METHODOLOGY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
Year:2008 | Volume:13 | Issue:53|Papers Count:8

Mechanical and chaos models in Physics have been accompanied by the systematic and anti-systematic approaches in organizational studies. A systematic organization, regards order as an original fact and attempts to develop theories to create or promote it. In contrast, an anti-systematic organization regards disorder as a fact and constructs its theories based on it. This article provides a philosophical explanation of manipulating the mechanical and chaos approaches in organizational studies. Finally, the possibility of developing another organizational theory, with an Islamic Philosophy view, has been analyzed. The author believes that linear explanation of existence hierarchy, after which the knowledge hierarchy forms, provides a deeper view of order in the world and specifies a prominent position for spirituality in organizational studies.

The deficiency of the existing methodologies in recognition of societal and even natural phenomena requires an extensive review and expansion of these methodologies to provide an appropriate ground for a better understanding of phenomena. One of the fundamental grounds for development of organizational study methods is considering the methods' philosophical basis. Based on this, in order to eliminate such deficiencies in societal sciences especially organizational studies, first the philosophical basis of the four major paradigms: positivism, hermeneutics, critical and realism have been described and compared using eight main questions. Finally, pluralism in philosophical basis is suggested for a better and deeper understanding of societal and organizational phenomena.

In order to gain a better understanding and explanation of the issue of research, the quantitative and qualitative data can be mixed. Mixed research strategy is based on mixing these two groups of data. In this article, after reviewing the philosophical basis of mixed research, and quantitative and qualitative strategies, three mixed research proposals: pluralism, explanatory, and discovery are proposed and the main steps in performing mixed research are explicitly provided.

In this article it is attempted to explain some of the methodological origins of management. Meanwhile, by segregation of the theoretical and hermeneutical worlds, it is attempted to distinguish the different methodological paradigms of each field, in management. Then, with respect to Molla Sadra's methodological and epistemological basis, a third framework for discussion of modern methodological origins for understanding organization and management is introduced. Based on this, with a comparison approach, the issue of understanding and recognition in view of hermeneutic and Islamic philosophers is discussed.In this way, Molla Sadra's theory of unification of subject and object is considered as the core of discussions of Islamic epistemology. Finally, the researchers study metaphor as the most powerful means of hermeneutists in process of obtaining and transmitting meaning.

In the context of metaphorical thought, this article attempts to offer a new metaphor titled as "Organization as the Focal Point of Intersecting Spectrums." Similar to other metaphors, this view familiarizes those interested in organizational studies with this societal phenomenon. To achieve this purpose, first the assumptions and scientific basis of this metaphor are studied. The scientific basis of this metaphor involves Aristotelian logic, Buddha's logic and fuzzy logic. These logics are carefully studied and some of their examples in real world and organizational world are mentioned.Using the above approaches, the aforementioned spectrum view, its applicability, limitations, and suggestions for its expansion in the organizational and managerial world have been analyzed in detail.

Today, the issue of ethics has become an organizational necessity. In addition to its value, if an organization is only seeking a financial advantage, it has no choice but to execute the ethical rules. Ethical studies in organizational and managerial world have titles such as managerial ethics, organizational ethics, work ethics, etc. It is necessary to recognize the limits of this knowledge to segregate its corresponding propositions. In this article, first, science is philosophically explained. Then, the ethical studies related to management and organization that includes: work ethics, professional ethics, organizational ethics, business ethics, and management ethics are analyzed based on the definitions provided by subject matter experts. Next, it is attempted to specify the border of each field so that the position of the propositions of each field can be determined.

Despite the extensive studies performed in the field of Islamic management, these studies are dispersed, repetitive, irregular and lack a comprehensive pattern and theory. Therefore, treating this gap and categorizing the existing literature is necessary.In this article, the existing discussions are analyzed and studies related to Islamic management and one of the dominating approaches is described. In explaining the concept of Islamic management, different approaches are possible, one of the most important of which is empirical approach, on which the analytic base of this article is established. In empirical approach, the existing management as a fact and an accepted axiom is the basis of work. Then, depending on the subject, purpose or method, the existing management is compared with Islamic texts and concepts and the result is taken as Islamic management.