse knowledge systems. ## Practice Theory as a New Lens The study proposes practice theory as an alternative framework, viewing IDR as bundles of practices enacted across landscapes of practice. This perspective shifts focus from what IDR is to how it's actually performed, sustained, and sometimes unraveled in real-world settings. Practice theory reveals the micro-level interactions, negotiations, and adaptations that typological approaches render invisible, offering a more nuanced understanding of interdisciplinary work's challenges and possibilities. ## Sensitization in IDR Sensitization involves developing awareness of and responsiveness to different disciplinary practices, languages, and values. It requires practitioners to suspend their own disciplinary assumptions temporarily to recognize alternative ways of knowing. This construct helps teams navigate the initial discomfort of interdisciplinary work without prematurely forcing integration, allowing space for mutual understanding to emerge organically through shared practice. ## Reflexivity's Critical Role Reflexivity goes beyond simple self-awareness to include critical examination of one's own practice in relation to others. It enables practitioners to surface and question the tacit knowledge and power dynamics shaping their collaborations. This ongoing process helps prevent the dominance of certain disciplines while marginalizing others, creating more equitable conditions for knowledge co-creation across boundaries. ## Mobilization as Coordinated Action Mobilization refers to the practical work of aligning diverse practices toward shared objectives without erasing their differences. Unlike integration which seeks synthesis, mobilization preserves disciplinary distinctiveness while enabling productive coordination. Successful mobilization creates temporary stability in IDR projects while remaining open to necessary adaptations as work progresses and new challenges emerge. ## The Fragility of IDR The practice lens highlights IDR's inherent fragility - collaborations require continuous maintenance and can easily unravel when key practitioners leave or when institutional support wanes. This perspective explains why many IDR initiatives fail despite favorable structural conditions, emphasizing the need for ongoing attention to relational and practical dimensions beyond formal arrangements. ## Implications for Evaluation Traditional bibliometric measures poorly capture IDR's value, often privileging disciplinary outputs over integrative work. A practice-based approach suggests evaluating IDR through the quality of its collaborative practices rather than proxy measures. This shift would recognize the processual nature of interdisciplinary work and reward the often-invisible labor of building and sustaining cross-boundary collaborations. ## New Directions for Leadership The framework demands new leadership capabilities focused on facilitating sensitization, nurturing reflexivity, and enabling mobilization. Leaders must become practice-oriented rather than structure-focused, skilled in reading and shaping the micro-dynamics of interdisciplinary work. This has profound implications for how organizations develop and support those tasked with leading complex collaborative initiatives. ## Sources covering this story - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joms.70158?af=R — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._