Some remarks on the problem of incommensurability in organization studies

Organization studies have become differentiated and complex fields of resea rch. It has become difficult for both the researcher and the practitioner t o find appropriate answers to theoretical or practical problems, and theore tical advice is often contradictory. Today, we have to deal with various sc hools of thought that are often considered incommensurable. An objective fr ame of reference to evaluate differ ent paradigms is missing, and recent di scussions in organization theory have shown that it is rather difficult to find common ground. It is the purpose of this paper to review the current p aradigmatic state of organization studies, to consider the pluralism of par adigms and its consequences, and to discuss the possibility of overcoming t he incommensurability problem. Our discussion makes clear that there is no theoretical solution to the incommensurability problem, but that the possib ility of a practical solution does exist.