Understanding Management Research: An Introduction to Epistemology / Edition 1

by Phil Johnson, Joanne Duberley

Overview

This is an invaluable introduction for all students and researchers of management confronting a new research project.

Understanding Management Research provides an overview of the principal epistemological debates in social science and how these lead to and are expressed in different ways of conceiving and undertaking organizational research. For researchers and students who are increasingly expected to adopt a reflexive understanding of their own epistemological position, the authors present a concise, accessible guide to the different perspectives available and their implications for research output.

All students undertaking empirical research for theses and dissertations will find this book helps them com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761969181
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	12/08/2000
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.48(d)

About the Author

In recent years Phil has participated in the generation and management of over £420, 000 of research funding, over £330,000 of which was provided by EPSRC and ESRC. Involved in much of this research have been local public and private sector organizations as sponsors of research and as research sites for both data collection and for change-management interventions. This research has concerned a range of issues including: management control; corporate governance; contractor-client relations; evolving management roles. Recently Phil has engaged in ESRC sponsored research into "Benchmarking Good Practice in Qualitative Management Research" which is part of the ESRC Research Methodology Programme.

Currently Phil is a referee for a number of academic journals and reviews book proposals for several major academic publishers. He has also been a guest editor for the journal Management Decision and has recently been appointed as Associate Editor for a new international journal, Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management.

Phil's education includes: BA (Hons) Sociology (Sheffield); MSc Organization Development (CNAA); MSc Advance Educational and Social Research Methods (Open University); Ph D Management and Organization (CNAA).

Jo is a Reader in Organization Studies. She has previously worked at Heriot Watt University, Sheffield University, Leeds University and Sheffield Hallam University. Jo has taught OB, HRM and change management to postgraduate and undergraduate students. She has supervised 6 Ph Ds to completion and  is currently supervising 2 Ph D students.

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Importance of Epistemology in Management Research
Positivist Epistemology
The Search for Foundations?
Positivism
The Management Mainstream?
Conventionalist Epistemology
The Socialization of Science?
Postmodernist Epistemology
Relativism Unleashed
Critical Theory and Management
The Return to Rationalism and the Promise of Progress
Pragmatism and Critical Realism
Transcending Descartes' Either/Or?
Conclusions
A More Reflexive Approach towards Management Research

Editorial Reviews

'These sections represent the clearest rendition yet of these subjects, with difficult concepts introduced in a digestible form for the neophytic (or not so neophytic) researcher. Whilst in a book this size not every argument can be presented, there is ample extra material to be found to encourage further engagement… At the end of each chapter, there is a very useful Further Reading section provided by the authors, which gives useful guidelines. I believe to be an extremely useful text, which addresses what has until now been a significant gap in the market. This book will be my first choice in the future for introducing doctoral students of management-related subject to the philosophical underpinning they require for their studies. There is no other text which covers this area so clearly, so succinctly and in language that is readily accessible to a wide range of researcher back-grounds. I can envi SAGE this being a valuable source book to which researchers return again and again in order to deepen their understanding as research projects progress; it certainly provoked some new questions for me. To conclude, an excellent buy' - International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

From the Publisher