Author(s)

Wadih Nizar Khaddour^*

Faculty of Economics, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria.

This paper presents the two opposing viewpoints for studying organizational culture and clarifies the lack they contain through understanding the philosophies encompassing them. We have verified that this discussion between the two perspectives is a discussion between positivists and interpretivists. We believe that critical realism philosophy provides a way out of the controversy by presenting its ontology that is characterized by structure, difference, and change and by standing against the reduction of ontology to, or its dissolution in, epistemology. This ensures both an in-depth study of the organizational culture and the develop sound contributions to theoretical development without overselling the notion of generalizability. In doing so, this article outlines Schein’s three levels of analysis for studying organizational culture and framing it using critical realism philosophy.

Critical Realism, Organizational Culture, Positivism Interpretivism

Khaddour, W. N. (2025) Critical Realism and Organizational Culture—Framing Schein’s Model of Studying Organizational Culture by Using Critical Realism Philosophy. Open Journal of Philosophy, 15, 77-97. doi: 10.4236/ojpp.2025.151006.