Studying Management Critically

Mats Alvesson, Hugh Willmott, Mats Alvesson, Hugh Willmott

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9780761967378, 9780761967361
• eBook ISBN: 9781446222867
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

`An excellent source for graduate students, especially in the field of human resource development, who are exploring areas for future research of a critical nature? - Adult Education Quarterly

Drawing upon a range of influential contemporary movements in the social sciences, primarily upon critical traditions, such as the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School, this text provides a wide ranging analysis of management and its various specialisms.

The book offers critical understandings of key areas of management theory and practice such as accounting, strategic management, marketing, business ethics and environmental management. It also examines the relations between power and discursive practices in the modern corporation; the role of architecture as a repressive and emancipatory force in organizations; gender and organizations and critical methodology for organizational research. Key issues of power/knowledge relations across these areas are addressed and new agendas both for these fields and for management studies as a whole are introduced.

Contributing authors include: Mats Alvesson, Gibson Burrell, David Cooper, Karen Dale, Stan Deetz, Linda Forbes, John Forester, John Jermier, David Levy, Joanne Martin, Glenn Morgan, Martin Parker, Mike Power, Richard Loughlin and Hugh Willmott

Chapter 1

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Introduction

Mats Alvesson and Hugh Willmott

This collection presents a series of critical reflections upon key themes, topics and emergent issues in management studies. Written by specialists in their respective fields, it provides an informed overview of contemporary contributions to the study of management. Shared by its contributors is a concern to interrogate and challenge received wisdom about management theory and practice. This wisdom is deeply coloured by managerialist assumptions – assumptions that take for granted the legitimacy and efficacy of established patterns of thinking and action. Knowledge of management then becomes knowledge for management in which alternative voices are absent or marginalized. In contrast, critical perspectives on management share the aim of developing a less managerially partisan position. Insights drawn from traditions of critical social science are applied to rethink and develop the theory and practice of management.

The predecessor to this volume – Critical Management Studies (1992) – arose from a small conference held in 1989. This event brought together scholars from Europe and North America to connect critical work that was emerging on both sides of the Atlantic. Since then, the field has grown and diversified, spawning various conferences (notably, the biennial Critical Management Studies Conference) and workshops and the establishment of journals (e.g. Organization, Electronic Journal of Radical Organization Theory, Tamara) that are supportive of Critical Management Studies as well as special issues (e.g. Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly) and regular contributors to longer established journals (e.g. Journal of Management Studies, Human Relations, Management Learning). In North America, the Critical Management Studies Workshop (CMSW) has met annually at the Academy of Management Meetings and is now a special interest group of the Academy. In recent years, Critical Management events have been held in Japan, Brazil, Australia and elsewhere and there have been conferences, journals and collections that provide vehicles for Critical Management in different specialisms (e.g. accounting, marketing).

CRITICAL THEORY AND BEYOND

The tradition of Critical Theory, established in Frankfurt in the 1930s (see Alvesson and Willmott, 1996: Ch. 3, for a brief history and discussion), was, in the earlier volume, the chief, though by no means exclusive, inspiration for its contributors. Influential thinkers in this school include Horkheimer, Benjamin, Adorno, Marcuse, Fromm and, most recently, Jürgen Habermas. The influence of the Frankfurt School tradition is apparent in the work of writers such as Lasch (1978, 1984) and Sennett (1998). Critical Theory (CT) proceeds from an assumption of the possibilities of more autonomous individuals, who, in the tradition of the Enlightenment, in principle can master their own destiny in joint operation with peers – possibilities that are understood to be narrowed, distorted and impeded by conventional managerial wisdom. CT aspires to provide an intellectual counterforce to the ego administration of modern, advanced industrial society. CT apprehends how employees in large bureaucracies, and consumers of mass goods, are affected by corporations, schools, government and mass media; and how personalities, beliefs, tastes and preferences are developed to fit into the demands of mass production and mass consumption, thereby expressing standardized forms of individuality. CT challenges the domination of this instrumental rationality, which tends to reduce human beings to parts of a well-oiled societal machine (Alvesson, 2003; Steffy and Grimes, 1992).

