Mats Alvesson is professor of business administration at the University of Lund, Sweden and at University of Queensland Business School, Australia. Research interests include…
Abstract
Mats Alvesson is professor of business administration at the University of Lund, Sweden and at University of Queensland Business School, Australia. Research interests include critical theory, gender, power, management of knowledge intensive organizations, leadership, identity, organizational image, organizational culture and symbolism, qualitative methods and philosophy of science. Recent books include Interpreting Interviews (Sage, 2011), Metaphor We Lead By: Understanding Leadership in the Real World (Routledge, 2011, edited with Andre Spicer), Oxford Handbook of Critical Management Studies (Oxford University Press, edited with Todd Bridgman and Hugh Willmott), Understanding Gender and Organizations (Sage, 2009, 2nd edition edited with Yvonne Billing), Reflexive Methodology (Sage, 2009, 2nd edition edited with Kaj Skoldberg), Changing Organizational Culture (Routledge, 2008, edited with Stefan Sveningsson) and Knowledge Work and Knowledge-Intensive Firms (Oxford University Press, 2004).
This paper seeks to explore notions of enterprise as an instance of organizational change within university business schools, using a theoretical approach drawn from the discourse…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to explore notions of enterprise as an instance of organizational change within university business schools, using a theoretical approach drawn from the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Their concept of articulatory practice is useful for examining the management of knowledge workers across multiple levels of discourse, including policy, practice and processes of identification. Specifically, the paper aims to investigate the articulation of enterprise within government policy on higher education, management practices of directing, funding, measuring and regulating the activities of faculty in ways that seek to promote enterprise, as well as demonstrating how agents can resist attempts at top‐down managerial control through processes of self‐identification.
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical study consisting of an analysis of government reports on higher education along with 65 interviews conducted at six UK research‐led business schools.
Findings
At the level of government policy, the university is recast as an enterprise within a competitive marketplace where the “entrepreneurial academic” who commercializes research becomes the role model. However, management practices and identity processes amongst faculty reveal inconsistencies within the articulation of the university enterprise, to the extent that this idealised identity is marginalised within research‐led business schools in the UK.
Originality/value
The theoretical approach captures the dynamism of hegemonic projects across multiple levels, from policymaking to management practice and the constitution of identity. Laclau and Mouffe's conception of hegemony highlights mechanisms of control, while their assumption of radical contingency illuminates dynamics of resistance.
Details
Keywords
Jeffrey Muldoon, Nicholous M. Deal, Douglass Smith and Geethalakshmi Shivanapura Lakshmikanth
The purpose of this article is to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Evolution of Management Thought (EMT), a critically acclaimed text in management and organizational studies…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Evolution of Management Thought (EMT), a critically acclaimed text in management and organizational studies for its value in historicizing the practice of management.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors asked Daniel Wren and Arthur Bedeian in their own words to their contribution. In addition, the authors offer commentary and critique of 16 leading management historians who share their reflections on the intellectual significance of Wren and Bedeian, and the punctuation of EMT as a canonical text in the field of management history.
Findings
The legacy of Wren and Bedeian can be felt across the academy of historical research on business and organizations. Their work has separately made significant contributions to management studies but together they have forged a fruitful partnership that has given rise to multiple generations of scholars and scholarship that continue to shape the field to this day.
Originality/value
The contribution of the authors in this article is to mark the significant milestone of EMT’s five-decade success by hearing from the authors themselves about their longstanding success as well as giving space to critique about the past, present and future of our collective historical scholarship shaped by Wren and Bedeian’s legacy.
Details
Keywords
Steve McKenna, Lucia Garcia‐Lorenzo and Todd Bridgman
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the issues involved in managerial control and managerial identity in relation to the idea of a post‐bureaucratic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the issues involved in managerial control and managerial identity in relation to the idea of a post‐bureaucratic organization. In addition it introduces the papers in this special issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper identifies the increasing complexity of issues of managerial control and managerial identity that arise from the idea of a post‐bureaucratic organization and post‐bureaucratic working practices, such as flex‐work and project management.
Findings
The paper suggests that the form and nature of managerial control and managerial identity are constantly evolving and in a state of flux as a consequence of processes of (de)bureaucratization and (re)bureaucratization.
Originality/value
The paper raises important questions about the nature of management in post‐bureaucratic work environments and challenges the behaviourist competencies approach to developing managers.
Details
Keywords
Pauline Gleadle, Nelarine Cornelius, Eric Pezet and Graeme Salaman
Abstract
Details
Keywords
Rachel Ashworth, Tom Entwistle, Julian Gould‐Williams and Michael Marinetto
This monograph contains abstracts from the 2005 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference Cardiff Business School,Cardiff University, 6‐7th September 2005
Abstract
This monograph contains abstracts from the 2005 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, 6‐7th September 2005