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Question

Which of the following are true regarding functionalism, as brought out in the passage?

1) It is a concept held by people with vested interests.
2) It cannot lead to continous innovation and learning in organization.
3) Deuteron learning and n-th order changes are not part of this approach.
4) It cannot manage the cognitive and normative differences and preferences as part of the organizational practice.
5) It has a neutral idea of knowledge and rationality.


A

1,2,3&4

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B

2,3 but not 5

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C

2, 3 &4

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D

3 but not 1

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Solution

The correct option is B

2,3 but not 5


Look at these lines in the second paragraph “Incompatibility or incommensurability are then seen as a grave threat to vested interests”.
1) is too strong. You cannot conclude that functionalism is held by people with vested interests. The author states that incompatibility is a threat to vested interests. The author also states that functionalism does not give a solution to incompatibility.
That does not mean that functionalism is a concept held by people with vested interests.
2) Look at these lines -
“If, however, knowledge management and therefore also management education wish to be able to pride themselves on the fact that they aspire to continuous innovation and learning in organizations, then the management of irreconcilability and pluriformity will be an unavoidable and indispensable prerequisite for its success.”
The author also states that functionalism does not give a solution to incompatibility.
So we can safely conclude that (2) is correct.
3) Look at these lines -
“Such concepts as deuteron learning, n-th order changes, and innovation (instead of improvements) do not fit into the latter approach”.
The latter approach refers to the functional approach.
So (3) is correct.
4) Look at these lines in the first paragraph.
“In order to manage the cognitive and normative differences and preferences as part of organizational practice, knowledge management and thus management education will have to detach themselves from a functionalist management ideology”
The lines state that knowledge management and management education will not be able to manage the cognitive and normative difference if it uses functionalist management ideology.
It does not state that functionalism is not able to manage the difference.The point to be noted is that knowledge management and management education has the role to manage cognitive and normative differences. Functionalism is not able to manage incompatibility.
So (4) is not true w.r.t. to functionalism.
5) Let us have a look at these lines from the first paragraph
“From a functionalist management ideology, and the positivistic idea of knowledge and rationality which is associated with it”
So the author states that there is a positive relation between knowledge and rationality.
So (5) is not true.
So the best answer option would have been “2, 3, not 1, not 4 and not 5”
Only (b) comes closest to the best answer.


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Q.

Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

The most important problem posed by the existence of different interest, that is to say different mental models and paradigms about and within organizations, is how to tackle their (potential) incompatibility. In order to manage the cognitive and normative differences and preferences as part of organizational practice, knowledge management and thus management education will have to detach themselves from a functionalist management ideology, and the positivistic idea of knowledge and rationality which is associated with it. Such concepts as deuteron learning, n-th order changes, and innovation (instead of improvements) do not fit into the latter approach. Functionalism has a marked preference for unity above diversity, for harmony above conflict, for (functional) integration, and it chooses order above the potential chaos of continuous change.
Incompatibility or incommensurability is then seen as a grave threat to vested interests. Functionalists in particular react too emotionally and with disgust at the idea of (apparent) unreconcilable differences which adhere to incommensurability. If, however, knowledge management and therefore also management education wish to be able to pride themselves on the fact that they aspire to continuous innovation and learning in organizations, then the management of irreconcilability and pluriformity will be an unavoidable and indispensable prerequisite for its success.
Postmodernism belies all grand narratives like those of positivism and even Habermas’s theory of rationality, that try to force people into the mold of a specific way of thinking and acting. Postmodernism explains this tendency of grand theoretical system by positing two central characteristics of human reason : first, there is the fundamental and inalienable freedom or reason to conceptualize ‘the world’ in different ways, while second, each of these conceptualizations has a built-in and irreducible claim to university.
Management of incommensurability and heterogeneity in organizations expressly demands a postmodern epistemological perspective. Such concepts as incommensurability and internal differences have a prominent place in postmodernism. As is evident from the above quotation, postmodernism believes all great narratives on the levels of both epistemology and social philosophy. Positivism and even Habermas’ theory of rationality, which under the guise of universality attempted to force people into a certain way of thinking and acting, as history has so adequately demonstrated, do not shrink from a totalitarian approach.
Postmodernism shows that the incompatibility of grand theoretical system is to be traced to two central features of human reason : first, the fundamental freedom of thought with which to view the world in one’s own and therefore different way, and second, the inbuilt claim to universality, i.e. that one considers one’s own point of view to be the best. It is for this reason that in practice it is not enough to minimalize the differences between alternative perspectives (which could lead to a kind of pluralistic indifference); neither would it do to resolve the conflicts between them in a forcible manner (this would lead only to dogmatism). Managing differences will therefore be a challenge for knowledge management to find which leading element would be helpful in steering the ship of organization past the rocks of totalitarian rule and then around the cliffs of indifference.
A suitable title for the passage could be:


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