Empirical analysis of management situations: Elements of theory and method

Abstract

In Acknowledgement As discussed in the Editorial of this Issue, this is the first of a series of Classic papers in management in native European languages that EMR plans to reprint to make them known to a more general international audience. The paper appeared as a chapter in Martinet Épisté mologies et sciences de gestion, Economica, 1990, pp.141-182, with the original title "L'analyse empirique des situations de gestion: Élé ments de théorie et de méthode". A special acknowledgment goes to Julienne Brabet, Université Paris EST, IRG, who is also Vice President of the Société Française de Management and Vice President of EURAM, as well as to the Société Française de Management for proposing this paper to EMR and for taking care of its edition and translation. EMR would also like to thank Economica for authorizing the publication of this paper. In performing the translation a few choices had to be made: (1) Girin quotes of German authors like Karl Popper, Jürgen Habermas and Max Weber, have been translated from French into English; (2) References are in the original language cited by the author (who usually read and cited the French and original versions); (3) Girin's chapter was too long in regards to article format and some passages were cut (obviously) without his agreement; and (4) Girin produced new concepts for which we were obliged to propose original translations. In this Classic French paper, first published in 1990, Jacques Girin, mobilizing a large corpus of 'action theories', defines what could be one of the central and specific objects of management research: the management situation. He discusses ways to conduct empirical research on 'natural' management situations and to build research devices guaranteeing the scientificity of this approach. Analysing Karl Popper's 'logic of scientific discovery' and numerous epistemological debates, Girin emphasizes that studies on management situations are apt to respond to the most exigent scientific criterion. The originality of this paper is that it is both very practical and very theoretical. Very practical because the complex analysis concerning management situations as well as research devices are illustrated by numerous examples referring to studies actually conducted. Very theoretical due to the vast amount of crucial literature, Girin uses in his effort to submit to critical thinking: the categories of phenomena we can and should observe; the methods of observation and their effects; the logic of scientific discovery in the specific context of social sciences and management. © 2011 European Academy of Management.