The Interpretation of Organization: A Contemporary Analysis and Critique*

Abstract

This article is concerned with examining the development of interest in organizational interpretation (exemplified by a decade of analyses of culture and symbolism in organization) as a rhetorical and philosophical episode in Organization Studies. The presumed 'productivity' of this recently developed arena of Organization Studies, for both the theory and practice of organization, is carefully considered through the discussion of a broad range of work from the past decade. This body of work is examined as a 'genre' of Organization Studies that both manifests particular issues for interpretation and articulates particular styles of representation.The article argues that the rise of interest in organizational interpretation represents a late-modern phase in Organization Studies, whereby traditional priorities and subordinations in the theory and practice of organization have been rewritten and renewed. In this way, organizational interpretation has come to articulate the most recent form of avant-garde activity in the continuing modernization of Organization Studies. In contrast, the article concludes with the consideration of a theory and practice for such work which would contribute to the articulation of a postmodern Organization Studies.

Produção científica em administração de empresas: provocações, insinuações e contribuições para um debate local

“…Para reverter a situação, Pfeffer (1993) Este argumento, da pluralidade, é defendido por pesquisadores de diferentes linhas de pesquisa. Jeffcut (1994), ex-presidente da Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism, propõe uma acentuação da pluralidade, que tornaria os estudos organizacionais ainda mais multidisciplinares e multiculturais.…”

Organization/Literature: Exploring the Seam

“…Whilst she treads carefully and broadly succeeds in her aim of problematizing traditional ways of proceeding in OS, others have made far more debatable sorties. A particular source of inspiration for organization theory (e.g., Barry and Elmes 1997;Jeffcutt 1994;Sköldberg 2003) has been the theoretical edifice of Northrop Frye (1957). However, what remains unacknowledged in work of this kind is that Frye's system is far from uncontroversial in its home discipline and is often viewed as a most conservative approach (Culler 2001: xx), the appeal of which lies in its combination of "an extreme aestheticism with an efficiently classifying 'scientificity'" (Eagleton 1996: 81), leading to a "mighty totalization of all literary genres" (ibid: 79).…”

Diagnóstico organizacional participativo: potenciais e limites na análise de organizações

“…A análise organizacional tem-se tornado, segundo Jeffcutt (1994), o gerenciamento da incerteza na busca de restabelecer ordem na desordem, que os especialistas têm sido incapazes de resolver. Segundo esse autor, os estudos organizacionais deveriam tornar-se uma ciência humana multidisciplinar e uma prática humana multicultural, cruzando uma diversidade de situações da atividade organizacional interconectadas através de um foco na tensão que constitui a fronteira entre articulações de ordem/desordem.…”