Rethinking the Knowledge Controversy in Organization Studies

Book excerpt: Recently the field of organization studies has been plagued by intense, disruptive controversy about what counts as knowledge. This book, written by the major researchers and voices in the field of organization studies, attempts to respond to this controversy by offering the topic of "generative uncertainty" as the primary vehicle for rethinking about this issue. The authors prefer admitting uncertainty to making unwarranted assumptions. The ideas about questioning the possibility of knowledge that is certain goes back to before the time of Socrates. This unique, historical look at the study of organization studies will be of interest to all students and scholars of this field.