The goal of the study was to explore the possibilities and barriers of using various work systems to legitimize organizational decisions in three cases: 

• in the preparation of annual reports of the company; 
• in necessity to achieve less legitimate individual and organizational outcomes (using the example of innovative organizational behavior and flexibility); 
• in solving problems that are beyond the scope of organizational discourse (using the example of inclusion of employees with childcare commitments). 

Legitimating organizational decisions means maintaining positive stakeholder perceptions of the organization's actions as desirable, proper, or appropriate. The research showed that companies select among three main groups of work systems: leading to high performance, high commitment and high involvement. The study identified patterns of difference between these work systems and the corresponding requirements at five levels of their fit: institutional, individual, organizational, strategic and internal. The study pays special attention to identifying inconsistencies between actual and expected decisions of companies and the possibilities of overcoming it with the help of tools for additional legitimization of decisions inherent in different work systems. 

Discussants were Dmitry G. Kucherov, Candidate of Science (Economics), Associate Professor, Organizational Behavior and Personnel Management Department, and Antonina Yu. Lisovskaya, Candidate of Science (Economics), Associate Professor, Organizational Behavior and Personnel Management Department. Also, GSOM doctoral students and academic staff visited the seminar as attendees. 

The seminar was moderated by Galina V. Shirokova, Doctor of Science (Economics), Professor, Department of Strategic and International Management, Academic director of Doctoral program.