90. "The Tyranny of Constructs"

SUMMARY

Current Topics in Management has established a tradition of concluding each volume with comments on emerging and necessary theoretical and methodological reforms. The editors believe these reforms will help advance the science of management. Pate, Golembiewski, & Rahim (1997) make the important argument that managing change is different than achieving progress, as progress is an ethical concern, not a technical issue. Lundberg, Golembiewski, & Rahim (1998) suggest promising new directions for management research. Mackenzie, Golembiewski, & Rahim (1999) point out that there was a fundamental problem in how research is conducted. They argue that theories and methods alone are insufficient for a viable science of organizations. There is also the need to develop new tools and engineering methods for applying the evolving theories for solving real world applications. Mackenzie, Golembiewski, & Rahim (2000) extend these previous lines of reasoning to question whether the expertise in data handling is sufficient to meet the demands of expert managers. They argue that data expertise in management research must begin matching the expertise required for an application by expert managers.