This essay is guided by the following question: Which deployments and important debates did take place in Organizational Studies associated with the studies by Burrell and Morgan (1979) about the sociological paradigms? It aims at presenting an understanding on the studies by these two professors, sketching an overview of the discussions on the subject, and discussing, on an introductory basis, new prospective debates. The essay is based on playful questions of a child to his mother in an attempt to interpret the social reality surrounding him. Thereafter, reflections are made in the objectivity and subjectivity fields, interconnected to epistemological and sociological issues of Administration Science. The paper is developed as a theoretical essay and it panoramically approaches the intensity of agitations which the Organizational Studies went through and still go through since the work by Burrell and Morgan (1979) was published, focusing on its contribution to face the hegemony of functionalism in researches on organizations in Brazil. Dichotomous aspects concerning the qualitative and quantitative research and their relations to corresponding epistemological and methodological viewpoints are discussed. We discuss the possibility of using different theoretical perspectives for addressing the same study object, such as the so-called multiparadigmaticism and interparadigmaticism in Organizational Studies, for instance. The essay indicates that discussions about the ideas of these two professors are still intense, generating a wide and rich debating space for researchers in Organizational Studies, notably for those interested in conducting critical and interpretive researches.
Sociological paradigm; Organizational studies; Critical theory; Interpretivism; Positivism
