Introduction

Pondy and Boje (1981) suggested that ‘organization theory is faced with a frontier problem … how to conduct inquiry based on several paradigms’ (p. 84). A few years later, Donaldson commented ‘it is easy to write of the virtues of multi-level analysis … It is quite another thing to do this in practice’ (1985, pp. 284-5). In this chapter, we take up the challenge of employing a range of paradigms within one research investigation. Specifically, we develop a multiple paradigm study of work organization.

The chapter outlines a research programme in which the multiple paradigm model of Burrell and Morgan (1979) was used to conduct an empirical analysis of work behaviour in the British Fire Service. Insight into the organization was gained through using the four Burrell and Morgan paradigms as empirical frames of reference. Results were obtained through using a theory and method from each paradigm as the basis for research. Details of the fieldwork are given, research findings are presented, and the validity of the method is discussed.