THE INTERPRETATION OF ORGANIZATION: A CONTEMPORARY ANALYSIS AND CRITIQUE*

This article is concerned with examining the development of interest in organizational interpretation (exemplified by a decade of analyses of culture and symbolism in organization) as a rhetorical and philosophical episode in Organization Studies. the presumed ‘productivity’ of this recently developed arena of Organization Studies, for both the theory and practice of organization, is carefully considered through the discussion of a broad range of work from the past decade. This body of work is examined as a ‘genre’ of Organization Studies that both manifests particular issues for interpretation and articulates particular styles of representation. The article argues that the rise of interest in organizational interpretation represents a late‐modern phase in Organization Studies, whereby traditional priorities and subordinations in the theory and practice of organization have been rewritten and renewed. In this way, organizational interpretation has come to articulate the most recent form of avant‐garde activity in the continuing modernization of Organization Studies. In contrast, the article concludes with the consideration of a theory and practice for such work which would contribute to the articulation of a postmodern Organization Studies.