ABSTRACT
Existentialist thinking has a particular contribution to make to critical analyses of contemporary organizations and to those in public sector service in particular. While it is considerably less fashionable than it might have been three decades ago (Eyre, 2002), there are a number of central themes which have resonance with other contemporary approaches. Perhaps because of this, there are signs of a renewed interest in this line of thinking and how it relates to other strands of critical thinking. While existentialist thinking might differ from other contemporary approaches in some important respects, there are nevertheless some similar themes (Reynolds, 2005; Martinot, 2006). As with other approaches, existentialist thinking presents us with new perspectives to explore and challenges taken-for-granted assumptions of the nature of public service organizations.
