BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING AND TRADE, FALL 2022

AFTNOON EXERCISE:
ORGANIZATION THEORY &
SCIENTIFIC PARADIGMS

TEXT:
MARY JO HATCH & ANN CUNLIFFE ‘A BRIEF HISTORY OF
ORGANIZATION THEORY’, EXCERPT FROM M.J. HATCH & A.
CUNLIFFE (2015): ORGANIZATION THEORY – MODERN,
SYMBOLIC AND POSTMODERN PERSPECTIVES.

26TH AUGUST 2022

 THE POINT OF THE AFTERNOON
EXERCISE… IS STILL THE SAMME…
• Philosophy of science point: to illustrate how arguments from phil. of science are relevant for
– and have in fact historically influenced – core disciplines of business economics
→ Today, we get to use Kuhn’s theory of scientific paradigms in analyzing traditions of
research with organization theory and we get to discuss the influence of hermeneutic within
some strands of organization theory.

• Didactic point: smaller groups and questions allow students to practice using a series of the
difficult concepts that the course contains (e.g. “paradigm” or “horizon of understanding”)
→ And concepts are best learned by actually using them – by saying them out loud and using
them in describing something. Or in responding to a question. Learning by doing.

• Exam point: The oral as well as the written part of the exam is to high degree a test of the
student ability to apply philosophy of concepts within a business economics context.
→ And that is exactly what the exercises aim to do! Hence, the exercises are exam
preparation.
OVERVIEW OF GROUP EXERCISE
Introduction (approx. 20 min.)
[Shorter than yesterday → time for everyone to present]

1. Paradigms & Organization theory: a very short introduction

Group work (approx. 50 minutes)

2. Individualised questions for each six groups are discussed in

groups that prepare a presentation 
Group presentation in plenum (approx. 50 min.-1 hour)

3. Groups present their answers + short discussion after each

presentation
1. PARADIGMS & ORGANIZATION
THEORY
A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION
PARADIGMS &
ORGANIZATION THEORY

• One main point of today’s exercise is to pinpoint

that exactly same goes for the study of
organizational cultures within business economics:
• Different methodological trends in modern social
sciences have also led to widely differing, basic
perceptions of organizations/companies.
SCIENTIFIC PARADIGMS &
ORGANIZATION THEORY
 What Hatch & Cunliffe does in the exercise text is to describe
three overall but decisively different perspective on the same
topic, namely organization. The case text describes three such
perspectives:

1. A ’modernist’ paradigm – influenced by a basic

conception of organization as systems (or machines).
 2. A ’symbolic-interpretive’ paradigm – defining by its
conception of organization as culture and symbols.
3. A ’post-modern’ or ‘constructivist’ paradigm –
influenced by a conception of organizations as complex and
ambigious entities, which are constantly redefining by
fleeting power relations.
MODERNISM...
Organization as a system
• ... that adapts to its surroundings.
Organization as a level of complexity
• ... and as complexity-reducing in its perception of the world.
Organization as a set of functions
• ... that can be optimized, e.g. Fredrick Taylor’s studies of
production lines and output effciency.
 SYMBOLIC-
INTERPRETATIVE...

Example: Edgar Schein...

Schein’s model of culture: Within

Schein’s widely used model, firm
culture is conceived of in terms of
vertical levels of analysis. The notion
of a vertical level here indicates to
what degree something is visible to an
observer or to an organizational
member; the deeper a level, the less
visible. There are three levels within
Schein's model: artefacts, values and
basic assumptions.
POST-MODERNISM...
Organization as “floating meaning”
• ... which is to say that 'sense' and 'purpose' is constantly discussed in the
organization. (As opposed to Schein's 'Basic assumptions model')
Organizations are in constant change.
• ... Which is to say that the organization is more alike to a series of
unpredictable events than stable structures ...
Organization as power.
• … which is to say that organizations always has a “shadowy” sides where
employees are “disciplined” and shaped in various sometimes pathological
ways. Management, however, is not “evil”. Management is maybe equally
disciplined and subject to various power relationships. “Well-meaning
power”, e.g. “the whole employee”.
Overview table from p. 20 in Hatch & Cunliffe, also note to table
at p. 48.
3. GROUP EXERCISE

QUESTIONS FOR THE HATCH TEXT

THE EXERCISE TEXT
Depending on the questions for your
Mary Jo Hatch & Ann Cunliffe (2015):
group, note that the text is rather clearly
‘A Brief History of Organization Theory’,
such structured such that:
excerpt from: Organization Theory –
Modern, Symbolic and Postmodern
Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Modernism, see page 28-33
Press. pp. 20-47.
Symbolic-interpretive, see page 33-39

Postmodern, see page 39-47

Pay less attention page 21-27, but do

use the table at page 20 and 48
THE EXERCISE INSTRUCTIONS…
ARE THE SAME AS YESTERDAY

• Divide into your groups now.

• Instructions: Prepare 2-5 slides for group presentation, addressing the

indicated questions for each group below (45 min.)

• Presentation time: roughly 4-5 min. + discussion.

• The respondent group of each presentation has special obligations to pose

questions to the presenting group. Thus answer your own group's questions,
and then prepare for the response to another group’s presentation.

• Overall aim: try out using the curriculum concepts! Some questions directly
pick out a concepts, but the trick is to use as many as you can.
GROUP QUESTIONS
Group 1. [Respondent: Group 6]
1. Explain the overall characteristics of the three organizational paradigms identified by Hatch.
2. Explain in what sense they might be paradigms in Kuhn’s sense.
3. Do you think it is plausible to call Hatch’ three approaches to organization “incommensurable”?

Group 2. [Respondent: Group 5]

4. Explain what an “exemplar” is in Kuhn’s sense and pinpoint examples of such “exemplars” in the
three organizational paradigms identified by Hatch.
5. Identify one or several exemplars (and/or paradigms) from other areas/courses of your study
program at Ha. International Shipping and Trade.

Group 3. [Respondent: Group 4]

6. What connections do you see between Hatch’s three perspectives on organization and those
positions within the philosophy of science which we have examined until now? Are there, for
example, any connections between the modernist perspective and positivism?
7. What kinds of organizational phenomena (e.g. communication, accounting, marketing, strategy etc.)
would most likely to be respectively examined by the three organizational paradigms?
GROUP QUESTIONS
Group 4. [Respondent: Group 4]
1. What are some similarities between hermeneutics and what Hatch describes as ‘interpretative or
symbolic organization theory’?
2. Give examples of what it would mean to understand organizational behaviour rather than to
explain it.

Group 5. [Respondent: Group 2]

3. Assume that you had to do hermeneutic study of work-related stress in a particular organization.
What kind of empirical data would you use/prefer? How would you go about that? Describe the
research process.
4. How would such a hermeneutic investigations be different from a positivist study of the causes of
work-related stress?

Group 6. [Respondent: Group 1]

5. Assume that you were a convinced proponent of the hermeneutic method and that you had to do a
marketing campaign in China for LEGO (or another product, if you prefer). How would you prepare
for such “intercultural communication”?
6. What could go wrong in communicating with foreign cultures with different horizons of
understanding?