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Understanding Management Research
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Understanding Management Research
An Introduction to Epistemology

First Edition

December 2000 | 224 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
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 comprehend the key ongoing debates and engage with their own pre-understandings when trying to make sense of management and organizations.

 
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

 

A good balance between to the point, but give enough detail to promote understanding

Mr Richard Cresswell
Business and Management, Sheffield Hallam University
June 13, 2016

This title is also available on SAGE Research Methods, the ultimate digital methods library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial.