Book review essay: the territorial nature of organization studies

The nature of organization studies territories has repeatedly been contested as this review will highlight. These debates have included proponents for and against the convergence of the field, based upon beliefs that organization studies does or does not need to emulate the discipline status of a unified science such as physics. The ‘paradigm wars’ can equally be regarded as an academic ‘turf war’ and more recently ontological, epistemological and methodological shifts have resulted in a greater emphasis upon the centrality of discourse and practice within organization studies. Academic tribes and territories: Intellectual enquiry and the cultures of disciplines which is frequently cited within education studies, is rarely cited within organization studies. In the context of this Special Issue focussed upon The Territorial Organization a contribution to organizational studies is made in three substantial ways: through (1) engaging ethnographically with the cultures of organizational studies, (2) understanding how competing beliefs in convergence and divergence inform our understanding of the territorial nature of organization studies, and (3) understanding how territorial developments within education studies inform understanding about the territorial nature of organization studies.