Chapter 1: Overview of Disability Paradigms in Disability and Management Research

Abstract

This chapter discusses the different disability models that underlie contemporary research efforts in the field of management and organisation studies (MOS). It draws attention to the different emphases that result from this paradigmatic diversity in terms of knowledge building and praxis in human resource management. By classifying recent empirical research papers related to disability in various contexts of employment, we compare three broad categories, labelled as the ‘medical model’, ‘social models’ and ‘extended social interpretations’ of disability, highlighting their notable differences and similarities. We outline a number of enduring points of discussion identified within our domain and conclude on the strengths of different models. We end the chapter with a call for future researchers to collaborate, not only with human resources (HR) practitioners and disabled people themselves, forming meaningful alliances, but also with one another to transcend the emphases and limitations inherent to different sub-disciplines and create knowledge that has the potential to support disabled people’s participation in work and employment.