• Phone 617-353-4287
  • Office 641A

  • BOSTON UNIVERSITY
    Questrom School of Business
    Rafik B. Hariri Building
    595 Commonwealth Avenue
    Boston, MA 02215

  • Download CV

Paul R. Carlile is a Professor of Management and Information Systems and the Senior Associate Dean for Online Learning at Boston University Questrom School of Business.  He has also served as the Chair of the Information Systems Department. Before coming to Questrom he was on the Faculty at MIT Sloan School of Management.

His research has focused on the knowledge boundaries that exist among people in different expertise domains. Paul is one of the world’s foremost experts on what can be done to address those boundaries in order to enhance collaboration and innovation.  He has used this expertise to develop and design ways to drive innovation in the automotive, software, aerospace, and pharmaceutical industries.   

In a recently published book called Reimagining Business Education Paul ,along with other Questrom colleagues, outlined strategies to address the highly specialized and siloed nature of higher education. The book proposes new approaches to teaching and research that generate more value for a broader set of stakeholders.

In his initial work as Senior Associate Dean for Innovation Paul has focused on the enhancement of student learning through curricular innovation and new models of program delivery.  This has included the new launch of an integrated and experientially-based Master of Science degree in Management Studies (MSMS) that was cited as the Most Innovative Business School Idea of 2015 by Poets & Quants.  

Paul holds a BA in Philosophy and Masters in Organizational Behavior from Brigham Young University and a PhD in Organizational Behavior from the University of Michigan.  Prior to graduate school Paul helped start two technology companies

