Truth and Objectivity Regained

Abstract

There is no greater threat to the relevance of organizational and administrative research, or to effective management, than erosion of confidence in truth and objectivity. The authors warn management and organization researchers against becoming institutionalized into an exaggerated perspective of self-doubt by giving too much credence to discussions of subjectivity and the underdetermination of theory by evidence. The concepts of trustworthiness, integrity, honesty, reliability, competency, fairness, or bias all rest on the concepts of truth and objectivity. The authors urge managers to seek the truth and base decisions on evidence and good theory. In responding to a cluster of recent promising articles on the topic, the authors carefully explicate the notions of truth and objectivity, show how these are attached to the notion of trust, and detail their place in social science and the art of management. The authors demonstrate that it is a mistake to think that one can abandon the notions of truth and objectivity and continue to use normative vocabulary as before.