Positivism

Conceptual Overview

The driving force in positivism is the ambition to create a social science, including one addressed to the explanation of organizations using the natural sciences as a role model. In organization studies, characteristics of positivism include the use of a general framework, consisting of abstract variables (e.g., organization size and organization specialization), on which every organization can be mapped. Relationships are sought between variables that generalize across a wide range of organizations (e.g., organization size and organization specialization are positively related across all types of organizations and national settings). The connections between variables are explained by causal laws of a determinist kind (e.g., organization size causes organization specialization). There is also use of scientific methods, such as quantification, statistics, and controls, for extraneous causes. This set of characteristics may be termed epistemological positivism.

In sociology, positivism includes the characteristic of seeking to explain by material factors rather than by ideas in the consciousness of actors. This in turn is related to positivism being concerned with objective relationships and external pressures on people rather than subjective states or voluntary choice based on personal values. In organization studies, for instance, increasing organization size (e.g., number of members) forces the adoption of more organization specialization (e.g., dividing accounting work into historical versus cost accounting). The organization is forced to do so to avoid muddle and duplication and to attain efficiency, so that specialization in response to the size imperative is not a matter of managers exercising some personal preference. This characteristic may be termed materialist positivism.

Because material positivism seeks explanations outside of the consciousness of actors, it is possible to produce knowledge not already known to people. Thus positivism seeks to reveal causal processes that lie hidden from people, including organizational managers. This makes it analogous to the natural sciences, which reveal esoteric processes (e.g., atoms) and lead to powerful, new technologies. Thus positivism contains an ambition to go beyond common sense and to be relevant to managers and others seeking to improve organizational functioning.

Nevertheless, many researchers and writers in organization studies use epistemological positivism without using materialist positivism. They may use a subjective state (e.g., attitude) as the explanatory variable, rather than a materialist cause. Some may use a subjective state (e.g., job satisfaction) as the dependent variable, rather than an objective factor. Nonetheless, such researchers seek to create general causal, determinist explanations and use positive methods (e.g., quantification). However, a residual issue is whether subjective states of individuals can be reliably measured by observers. This issue may be strongest when dealing with political interests or antisocial impulses that subjects may strive to conceal or may deny to themselves.

Positivism, in the sense being used here, is not to be confused with logical positivism, which is a philosophy of science that is now widely seen as erroneous. Logical positivism (sometimes known as logical empiricism) holds that theories are simply calculating devices that allow prediction, with their concepts being fictions and not corresponding to any real things that [Page 1271]are connected causally. Though these issues are subject to ongoing philosophical discussion, epistemological and material positivism in organization studies (and in sociology) do not assume logical positivist philosophy and are quite compatible with other, recent philosophies of science, which include causal explanation in terms of entities that are held to really exist.

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