Conference papers calling for newer constructs in organizational theory to explicate problems in understanding educational organizations were content analyzed to explore paradigmatic assumptions and to demonstrate a fit between assumptions. Papers supporting the use of qualitative methodologies were also analyzed. The papers were from the 1983 conferences of the American Educational Research Association and the Association for the Study of Higher Education. The underlying assumptions of organizational constructs such as "loose coupling" were analyzed and contrasted with older and more traditional constructions of organizations. The results show that assumptions grow typically out of the same, or a very similar, value framework; that effective methods of inquiry are those that match assumptions about organizations; and that methods that present reductionist pictures of organizations fail to inform the change process because they produce necessarily limited and nonholistic views of organizational functioning. It is suggested that increased interaction between organizational theorists and methodologists should insure that methods fit newer constructs to create a descriptive science of organizations. A list of the 11 conference papers and authors is included. (Author/SW)