Dialectical Inquiry
Dialectical Inquiry is a process of arriving at the truth by putting some contrary proportions. It may also be considered as a philosophical term that can be applied to methods of debate or argumentation, that seeks to prove or may even disprove the truth, by some rules or legit laws of reasoning. In other words, Dialectical Inquiry is a form of qualitative research, which uses the method of dialectic and can be seen as the exploratory research.
All business, management and strategy ethics are very complex and difficult in nature, but Dialectical inquiry offers a great advantage to all those people, who deal with high inherent complexity, and with many tensions and contradicting forces. The major advantages of using this method as provided by De Wit and Meyer are:
- A wide range of new ideas are generated.
- It provides with a stimulus for creativity that is, trying to find synthesis, which one is better than trade off.
- This strategy also helps in focusing on the critical points in any system or process.
- It also provides with stimulus for bridging seemingly irreconcilable opposites.
Another method, which resembles the Dialectical Inquiry approach, is Devil’s Advocate Approach. This model is helpful in exposing the underlying assumptions of a business process but this method, also has the ability or tendency to emphasize on negative side, therefore, the Dialectical Inquiry is well balanced and harmonious in approach.
This Dialectical Inquiry approach can be thought of as the opposite of empirical research, in which researcher work with arguments and ideas rather than working on any kind of data. This Dialectical Inquiry approach can be applied to a wide range of problems. For example, Eli Berniker and David McNabb (2006) applied this approach for the study of organizational processes. Also, James Page (2008) used this approach for development of philosophy of peace education.
Written by: Matt
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Tagged as argumentation, arriving at the truth, business process, critical points, david mcnabb, de wit, dialectical inquiry, Eli Berniker, empirical research, exploratory research, inquiry approach, organizational processes, philosophical term, philosophy of peace education, qualitative research, stimulus, time functions + Categorized as Economy articles, Ladership & Management, Marketing & PR