    Education
  • PhD, University of Michigan, 1997
  • MA, Brigham Young University, 1990
  • BA, Brigham Young University, 1988
    Publications
  • Carlile, P. (In Press). "AGENCY, ACTION, AND TIME: A RELATIONAL APPROACH TO ROUTINE DYNAMICS IN A WORLD IN FLUX", Research in the Sociology of Organizations (Routine Dynamics: A World in Flux)
  • Carlile, P., Dionne, K. (In Press). ‘Opening innovation’ across layers of practices: Developing an integrative view of the emergence of digital health."Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Interorganizational Collaboration", Emerald
  • Carlile, P., Dionne, K. (In Press). "The pragmatic cycle of knowledge work: Unlocking Cross domain collaboration in open innovation spaces", Human Relations
  • Carlile, P., Mosang Xi, S. (In Press). "Agency, Action and Time: A RELATIONAL APPROACH TO ROUTINE DYNAMICS IN A WORLD IN FLUX", Research in the Sociology of Organizations (Routine Dynamics: A World in Flux)
  • Carlile, P. (2024). "The pragmatic cycle of knowledge work: Unlocking Cross domain collaboration in open innovation spaces", Human Relations
  • Carlile, P., Dionne, K. (2022). Managing Knowledge Boundaries to Support Open Innovation Phenomena."Oxford Handbook on Open Innovation", Oxford Press
  • Carlile, P., Mosangzi, S. (2021). "New routine formation in an interorganizational project: Projecting, performing and patterning",
  • Xu, S., Carlile, P. (2021). "New routine formation in temporary interorganizational project", Academy of Management Proceedings, 2021 (1), 14559-14559
  • Marabelli, M., Vaast, E., Carlile, P. (2020). "Making Lemonade: Dealing with Analytics Surveillance in the Workplace", Academy of Management Proceedings, 2020 (1), 12720-12720
  • Cacciatori, E., Beunza Ibanez, D., Carlile, P., Whyte, J. (2020). "Exploring the Materiality of Ignorance: Artifacts Beyond Knowledge", Academy of Management Proceedings, 2020 (1), 17234-17234
  • Carlile, P. (2020). "Knowledge is Both a Source Of and a Barrier to Innovation", The FASEB Journal, 34 (S1), 1-1
  • Carlile, P., Obstfeld, D. (2019). Orchestrating Networks of Innovation is a World of Constant Change."People & Strategy",
  • Lebovitz, S., Lifshitz-Assaf, H., Bernstein, E., Carlile, P., Dionne, K., Sine, W., Tucci, C. (2019). "Hacking Hackathons: What Can We Learn from the Burgeoning Phenomenon?", Academy of Management Proceedings, 2019 (1), 13255-13255
  • Carlile, P., Dionne, K. (2019). “Opening Innovation” across Layers of Practices: Developing an Integrative View of the Emergence of Digital Health. In Hans, Berends., Jorg, Sydow. (Eds.), "Managing Inter-organizational Collaborations – Process Views (Research in the Sociology of Organizations (RSO) Series, Volume 64", Emerald
  • Marabelli, M., Carlile, P. (2019). "Organizing with Numerical Surveillance: Data and Actions In a Healthcare Organization",
  • (2019). "Orchestrating Networks of Innovation in a World of Constant Change", People & Strategy
  • Carlile, P., Dionne, K. (2017). Unconventional yet consequential: Using a sociomaterial approach to drive impact in organizational studies research. In A, Bryman., , Buchanan. (Eds.), "Unconventional Methodology in Organization and Management Research", Oxford University Press 233-254
  • Deken, F., Carlile, P., Berends, H., Lauche, K. (2016). "Generating Novelty Through Interdependent Routines: A Process Model of Routine Work", Organization Science, 27 (3), 659-677
  • Carlile, P., Davidson, S., Freeman, K., Thomas, H., Venkatraman, N. (2016). "Reimagining Business Education Insights and Actions from the Business Education Jam", Emerald Group Publishing
  • Carlile, P. (2015). "The Irony of Making Materiality of Consequence", British Journal of Management, 26 S22-S25
  • Carlile, P. (2013). "How Matter Matters", Oxford Univ Pr on Demand
  • Lakhani, K., Carlile, P. (2010). "Myelin Repair Foundation: Accelerating Drug Discovery Through Collaboration", Harvard Business School Technology & Operations Mgt. Unit Case (610)
  • Christensen, C., Carlile, P. (2009). "Course Research: Using the Case Method to Build and Teach Management Theory", Academy of Management Learning and Education, 8 (2), 240-251
  • Howard-Grenville, J., Carlile, P. (2006). "The incompatibility of knowledge regimes: consequences of the material world for cross-domain work", European Journal of Information Systems, 15 (5), 473-485
  • Osterlund, C., Carlile, P. (2005). "Relations in practice: Sorting through practice theories on knowledge sharing in complex organizations", Information Society, 21 (2), 91-107
  • Black, L., Carlile, P., Repenning, N. (2004). "A dynamic theory of expertise and occupational boundaries in new technology implementation: Building on barley's study of CT scanning", Administrative Science Quarterly, 49 (4), 572-607
  • Carlile, P. (2004). "Transferring, Translating, and Transforming: An Integrative Framework for Managing Knowledge Across Boundaries", Organization Science, 15 (5), 555-568
  • Carlile, P. (2004). "Transferring, translating, and transforming: An integrative framework for managing knowledge across boundaries", Organization Science, 15 (5), 555-568
  • Carlile, P., Rebentisch, E. (2003). "Into the black box: The knowledge transformation cycle", Management Science, 49 (9), 1180-1195
  • Carlile, P. (2002). "A pragmatic view of knowledge and boundaries: Boundary objects in new product development", Organization Science, 13 (4), 442-455
    Research Presentations
  • Carlile, P. Studying practices and process to explore cross-boundary collaboration, Academy of Management Meetings, Boston, USA, 2023
  • Carlile, P. Beyond Ideation: Sustaining Open Innovation in Organizations, Communities and Markets, European Group on Organisation Studies (EGOS), Cagliari, Italy., 2023
  • Carlile, P. , Mosangzi, S. The Process of new routine formation in an inter organizational project: Projecting, performing and patterning, 2022
  • Carlile, P. , Dionne, K. An event based approach to developing a generate dance of knowledge and knowing across domains: The case of Hacking Health, 2022
  • Carlile, P. Interorganizational Collaboration and Innovation, EGOS, Vienna Austria, 2022
  • Carlile, P. Making Lemonade: Dealing with Analytics Surveillance in the Workplace, Academy of Management, Vancouver, Canada, 2021
  • Carlile, P. Viewing ignorance as a journey of novelty: Making the material consequences of the unknown more manifest through artifacts, Academy of Management, Vancouver, Canada
  • Carlile, P. , Dionne, K. The Sequencing of Boundary Events to Create New Digital Health Practices
    Awards and Honors
  • 2022, 50Thinkers Radar 2022
  • 2020, Questrom Institutional Leadership Award
  • 2014, 2014 Questom Award for Faculty Excellence in Institutional Leadership