Alternative Perspectives in the Organizational Sciences:

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Alternative Perspectives in the Organizational
Sciences Inquiry from the Inside And Inquiry
from the Outside Roger Evered Meryl Reis
Louis (1981) AMR 6(3) 385-395

• Prepared by
• Enrique, Lihong, John, Jongkuk

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First, lets recall some work

• Transaction costs theory
• Positive agency theory
• Resource-based view
• Barnards The Functions of the Executives
• So, what we have learned?
• Values used to evaluate firms? Or
• Methods to study firms? Or
• Solutions to some problems we have to deal with?
• ----There seems to be tacit commitment to
  particular modes of inquiry.

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Some Personal Experience

• Organizational participants need to understand
  the particular organizational situation in order
  to act intelligently and effectively
• Detached-observer type of research has little
  relevance
• Messy, iterative groping rather than idealized
  scientific method
• Purpose of organizational participant vs. that of
  observer
• Knowledge-yielding character inquiry and valid
  knowledge

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Two Modes of Inquiry
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How Do They Differ?
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Related Dichotomies

• From-the-outside inquiry and positivism
• From-the-inside inquiry and a bunch of analogies
• The degree of physical and psychological
  immersion of the researcher is the critical
  feature

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Implications for Research Practice

• Pros of the two modes
• From-the-outside is more suited to theory testing
  and developing universal statements
• From-the-inside is more useful for exploring
  organizational phenomena and generating tentative
  concepts and theories
• Cons of the two modes
• From-the-outside overlooks critical features that
  often render the results epistemologically
  valueless
• From-the-inside lacks precision, rigor or
  credibility in its findings
• ----The need to develop a new kind of science
  integrating rigor, standardization, relevancy and
  groundedness

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Implications for Research Practice