Subjectivity and the Creation of Organisations

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Abstract
An organisation is a cultural artefact rather than some kind of naturally occurring physical entity or phenomenon. The characteristic way in which the members of an organisation go about constructing that entity is through the process of negotiation over the meaning of their shared experiences. Coterminous with the view of organisations as socially constructed is Thomas B. Greenfield’s claim that the environments within which they are usually thought of as being embedded are subjectively defined realities. The explanation for these rather odd characteristics is that Greenfield usually saw himself as having to begin by dispelling unwarranted but commonly held misconceptions in educational administration. One of the problems with Greenfield’s line of argument is that it risks organisations being viewed as purely mentalistic phenomena, when in fact, of course, they have a material reality. It is on this point that Greenfield’s anti-realist epistemology gets him into strife.

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