Postmodern organizational analysis: Toward a conceptual framework
- ISSN: 00222380
- DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.1994.tb00620.x
Abstract
A new approach to organizational analysis is discussed - postmodernism. Modern and postmodern forms of explanation are contrasted and a family of terms derived from these 2 concepts are explored. In so doing, a discussion is presented of whether postmodernism is best described as an epoch or an epistemology. Through reference to the works of Jean Baudrillard (1968, 1970, 1972, 1976 and 1983), Jacques Derrida (1973, 1976, 1978, 1981 and 1982), and Jean-Francois Lyotard (1984 and 1985), an inventory of key concepts for postmodern organzitional analysis are produced. The key concepts are: 1. representation, 2. reflexivity, 3. writing, 4. difference, and 5. decentering the subject. By explicating the main arguments associated with these concepts, and by developing the middle ground between the epoch and epistemology positions, conceptual foundations for a nascent postmodern approach to organization studies is laid.
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