Organizational analysis as deconstructive practice

254 Pages·1996·7.593 MB·English

by  Robert Chia

de Gruyter Studies in Organization 77
Organizational Analysis as Deconstructive Practice
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de Gruyter Studies in Organization
Organizational Theory and Research
This de Gruyter Series aims at publishing theoretical and methodological studies of
organizations as well as research ñndings, which yield insight in and knowledge about
organizations. The whole spectrum of perspectives will be considered: organizational
analyses rooted in the sociological as well as the economic tradition, from a socio-
psychological or a political science angle, mainstream as well as critical or ethnometho-
dological contributions. Equally, all kinds of organizations will be considered:
firms, public agencies, non-profit institutions, voluntary associations, inter-organiza-
tional networks, supra-national organizations etc.
Emphasis is on publication of new contributions, or significant revisions of existing
approaches. However, summaries or critical reflections on current thinking and
research will also be considered.
This series represents an effort to advance the social scientific study of organizations
across national boundaries and academic disciplines. An Advisory Board consisting
of representatives of a variety of perspectives and from different cultural areas is
responsible for achieving this task.
This series addresses organization researchers within and oi.tside universities, but
also practitioners who have an interest in grounding their work on recent social
scientific knowledge and insights.
Editor:
Prof. Dr. Alfred Kieser, Universität Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
Advisory Board:
Prof. Anna Grandori, CRORA, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi,
Milano, Italy
Prof. Dr. Comelis Lammers, FSW Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Marshall W. Meyer, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, U.S.A.
Prof Jean-Claude Thoenig, Université de Paris I, Paris, France
Prof. Mayer F. Zald, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, U.S.A.
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Robert Ghia
Organizational Analysis
as Deconstractive Practice
W
DE
G
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin • New York 1996
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Dr. Robert Chia, Senior Lecturer in Management,
Department of Accounting and Financial Management,
University of Essex, Great Britain
With 10 figures
@ Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the
ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chia, Robert Kay Guan.
Organizational analysis as deconstructive practice / Robert
Chia.
p. cm. - (De Gruyter studies in organization ; 77)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 3-11-014559-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Organization - Philosophy. 2. Organization - Research.
I. Title. II. Series.
HD31.C4725 1996
302.3'5-dc20 96-18620
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek — Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chia, Robert:
Organizational analysis as deconstructive practice / Robert
Chia. - Berlin ; New York : de Gruyter, 1996
(De Gruyter studies in organization ; 77 : Organizational
theory and research)
ISBN 3-11-014559-6
NE: GT
© Copyright 1996 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., D-10785 Berlin
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this
book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in Germany.
Printing: WB-Druck GmbH, Rieden am Forggensee. - Binding: Mikolai GmbH, Berlin. -
Cover Design: Johannes Rother, Berlin.
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To the children of Dunblane Primary School
who died so needlessly on 13th March 1996
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Preface
This book is essentially about the logic and rhetoric of organizing as reality-
constituting social practices. It is particularly concerned with examining the
logical and rhetorical strategies deployed in the production of organizational
texts and their consequent effects on our understanding of organization. As
such, it is not primarily concerned with the functional analysis of organi-
zations, nor of articulating a new alternative 'critical' perspective to the
study of social organizations and their effects, nor even especially about the
philosophical undeφinnings of contemporary organization theory. Instead
its main concern is to systematically examine the organizing logic supporting
the process of theory-building in organization studies, and to explore the
textual practices and contextual circumstances which enable certain theories
of organization to gain credibility within particular research commimities. In
so doing, I hope to expose the many intellectual 'sleights of hand' which are
to be found in much of the organization theory literature including those
generated by so-called organizational meta-theorists.
To do this it is necessary firstly, to examine the epistemological and
ontological commitments of the various theories proffered and to show how
such commitments structure and organize the discourse on organization.
However this excursion into the philosophical underpinnings of organization
theory is merely to draw attention to the underlying irresolvable tensions
and contradictions which pervade the logic of current approaches to
organizational theorizing. I trace the source of this theoretical conundrum to
an excessive diet of representationalist thinking in which theories are
unquestioningly regarded as straightforward attempts to accurately capture
