Critical theorist, postmodernist and social constructionist paradigms in organizational analysis: a paradigmatic review of organizational learning literature

Karatas-Ozkan, Mine and Murphy, William D. (2010) Critical theorist, postmodernist and social constructionist paradigms in organizational analysis: a paradigmatic review of organizational learning literature. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12 (4), 1-13. (doi:10.1111/j.1468-2370.2009.00273.x).

Abstract

In an effort to clarify alternative approaches to organizational analysis, this paper is concerned to stimulate the debate on how an inquiry of organizational phenomena in general, and that of organizational learning in particular, can be accomplished. Encouraging attention to different aspects of various paradigmatic approaches, the paper focuses on critical theory, postmodernism and social constructionism and how these paradigms have contributed and can contribute to the research in the subject domain of organizational learning. To this end, a paradigmatic review of the literature on organizational learning is offered in this paper. Organizational learning, as the study of learning processes of, and within, organizations, has attracted significant attention in the academe since early 1980s. There is a plethora of studies on organizational learning, which offer rich material for a paradigmatic review. In this study, we illustrate how critical theorist, social constructionist and postmodernist approaches can contribute to the field of organizational learning.. We highlight the need for further development of the field, from alternative paradigmatic perspectives, with a view to generating more insights into the multifaceted, complex and changing nature of learning in contemporary organizations

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Contributors

Author: Mine Karatas-Ozkan

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