The validity of idiographic research explanations

Article Abstract:

This paper attempts to address the question of whether organizational explanations produced through idiographic studies can be regarded as externally valid. It is argued that explanatory idiographic studies that are informed by a realist epistemology are, indeed, in a position to make general claims about the world. For realists, generality is distinguished from recurrent regularities; instead, it is ascribed to the operation of causal tendencies (or powers). The latter act in their normal even when expected regularities do not occur. This is possible because the realization of causal tendencies is contingent upon specific circumstances, which may or may not favor the generation of certain patterns of events. Idiographic research conceptualizes the causal capability of structures, while at the same time it sheds light on the contingent manager through which a set of postulated causal powers interact and gives rise to the flux of the phenomena under study. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Methods, Organizational behavior

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The missing link: a transformational view of metaphors in organizational science

Article Abstract:

This article outlines the different knowledge functions of metaphors in lay and scientific discourses and proposes a methodology for the development of metaphors to yield deeper organizational scientific knowledge. It argues that the traditional dichotomy between metaphorical and literal languages has led either to an overemphasis or a depreciation of the role of metaphors in organizational science. This dichotomy is unnecessary and unproductive because metaphorical language and literal language are different but not incompatible. Drawing on Beer's suggestions about scientific modeling, this article advances a transformational view of metaphors, which attempts to outline a methodology for the development of metaphorical insights to yield literal identities. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Management science

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Conflicting uses of metaphors: reconceptualizing their use in the field or organizational change

Article Abstract:

Diverse and often unacknowledged assumptions underlie the use of metaphors in the organizational change literature. This diversity is symptomatic of broader ontological and epistemological conflicts within organization theory. To gain a critical awareness of the assumptions underlying their use of metaphors, organizational analysts can use a reflexive approach. This approach entails addressing four issues: representation, enunciation, separation, and routinization. the organizational change literature is used to illustrate the implications of this approach for future research. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Organizational change

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