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Encouraging readers to take a critical approach to empirical data, the authors provide an account that helps social science researchers to develop new and interesting theories.
With business schools becoming increasingly market-driven, questionable trends have emerged, such as the conflation of academic and corporate management, and the notion that academics and students are market players, who respond rationally to market signals. Using individual studies from leading scholars in a variety of disciplines and countries, this book identifies the global pressures behind these trends. It focuses on the debates surrounded the commercialization of business schools, and the rise of different methods of measuring their success. In their unique approach, the authors and editors discuss the impact of the confrontation between the timeless values embodied by Minerva, the Roman goddess of Wisdom, and the hard realities of competition and corporatization in modern society. This book will be compelling reading for students and academics in critical management studies, organizational studies, public management and higher education, as well as for stakeholders in academia and educational policy.
This book offers a lively illustration of the dynamic relationship between discourse and organizational psychology. Contributions include empirically rich discussions of both traditional and widely studied topics such as resistance to change, inclusion and exclusion, participation, multi-stakeholder collaboration and diversity management, as well as newer research areas such as language negotiations, work time arrangements, technology development and change as intervention.
This book provides a critical understanding of some basic aspects of knowledge-intensive work and organizations. The author adopts a social constructivist approach and explores the management and analytical challenges of knowledge-intensive firms. It will be key reading for academics, researchers and advanced students in organization studies, knowledge management and innovation.
For managers, talk IS action. This ground-breaking book argues that what senior executives do should rest squarely on what they say. The logical conclusion is that organizations are a network of conversations - between employees, employers, suppliers and customers - the only thing executives can influence is the debate, discussion or dialogue they happen to be in at the moment. The authors explore how twelve global firms have tackled the art and science of strategic conversations and the book contains a range of new tools and techniques for leading effective change and implementing strategy using this philosophy.
Functional stupidity can be catastrophic. It can cause organisational collapse, financial meltdown and technical disaster. And there are countless, more everyday examples of organisations accepting the dubious, the absurd and the downright idiotic, from unsustainable management fads to the cult of leadership or an over-reliance on brand and image. And yet a dose of stupidity can be useful and produce good, short-term results: it can nurture harmony, encourage people to get on with the job and drive success. This is the stupidity paradox. The Stupidity Paradox tackles head-on the pros and cons of functional stupidity. You'll discover what makes a workplace mindless, why being stupid might be a good thing in the short term but a disaster in the longer term, and how to make your workplace a little less stupid by challenging thoughtless conformity. It shows how harmony and action in the workplace can be balanced with a culture of questioning and challenge. The book is a wake-up call for smart organisations and smarter people. It encourages us to use our intelligence fully for the sake of personal satisfaction, organisational success and the flourishing of society as a whole.
Management, the pursuit of objectives through the organization and co-ordination of people, has been and is a core feature-and function-of modern society. Some 'classic' forms of corporate and bureaucratic management may be seen as the prevalent form of organization and organizing in the 20th century, but in the post-Fordist, global, knowledge-driven contemporary world we are seeing different patterns, principles, and styles of management as old models are questioned. The functions, ideologies, practices, and theories of management have changed over time, as recorded by many scholars, and may vary according to different models of organization, and between different cultures and societies. Wh...
In the post-Enron era, corporate corruption has increasingly featured on the research agenda. This informative book provides a novel approach by charting the actual causes of corruption. This highly topical volume demonstrates how agency (the decisions and choices of individuals) and structure (the contextual pressures in the business environment) can interact to result in the rapid escalation of corporate crime and corruption. By analysing and describing the social psychological dimensions of this escalation, the book prescribes preventive measures that can be adapted and implemented by business organizations. Loaded with case studies and prospective solutions, Charting Corporate Corruption will be valuable to post-graduates studying business ethics, sociology and psychology, and to researchers seeking new theories and concepts in this field.
With the beginning of the twentieth century, American corporations in the chemical and electrical industries began establishing industrial research laboratories. Some went on to become world-famous not only for their scientific and technological breakthroughs but also for the new union of science and industry they represented. Innovative ideas do not simply appear out of the blue and spread on their own merit. Rather, the laboratory's diffusion takes place in a cultural context that goes beyond corporate capital and technological change. Using discourse analysis as a method to comprehensively capture the organizational field of the early American R&D laboratories from 1870 to 1930, this book...
Neither Here nor There: The Many Voices of Liminality draws together the expertise, experience, and insights of a coterie of authors, all of whom relate the core concepts of liminality to their unique contexts. The experience of and inquiry into liminal phenomena have developed into a distinct discipline of study which now crosses and informs many areas of thought, including anthropology, sociology, theology, psychology, literature and education. New vistas of interdisciplinary study have opened as a result of sharing the common language and symbol system of liminality. This anthology reflects the current resurgence of liminality and provides a critical source book ideal for individual reflection, study groups, classes and seminars. From the inner workings of spiritual life to large social transformations, liminality now provides a powerful interpretive tool and effective method for spiritual direction, teaching and leadership.