Some prominent researchers have argued the case against Theory. John Van Maanen (1989), for example, has stressed That the filed first needs more descriptive narratives about Organizational life, presumably based on intensive ethnographic work. He called for a ten-year moratorium on theoretical (and methodological) papers. The happy result of such a moratorium, Van Maanen suggested, would be a temporary halt to the proliferation of mediocre writing and theory, a broader audience (attracted by better writing), and better theory—after the moratorium had passed, both old and new models would be grounded in a well-crafted set of organizational narratives. Van Maanen’s arguments is reminiscent of logic contained in Zen in the Art of Archery (Herrigel, 1989). If we avoid aiming at the target for a long While and first develop more fundamental knowledge, we
Will do a better job of hitting the bull’s-eye when we finally Do take aim.