Reflexive Inquiry in Organizational Research: Questions and Possibilities

Over the last 20 years, social science scholars have challenged conventional conceptions of social reality, knowledge, and the validity of our methods of inquiry. Many have criticized the aim of mainstream social science to provide an absolute, objective view of the world and have called for a refle...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human relations (New York) 2003-08, Vol.56 (8), p.983-1003
Main Author: Cunliffe, Ann L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Consciousness
Epistemology
Ethnography
History and organization of sociology
History, theory and methodology
Knowledge
Language
Methodological Problems
Ontology
Organization of profession, research and teaching. Deontology. Sociology of sociology. Epistemology
Organization theory
Organizational Research
Organizational theories
Otherness
Philosophy
Postmodernism
Poststructuralism
Practice
Reflexivity
Research methodology
Research methods
Researchers
Science
Social construction
Social constructionism
Social participation
Social Reality
Social sciences
Sociology
Sociology of organizations and enterprises. Bureaucracy and administration
Sociology of work and sociology of organizations
Theoretical Problems
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Summary:Over the last 20 years, social science scholars have challenged conventional conceptions of social reality, knowledge, and the validity of our methods of inquiry. Many have criticized the aim of mainstream social science to provide an absolute, objective view of the world and have called for a reflexive stance in which we recognize all social activity, including research itself, as an ongoing endogenous accomplishment. Three main themes have emerged: a crisis of representation, an emphasis on the constitutive nature of language, and a call for reflexive approaches to research. Contemporary organizational theorists have found themselves drawn into the debate and struggling with a number of questions around how to carry out reflexive research. I examine those questions and explore the implications for organizational research. In doing so, I attempt to enact reflexivity through one layer of narrative circularity.
ISSN:0018-7267
1741-282X
DOI:10.1177/00187267030568004