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One of the key challenges in organisational studies is how to provide a coherent and comprehensive account of economic, cultural and social diversity. It is from within this context that we engage with the question-What is Critical Management Studies in Aotearoa/New Zealand? While, we acknowledge there are many factors that are ‘critical about’management studies in New Zealand, our aim in this forum is to contribute to the discussion on the development and use of innovative methodologies in organisational studies, particularly in relation to research on Indigenous Maori organisations. This inevitably draws our attention to Kaupapa Maori Research as a critical system of thought available to critical management studies in New Zealand that gives primacy to an Indigenous Maori paradigm. Our contribution to this conference is derived from our own experiences as Indigenous Maori researchers undertaking research in Indigenous Maori organisations. We have found that despite mainstream organisational research’s best intentions and increasing use of more interpretive methodologies (Alvesson & Skoldberg, 2000; Denzin & Lincoln, 1994; Seale, Gobo, Gubrium, & Silverman, 2004; Steier, 1991), its application to the research questions that arise out of Indigenous organizations inevitably result in a pale reflection of contemporary Indigenous business practice. We suggest that this is a consequence of organisational research and practice that typically reinforces a view of the world consistent with underlying Western oriented assumptions (Henry & Pene, 1999). To undertake organisational research in an Indigenous Maori context, it is necessary …