POSTMODERN ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS - TOWARD A CONCEPTUAL-FRAMEWORK

This article discusses a new approach to organizational analysis - postmodernism. We contrast modem and postmodern forms of explanation and explore a family of terms derived from these two concepts. In so doing, we discuss whether postmodernism is best described as an 'epoch' or an 'epistemology', a distinction which underpins current debates. Through reference to the works of jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida and jean-Francois Lyotard, we produce an inventory of key concepts for postmodern organizational analysis - 'representation', 'reflexivity', 'writing', 'differance' and 'de-centring the subject'. By explicating the main arguments associated with these concepts - and by developing the middle ground between the epoch and epistemology positions - we lay conceptual foundations for a nascent postmodern approach to organization studies.