Management Research After Modernism

Abstract

If the duty of the intellectual in society is to make a difference, the management research community has a long way to go to realize its potential. The Starkey and Madan (2001) report is a useful entry point into the debate about what kind of management research, but it defines the issues too narrowly and seeks solutions too particularly. The big strategic issues about management research are about capacity, capability and delivery. In an era of knowledge production after modernism there is a more receptive context to meet the double hurdles of management research. Research without scholarly quality will satisfy no one and will certainly disable our capacity to meet the double hurdle of scholarly quality and relevance. A more contextualist and dynamic view of knowing needs to be supported by a re‐engagement of management researchers with social scientists and users, a re‐engagement between European management researchers and their colleagues in the USA and a period of experimentation and learning with all the potential partners out there waiting to engage with us.