... related elements of social science: assumptions about ontology, epistemology, human nature and research methodology. Ontology concerns the nature of "reality". Epistemology concerns the nature of knowledge Human nature assumptions vary Research methodology: if the social world is viewed as like the physical/natural world, If the subjective experiences of individuals and groups are stressed, The Burrell and Morgan taxonomy consists of a two-by-two matrix based on two underlying variables. One variable, on the horizontal axis, reflects the attitude of the researcher to the research subject, The second variable represents the assumptions of the researchers about the organisation of the social world, THE SOCIOLOGY OF RADICAL CHANGE ? ? radical humanist radical structuralist SUBJECTIVE?? ==>==>OBJECTIVE interpretive funcionalist ? ? THE SOCIOLOGY OF REGULATION Structural functionalist (or rational contingency) paradigm - the mainstream view * Assumes an organization's social system consists of concrete empirical phenomena that exist independently of the managers and employees that work there, ie. a realist ontology * Human nature is taken to be calculative ...

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