and represent an already constituted external reality. Representationalist
thinking is a core feature of modernist discourse which, ever since Descartes
pronounced his famous injunction, has sought to ground theoretical as-
sertions in indubitable facts of the world. My claim here is that this is a
misguided project which traditional approaches to organization theory have
unreflectively participated in. This claim is based upon a postmodern ren-
dering of the current state of the academic discipline we call organization
studies.
Postmodern thinking, with its radical questioning of the logical categories
of thought shaping the discourse on organization, offers a more promising
way of rethinking organization and consequently the intellectual role of
organizational analysis. Postmodern thinking is a 'weak' form of thinking
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which orients us towards insistently moving 'upstream', away from the
dominant concerns of mainstream organization theory, to an exploration of
the linguistic and social networking micro-practices which collectively create
stabilized effects that through time come to be construed as unproblematic
states or entities. These entities and/or states include 'knowledge', 'truth',
'the individual', 'the organization', 'its strategy' and even 'theories of orga-
nization'. This process of reification is very insidious and pervasive in con-
temporary organization theory. It can be traced to the logical structuring of
the English language as Chapter 6 of this book tries to show. An alter-native
Heraclitean-inspired cosmology in which process, transformation and the
becoming of material and social relations are accentuated, is needed for
appreciating the central preoccupations of postmodern deconstructive ana-
lyses. In order to do justice to this emergent and truly processual approach
to analysing social organizing processes, I shall need to traverse terrain as
yet unfamiliar to the mainstream organizational theorist or indeed even some
of the more progressive 'deviants' of the discipline who assiduously con-
tinue to engage in meta-level debates m organization studies. Specifically, I
shall draw on the postmodern critique of the representationalist theory of
truth, and the deconstructive analysis of the logic and grammar of language
and writing, to illuminate this study of organization.
If it is possible to chart the intellectual trajectory of organization studies
as an academic discipline then it would seem that beginning with a systems
view of organization, which assumed the unproblematical status of the latter
as a concrete stable and describable entity, we have begun, in the recent
past, to shift our attention to meta-level analyses of theories of organization
which have tended to question this widespread assumption. This 'tum' to
meta-theory, has been followed by an emerging awareness of the problem of
language in organization theory. Language is increasingly seen as playing a
crucial role in shaping the priorities and agendas of organizational research.
It is increasingly recognised as a crucial but unexplored dimension of the
organizational theorizing process. What is being proposed in this book is
that extending the concern with language to its logical conclusion leads us
to the realization that it is the grammatical logic of language, and in particular
the logic of writing, which provides us with a fimdamental appreciation of
the intrinsic taxonomic urge to order and organize our lifeworlds and to
render them more controllable and manipulable.
Organization studies thus takes on a new and radically different dimen-
sion. Instead of thinking about organizational analysis as concerning the
analysis of organizations or the analyses of theories of organization, it can
be more fruitfully conceived as a critical intellectual practice of decon-
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structing or dismantling the logical and rhetorical structures of language.
This is the intellectual orientation adopted by a postmodernist reading of
organization. It is one inspired by an ontology of becoming.
This book has undergone a lengthy process of gestation and has con-
sumed the best part of my relatively short academic life.In pursuing this
research I was not initially aware of the extent of the task I had committed
myself to and am utterly convinced that without the immense support,
guidance and encouragement I received from my good friend and mentor
Bob Cooper, this project might still have remained in its embryonic stages. I
am eternally indebted to him. In the course of my intellectual journey, and at
various stages of the preparation of this manuscript, many others have
given their support, suggestions and encouragement. Gibson Burrell, Mike
Reed, Harry Jamieson, Seungkwon Jang, Colin Brown, Jose Malavé, Lu
Yuan, Steve Fox, Vivien Hodgson, John Burgoyne and my former colleagues
at the Department of Management Learning at Lancaster University pro-
vided much support and encouragement during the earlier stages of this
research. More latterly I have received invaluable advice, moral support and
inspiration from Stuart Morgan, Jonathan Gosling, Julia Davis, Mohammed
Branine, Qi Xu, Anne Keegan and Mark Dibben who have from time to time
helped share my intellectual burden and enriched me with their friendship
over the last few years. This end product would not have been possible
without their unwavering faith in my capabilities. Finally, I would like to
thank my wife Jeanny for her love, patience and untiring support throughout
this research.
Robert Chia
March 1996
Dunblane, Scotland
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