Burrell & Morgan Framework

1979 - pp 1-37
I. Radical Structuralist Paradigm
A. Inherent structural conflicts within society
that generate constant change
through political and economic crises

B. Fundamental paradigm of Marx, Engles and Lenin.

C. Philosophers: mature Marx, Engles, Lenin, Bukharin.
II. Interpretive Paradigm
A. Seeks to 'explain the stability of behaviour
from the individuals viewpoint'
B. Observe 'on-going processes' to better understand individual
behaviour and 'spiritual nature of the world'.
C. Philosophers: Kant, Weber, Husserl, Schutz.
III. Radical Humanist Paradigm
A. Concerned with releasing social constraints
that limit human potential
B. Justify desire for revolutionary change
C. Largely anti-organisational
D. Theorists see currents dominant ideologies
as separating people from "true-selves"
E. Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, and young Marx.
IV. Functionalist Paradigm
A. Primary paradigm for organisational study.
B. Assumes rational human action
C. Belief that one can understand
organisational behaviour through hypothesis testing.
D. Mildly influenced by: Idealist and Marxist thought.

Main four debates in Sociology:

1 -Is reality given or is it a product of the mind? - ONTOLOGICAL
- nominalism vs realism
2 - Must one experience something to understand it? -
EPISTEMOLOGICAL - anti-positivism vs positivism
3 - Do humans have free will or are we determined by our
environment? - HUMAN NATURE - voluntarism - determinism
4 - Is understanding best achieved through the scientific method or
direct experience? - METHODOLOGICAL DEBATE - ideographic
vs nomothetic theory

Subjective
Objective
How individuals create, modify & interpret the world
Search for universal laws (empirically based/natural science) to explain reality and relatonships
between elements - 'proof is in the pudding'.

objective-regulation
subjective-regulation
subjective-radical change
objective-radical change
Sociology of Radical Change
Sociology of regulation

METHODOLOGY
radical humanist, oriented towards; radical change,modes of domination, emancipation, deprivation,
potentiality. therefore radical humanists approach the stated concerns from
Radical Humanist paradigm committed to exposing and removing restrictive conditions, systems and
ideologies that prevent human potentialities from emerging. (Chua, 1986).
Seek to contribute to an understanding of oppression and discrimination that takes place primarily on
the basis of socio-economic status and class (Tashakkori & Teddle, 2003).
radical structuralist - objective perspective. Committed to radical change, emancipation and
potentialtiy by concentrating on structural relationships within a realist social world. (Burrell &
Morgan, 1979, p. 34).
radical structuralist: expose the various power relationships endemic in the social structures in which
we live.
radical structuralist: empower individuals to achieve their full potential - by; bringing about change
to restrictive social structures by raising individual self awareness.
Seek to contribute to an understanding of opression and discrimination that takes place primarily on
the basis of socio-economic status and class (Tashakkori & Teddle, 2003).
Interpretive researcher committed to ideological perspectives. Addresses research issues examining
natural order and regulation. Also ignore modes of "domination, conflict and radical change".
(Morgan & Smircich, 1980, p.492)
Rejects the view that human affairs can be studied in the manner of the natural sciences, instead is
concerned with the sociology of regulation from a subjective perspective.
Interpretive researchers: try to understand society as it is, they see social reality as emergent and
subjectively created (Baldvinsdottir, Hagberg, Johansson, Johansson and Marton, 2003).
Social order is assumed (Chua, 1986)
"People are purposeful and basically orderly" (Hooper, 2001, p. 59).
Interpretive research relies on observation and linguistic cues (Hooper, 2001)
Functionalist researcher committed to ideological perspectives. Addresses research issues examining
natural order and regulation. Also ignore modes of "domination, conflict and radical change".
(Morgan & Smircich, 1980, p.492)
Functionalist researchers assume that reality is a concrete process and as such lends itself to precise
observation and measurement, They present the world as highly ratioanl and orientated towards
social order and work towards 'stability or maintenance of the status quo" (Gioia and Pitre, 1990, p.
585)
Functionalist researchers seek to understand society and its composite parts at an objective level that
"specifies the precise nature of laws, regularities and relationships among phenomena" (Morgan and
Smircich, 1980, p 493).
nominalist, anti-positivist, voluntarist, ideographic standpoint.
nominalist, anti-positivist, voluntarist, ideographic standpoint.
realist, positivist, determinist, nomothetic standpoint.
realist, positivist, determinist, nomothetic standpoint.

Terminology:

ONTOLOGY - Principal questions of ontology include:

"What can be said to exist?"
"Into what categories, if any, can we sort existing things?"
"What are the meanings of being?"
"What are the various modes of being of entities?"
NOMINALISM: subjective - the doctrine that universals or general ideas are mere names without any
corresponding reality. Only particular objects exist, and properties, numbers, and sets are merely
features of the way of considering the things that exist.
REALISM: objective -
Philosophy;
a. The scholastic doctrine, opposed to nominalism, that universals exist independently of their being
thought.
b. The modern philosophical doctrine, opposed to idealism, that physical objects exist independently
of their being perceived.
_____________________________________________________________________

EPISTEMOLOGY - is also referred to as "theory of knowledge". It questions what knowledge is and

how it can be acquired, and the extent to which knowledge pertinent to any given subject or entity can
be acquired.
ANTI-POSITIVISM: subjective - Antipositivism (also known as interpretivism) is the view in social
science that the social realm may not be subject to the same methods of investigation as the natural
world; that academics must reject empiricism and the scientific method in the conduct of social
research. Antipositivists hold that researchers should focus on understanding the interpretations that
social actions have for the people being studied.
antipositivists use research methods which rely more on ethnographic fieldwork,
conversation/discourse analysis or open-ended interviews
POSITIVISM: objective - Positivism is a philosophy of science based on the view that information
derived from logical and mathematical treatments and reports of sensory experience is the exclusive
source of all authoritative knowledge,[1] and that there is valid knowledge (truth) only in scientific
knowledge.

HUMAN NATURE - refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling
and acting, that humans tend to have naturally, independently of the influence of culture.
VOLUNTARISM: subjective - voluntary or willing participation in a course of action.
a doctrine or system based on such participation volunteerism.
Any theory which holds that reality is ultimately of the nature of will or that the will is the primary
factor in experience
DETERMINISM: objective - the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately
determined by causes regarded as external to the will. Some philosophers have taken determinism to
imply that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their
actions.

METHODOLOGY - the systematic, theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field of study, or
the theoretical analysis of the body of methods and principles associated with a branch of knowledge.
It, typically, encompasses concepts such as paradigm, theoretical model, phases and quantitative or
qualitative techniques
IDEOGRAPHIC: subjective - Idiographic is based on what Kant described as a tendency to specify,
and is typical for the humanities. It describes the effort to understand the meaning of contingent,
unique, and often subjective phenomena.
The word ideograph refers to a written symbol that symbolises a thought or object directly rather
than a specific word or speech sound, as a Chinese character.
NOMOTHETIC: objective - Nomothetic is based on what Kant described as a tendency to generalize,
and is typical for the natural sciences. It describes the effort to derive laws that explain objective
phenomena in general.