Research Dilemmas in Management and Business Studies

Abstract

This paper examines some of the philosophical and practical dilemmas that are faced by researchers in management and business studies — in the context of the epistemological and ontological assumptions introduced. The relevant methodological frameworks to be used stem from Strauss and Quinn (1997). The importance of employee language and organisational discourses are presented from the empirical data on "Aspects of Organisational Culture and Change" in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire to demonstrate the epistemological and ontological dilemmas faced by researchers in organisational analysis. Symbolic interactionism and stories are also used to highlight the importance of speech actors within an organisational change context in order to surface some of these dilemmas in business studies in general and management research in particular. These two provide alternative positions to Strauss and Quinn's "maintained" analysis of how organisations and managers implement change interventions and employees' reactions to these. Amongst some of my principal objectives is to demonstrate what can be contributed when researchers focus on what can be considered credible and valid knowledge that can be generalised in organisational and management studies.