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Reflections on the 'State' of Organizational Theory The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Theory: Meta-Theoretical Perspectives, Haridimos Tsoukas and Christian Knudsen (eds). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. 644 pp. ISBN 0199258325
The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Theory offers itself as a reflection on the 'historical development, present state, and future prospects of organizational theory' as a social science discipline. In this extended review, we are delighted to present the critical reflections of six leading commentators on organizational theory.
How Should We Do the History of Organization Theory?
Christopher Grey, University of Cambridge, UK
The philosophy of history has conventionally taken two forms. The speculative philosophy of history has been concerned to identify the underlying logic, design or order of the past, well-known attempts including those of Vico, Hegel and Marx. The critical philosophy of history has considered not history itself but the practice of historical inquiry-its categories and modes of thought and analysis. Croce, Foucault and Hacking (from whom the title of this essay is adapted1) are some of the better-known exemplars. In this essay, I want to suggest that, initial appearances to contrary, this remarkable handbook is-amongst other things-an exercise in speculative rather than critical philosophy of history.2
Since I am, I suppose, proposing this as a limitation, I want also briefly to record the many strengths of this volume. It brings together an extraordinary and erudite range of contributions to which I expect to refer for many years to come. There is not a single chapter from which I did not learn something, and from many I learnt a great deal. It clearly represents a considerable labour of love as well as intellect on the part of the contributors, the editors and the publishers. And, in relation to my main theme, it brings to organization theory (OT) something which is sadly lacking from the normal practice of that discipline: a sophisticated attention to its history and philosophy. In that way, the Oxford Handbook of Organization Theory fills a real gap in a subject which has often been in thrall to the seductions of the new and, as a result, unreflective, unreflexive and ahistoric. So there is far less to complain about than to celebrate.
My claim that the Oxford Handbook of Organization Theory articulates...