[Sigcrit-l] General comments

[Michael CHUMER]

I have been involved with a cadre of management scholars for quite a while 
and was part of a process leading to a critical management SIG within the 
Academy of Management. Underlying that entire effort was a "mission" 
statement  that I include at the end of this. It set the 
course and direction for activities central to that SIG.

Emancipation is a strong theme that runs through critical studies (in 
general). Yet the fundamental question becomes emancipation from what for 
which groups under what circumstances. In some of my emerging work I 
construct the critical thesis to be one of uncovering the basic 
assumptions that collectives makes that in turn results in some behavior. 
It requires an epistemology different than logical positivism grounded in 
a form of research that digs deeply into different cultural constructs. So 
different forms of ethnography become the research approaches (not 
methodology) for uncovering empirical data, as well as case study 
approaches. I have found some of the following links (developed by 
critical management scholars) helpful in building an understanding of 
critical approaches to different phenomena.
http://www.aom.pace.edu/cms/linkframe.html
http://www.aom.pace.edu/cms/aboutframe.html

Mike Chumer