Theorising organisations

Abstract

In reviewing new writing on organisation theory at the beginning of the decade, Reed (1991: 120) commented that it was in a ‘state of intellectual flux and uncertainty’. We hope in previous chapters to have captured some of the ebb and flow of such debate. But as this is an introductory text, we could not let the shadow of grand theory fall too heavily across the pages. This final chapter pulls in the other direction, though nothing too ambitious is attempted. We do not try to develop any new classificatory schema and steer clear of complex epistemological or methodological questions. Instead, the emphasis is put on examining more of the theoretical resources that underpin organisational research and analysis, reflecting back on some of the substantive issues we have dealt with elsewhere.