This article explores how abductive reasoning is central to Mode 2 organization development and change (ODC) research, despite the rarity with which it is made explicit. It differentiates between Peirce’s notions of deduction, induction, and abduction in the field of ODC and explores how Mode 2 ODC research, particularly that involving collaboration between academics and practitioners, draws on abductive reasoning. It is when confronted with an array of puzzling and paradoxical data that insights constitute abductive reasoning, a fundamental element in both the production of knowledge and the development of successful organizational interventions.
AlexanderB. N.SmithA. D. (2019). Organizational access in qualitative research. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 14, 172-193.
2.
ArgyrisC. (1970). Intervention theory and method. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
3.
ArgyrisC. (2004). Reasons and rationalizations. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
4.
BartunekJ. M. (2008). You’re an organization development practitioner-scholar: Can you contribute to organizational theory?Organization Management Journal, 5, 6-16.
5.
BehfarK.OkhuysenG. A. (2018). Perspective—Discovery within validation logic: Deliberately surfacing, complementing, and substituting abductive reasoning in hypothetico-deductive inquiry. Organization Science, 29, 323-340.
6.
BennisW. G. (1965). Theory and method in applying behavioral science to planned organizational change. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 1, 337-360.
7.
BurnesB.CookeB. (2012). The past, present and future of organization development: Taking the long view. Human Relations, 65, 1395-1429.
8.
CoghlanD. (2009). Toward a philosophy of clinical inquiry/research. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 45, 106-121.
9.
CoghlanD. (2010). Seeking common ground in the diversity and diffusion of action and collaborative management research methodologies: The value of a general empirical method. In PasmoreW. A.ShaniA. B. (Rami)WoodmanR. W. (Eds.), Research in organization change and development (Vol. 18, pp. 149-181). Bingley, England: Emerald.
10.
CoghlanD. (2017). How might we learn about the philosophy of ODC research from 24 volumes of ROCD? An invitation to interiority. In ShaniA. B. (Rami)NoumairD. A. (Eds.), Research in organizational change and development (Vol. 25. pp. 335-361). Bingley, England: Emerald.
11.
CoghlanD. (2018). Edgar Schein at 90: A celebratory and exploratory metalogue. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 54, 385-398.
12.
CoghlanD.ShaniA. B. (Rami)DahmP. C. (2019). Knowledge production in organization development: An interiority-based perspective. Journal of Change Management. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/14697017.2019.1628086
13.
CoghlanD.ShaniA. B. (Rami)HayG. W. (2019). Toward a social science philosophy of organization development and change. In NoumairD. A.ShaniA. B. (Rami) (Eds.), Research in organizational change and development (Vol. 27, pp. 1-29). Bingley, England: Emerald.
14.
CroninB. (2017). Phenomenology of human understanding. Eugene, OR: Pickwick.
15.
CummingsT. G. (Ed.). (2008). Handbook of organization development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
16.
DavidA.HatchuelA. (2008). From actionable knowledge to universal theory in management research. In ShaniA. B. (Rami)MohrmanS. A.PasmoreW. A.StymneB.AdlerN. (Eds.), Handbook of collaborative management research (pp. 33-48). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
17.
FolgerR.SteinC. (2017). Abduction 101: Reasoning processes to aid discovery. Human Resource Management Review, 27, 306-315.
18.
GibbonsM.LimogesC.NowotnyH.SchartzmanS.ScottP.TrowM. (1994). The new production of knowledge. London, England: Sage.
GuerciM.RadaelliG.ShaniA. B. (Rami). (2019). Conducting Mode 2 research in HRM: A phase-based framework. Human Resource Management, 58, 5-20.
21.
HansenA. V.MadsenS. (2019). Theorizing in organization studies: Lessons from key thinkers. Cheltenham, England: Edward Elgar.
22.
KetnerK. L. (Ed.). (1995). Peirce and contemporary thought. New York, NY: Fordham University Press.
23.
LonerganB. J. (1992). Collected works of Bernard Lonergan: Vol. 3. Insight: A study of human understanding (CroweF.DoranR., Eds.), Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press. (Original work published 1957)
24.
LorinoP. (2018). Pragmatism and organization studies. London, England: Oxford University Press.
25.
MeynellH. (1998). Redirecting philosophy: Reflections on the nature of knowledge from Plato to Lonergan. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Toronto University Press.
26.
MirvisP. (2014). JABS at 50: Applied behavioral science and something more?Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 50, 371-400.
27.
NowotnyH.ScottPGibbonsM. (2001). Re-thinking science: Knowledge and the public in an age of uncertainty. Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
28.
NowotnyH.ScottP.GibbonsM. (2003). “Mode 2” revisited: The new production of knowledge. Minerva, 41, 179-194.
29.
PeirceC. S. (1997). Pragmatism as a principle and method of right thinking. The 1903 Harvard lectures on pragmatism (TurrisiP. A., Ed.). Albany: State University of New York Press. (Original work published 1903)
30.
PorrasJ. I.RobertsonP. J. (1987). Organization development theory: A typology and evaluation. In WoodmanR. W.PasmoreW. A. (Eds.), Research in organizational change and development (Vol. 1, pp. 1-57). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
31.
ScheinE. H. (2010). Organization development: Science, technology or philosophy? In CoghlanD.ShaniA. B. (Rami) (Eds.), Fundamentals of organization development (Vol. 1. pp. 91-100). London, England: Sage.
32.
ScheinE. H. (2013). Humble inquiry. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.
33.
ScheinE. H.ScheinP. A. (2019). The corporate culture survival guide (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Wiley.
34.
ShaniA. B. (Rami)CoghlanD. (2019). Action research in business and management: A reflective review. Action Research. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/1476750319852147
35.
ShaniA. B. (Rami)MohrmanS.PasmoreW. A.StymneB.AdlerN. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of collaborative management research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
36.
ShaniA. B. (Rami)TenkasiR.AlexanderB. (2017). Knowledge and practice: A historical perspective on collaborative management research. In BartunekJ. M.McKenzieJ. (Eds.), Academic practitioner research partnership: Developments, complexities and opportunities (pp. 17-34). Abingdon, England: Routledge.
37.
SusmanG. I.EveredR. D. (1978). An assessment of the scientific merits of action research. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23, 582-601.
38.
Van de VenA. (2007). Engaged scholarship. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
39.
Van MaanenJ.SørensenJ. B.MitchellT. R. (2007). The interplay between theory and method. Academy of Management Review, 32, 1145-1154.
40.
WoodmanR. W. (2014). The science of organizational change and the art of changing organizations. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 50, 463-477.
41.
YuC. H. (1994, April). Abduction? Deduction? Induction? Is there a logic of exploratory data analysis?Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.
