Have you heard these research paradigms interpretivism and criticalism -- ever before?

How
are these research paradigms making sense to your life as a learner and management
practitioner? How might these paradigms facilitate and restrain you while undertaking the
proposed research project?
Answer: Research paradigms i.e. interpretivism and criticalism is new for me. Although I have heard these
words from several people, the essence of these paradigms was completely new before studying the
research. As per my knowledge, interpretivism is different from the natural science where human being
interprets the matters themselves. People make their own interpretation about the situation or matters
which may differ from the reality. It assumes that theories are reconstruction of the fact and socially
constructed. It depends on the interpretation of people. They may have their own unique interpretation
totally different from others and construct the situation. Critical research helps to eliminate the injustice
and inequality prevailing in the system. It challenges the existing interpretation and values for inducing
change.
Yes, these research paradigms have contributions on understanding the interpretation of people in daily
life. It is equally important in the field of research too. These paradigms help us to understand why the
same incident or situations are interpreted differently by people. It opens up our mind about the disputes
occurring in the real world scenario where people interpret the things in their own way. For ex- People of
Nepal are divided into two groups on the subject of secularism. One group of people interprets in one way
and others in other way. Some perceive it good while others perceive bad. This paradigm has led to
awareness and openness of mind for research because it is important for researcher to know the context
as well as interpretation of the participant for achieving valid results. It does not allow generalizations
because the interpretation differs from person to person.
Criticalism is important research paradigms that challenges injustice, inequality, discrimination etc
prevailing in the society. It advocates that research should create value for the society helping to eliminate
the ongoing social injustice. It shows the inequality, illogical traditional practices like dowry, gender
discrimination, difference in pay scale, unethical transfer practices etc that helps to transform the society
by changing unequal practices. It helps to understand the conflicts prevailing in the society about
discrimination like gender inequality, caste system, class structure etc. It is equally important for the
management research because if the research does not create value for society or stakeholders, its
relevancy or importance will be decreased. Besides, this paradigm helps to understand the inequality
prevailing in the field of business like difference in pay scale, suppression of top level management, lack
of business ethics, nepotism and favoritism in transfer etc. Therefore, this paradigm helps to challenge the
ongoing traditional business norms by creating ethics and values in the management. Besides, finding
created through the research may help the employees, stakeholders and society by creating awareness to
the management.
Both the research paradigms are useful for my research project. As my research is based on the
perception or interpretation of employees regarding the transfer decisions, interpretivism is important to
know the interpretation made by the participants. Besides, criticalism sets a base to challenge the
ongoing discriminations in the field. The research creates value by reflecting what is going wrong in the
organizations that help to eliminate the unrealistic transfer decision made by the management. These

paradigms help to know the actual perception of employees and reasons for their perception. It helps to
understand the role of different factors as well as context of the employees so that clear picture regarding
the perception can be presented in the study. It helps to identify different aspects while taking transfer
decision too. Thus, these paradigms will be helpful to present the perception made by the employees
along with their context that may be useful for managers.