Projective Techniques Are they a Victim of Clashing Paradigms

This paper reviews the concept and historical development of pro- jective techniques. It considers why, given the importance of their psychoanalytical foundations to the underlying paradigms of manage- ment theory, they have been generally marginalised as a mainstream business and management research tool. Projective techniques are defined and their historical origins delineated. This is followed by an overview of projective `types'. Some of the general advantages and current issues associated with employing projective techniques are also presented. Thereafter a discussion of the reasons projective techniques have not been widely adopted by positivist academic management re- searchers is made. We put forward the central argument that since many of the challenges facing management research are due to the restrictions introduced by bounded rationality, projective techniques offer a possible alternative to traditional mixed methods.