Post-Modern Organizations or Postmodern Organization Theory?

Abstract

Postmodernism is beginning to enter organization studies. After introducing the contours of the debate, some of the early contributions are critically reviewed and then subjected to sympathetic scrutiny. A distinction between the periodization 'post-modern' and a 'postmodern' epistemology is explored in terms of its conse quences for writing about organizations. Each position is shown to have diffi culties attached to it and the political ramifications of these are explored. Some tentative suggestions are made to explain the rising popularity of the 'post' within organizational writing.