Critical postmodern organization theory posits the increasing rationalization of organizational life as a threat to individual choice and well-being. Organizational knowledge is seen as a carrier of power relations that subjugate individuals for organizational purposes. Thus, individual resistance through the cultivation of egalitarian forms of self-knowledge is advocated. In this article, the author reviews the arguments and suggestions put forward by critical postmodern organization theorists. He concludes that critical postmodern organization theory’s power/knowledge critique destroys the basis of moral culture in its attack on the dehumanizing processes of rationalization. A more balanced approach that limits critical fervor through the appreciation of moral traditions is suggested.
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