Christian De Cock's article contributes to organization studies by exploring the usefulness of a postmodern perspective for understanding the dynamics, and especially the frequent failure, of Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Process Re-engineering (BPR). In this article, the authors extend his argument by exploring two theoretical questions that we feel are confused in his paper: (a) what can postmodernism tell us about the dynamics of TQM/BPR; and (b) what role do power and politics play in TQM/BPR and how can critical theory be used in their analysis. The authors conclude with a discussion of the role of postmodernism and critical theory in organization and management studies more generally.
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