This book provides a forum for leading scholars in organization theory to engage in meta-theoretical reflection on the historical development, present state and future prospects of organization theory as a scientific discipline. The central question explored is the epistemological status of organization theory as a policy science. This is a meta-theoretical question; the object of analysis and debate in this volume is not a set of organizational phenomena, but organization theory itself. By drawing attention to organization theory as a practical social activity, this book reviews and evaluates important epsitemological developments in the discipline. More specifically, the focus is on issues related to the nature of knowledge claims put forward in organization theory and the controversies surrounding the generation, validation and utilization of such knowledge.

About the Series
Oxford Handbooks in Business & Management bring together the world's leading scholars on the subject to discuss current research and the latest thinking in a range of interrelated topics including Strategy, Organizational Behavior, Public Management, International Business, and many others. Containing completely new essays with extensive referencing to further reading and key ideas, the volumes, in hardback or paperback, serve as both a thorough introduction to a topic and a useful desk reference for scholars and advanced students alike.

Review

...brings together an extraordinary and erudite range of conributions to which I expect to refer for many years to come. There is not a single chapter from which I did not learn something, and from many I learnt a great deal. Organization, Vol 12 (6) Imagine a restaraunt where all your favourite dishes are prepared, each by a master chef, and unknown delights also await your pleasure. You do not have to go anywhere to get to this restaraunt, it is right in your own kitchen. You can even take it to the office with you. Without too much exaggeration, this is the rough equivalent of what is offered to the student of organization theory in The Oxford Handbook of Organization Theory Management Learning ...the Oxford Handbook of Organization Theory serves vital intellectual and political functions, tacitly affirming the coherence and legitimacy of OT as a discipline even as it critically examines the state of the field. Karen Lee Ashcraft (University of Utah), Organization 12(6) The Oxford Handbook [of Organization Theory] can be returned to many times to reflect on assumptions held on what organizations are, on what good science is, and on who should be the end customer for ones scientific activities ... This is the big tent depiction of organizational studies as a civilized community building an increasingly relevant narrative on organizations pertinent to more and more people. It is hip. It is current. It is self-consciously aware of the forces that shape as it grows. Organization Studies

About the Author

Haridimos Tsoukas is the George D. Mavros Research Professor of Organization and Management at ALBA in Greece, and Professor of Organization Theory and Behaviour at the University of Strathclyde Graduate School of Business, UK. Previous positions held include Lecturer at Warwick Business School (1990-5), and Associate Professor at the University of Cyprus. Christian Knudsen is a Research Fellow at Copenhagen University and Århus Business School, Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School, Visiting Professor at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, and Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Stanford University.