Pragmatism and organization studies
Many streams of research in organization and management have criticized the mainstream view of organizations as information-processing structures, controlled through rational representations which convey pseudo-scientific truth. In spite of their differences, these streams of research share some key principles: their processual and exploratory view of organizing as ‘becoming’, their emphasis on the key role of action and meaning-making, their interest in the agential power of technological artefacts. Pragmatist thought emerged as an anti-idealist and anti-dualist intellectual revolution at the end of 19th century in the United States, in a period characterized by a fantastic technological and industrial outburst, massive migrations, war and violence, and the processual and ecological views of human societies promoted by darwinism. Under rather similar historical conditions, social sciences are experiencing a pragmatist revival. Pragmatism develops a radical critique of all the dualisms that hinder organization studies: thought versus action, reality versus representation, design versus utilization, decision versus execution, to name a few. Key pragmatist concepts, such as inquiry, semiotic mediation, habit, abduction, trans-action, will be presented and illustrated through concrete examples, and their relevance for organization and management studies will be discussed.