Topic: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON MANAGEMENT THEORY: POSTMODERNISM, REALISM AND COMPLEXITY THEORIES

1. What are modernism and postmodernism? 2. Discuss the contribution of postmodernism to organizational theory. 3. Explain the strengths and shortcomings of postmodernism with regard to the design and management of organizations. 4. Explain realism and the differences between postmodernism and realism. 5. Describe the complexity perspective and the influence of complexity theories on our understanding of organizations. 6. Explain the main advantages and disadvantages of the complexity approach to organizations. 7. What do postmodernism, realism and complexity have in common? 8. What do realists mean when they say that the social world, including organisations, is a product of human action, but it is not necessarily a product of human design? 9. Explain chaos theory, dissipative structures theory, and the theory of complex adaptive systems.

Topic: FROM THEORY TO THEORIZING: LEARNING TO THEORIZE

1. What are the issues of contemporary theories of organizations? 2. Explain different theorizing approaches discussed in Reading 1, including problematization, contrasting, practical rationality, inductive top-down theorizing, combining, and blending, etc. 3. Using examples to explain the vertical theory borrowing approach. 4. Using examples to explain the horizontal theory borrowing approach. 5. What are the potential logical perils when studying organizations?