Critical Theory provides a (not the) critical-constructive intellectual counterpoint to mainstream management studies. In Parker’s (2002: 9) words, it contributes to ‘a cultural shift in the image of management, from saviour to problem’. The principal strength of Critical Theory resides in its breadth, which offers an inspiration for critical reflection on a large number of central issues in management studies: notions of rationality and progress, technocracy and social engineering, autonomy and control, communicative action, power and ideology as well as fundamental issues of epistemology. In comparison to orthodox Marxism, CT has been rather more alert to the cultural development of advanced capitalistic society, including the growth of administration and technocracy (Alvesson and Willmott, 1996) and offers an incisive perspective for the understanding of consumerism and ecological issues (see, for example, the chapters by Morgan, and Jermier and Forbes in this volume).

During the 1990s, other streams of critical and disruptive thinking (e.g. varieties of feminism) – many of them collected under the umbrella headings of ‘postmodernism’ and ‘poststructuralism’ – have emerged and developed within the field of management to complement and challenge analyses guided by Critical Theory. Notably, the thinking of Michel Foucault has been important in providing an alternative, critical voice – in both style and substance – to the vision of Critical Theory. His ideas have, for example, questioned the humanist concept of autonomy ascribed to subjects and challenged the assumption that knowledge can be cleansed of power (Foucault, 1980). Given the diverse critical traditions of analysis that are now being deployed to interrogate management theory and practice, then the current challenge is perhaps to appreciate commonalities and continuities in different strands of critical thinking rather than becoming preoccupied with differences and detained by schisms. The unqualified dismissal of rival approaches in favour of a single, ‘enlightened’ conception of Critical Management Studies is, in our view, likely to be diverse and counterproductive in terms of any aspiration to scrutinised and change the theory and practice of management.

Critical Theory comprises an important, but by no means a single dominant, strand of Critical Management Studies (CMS) that continues to be an inclusive, pluralistic ‘movement’ wherein a diversity of critical approaches – from non-orthodox forms of labour process analysis, through varieties of Critical Theory to deconstructionism (Derrida) and approaches that have broader affinities with many contemporary social movements (e.g. feminism, environmentalism, postcolonialism, etc.) – is accommodated. This diversity has grown during the past decade (see Fournier and Grey, 2000 for a discussion of this). This volume does not try to cover all varieties of Critical Management Studies, but incorporates some of its most influential currents. So, rather that being religiously attached to Critical Theory, in the sense of the Frankfurt tradition, a way forward could involve recognizing and even celebrating, rather than minimizing, key and very probably irreconcilable differences in the conception of what it means to ‘think critically’. These differences are evident in the respective writings of Critical Theorists, such as Habermas, and poststructuralists like Foucault. In principle, they provide a rich and diverse source of inspiration that can enrich rather than confound critical studies of management (Alvesson and Deetz, 2000). If this tack is taken, then it is acknowledged that CT has limitations that should be confronted, rather than be regarded as remediable or inescapable shortcomings. More specifically, it is relevant to recognize the tenuousness of efforts to establish secure foundations for CT’s truth claims – in the consciousness of autonomous individuals or in the structure of language. Challenging the normative ideals to which Critical Theory appeals, and that it seeks to provide with rational foundations, Foucault has commented that

The thought that there could be a state of communication which would be such that the games of truth could circulate freely, without obstacles, without constraint and without coercive effects, seems to me to be Utopia. (Foucault, 1988: 18)

Foucault, of course, has a point, but inspiration from Foucault as well as Habermas may be a way of avoiding either Utopia or Dystopia – by maintaining a potentially productive tension between scepticism and inspiration for the development of alternative management practices. The difference between Foucault and Habermas is substantial, but their ideas seem to encourage productive debates (Kelly, 1994). There are arguably shared interests between Foucault and a large part of the Frankfurt School, in particular Adorno (Bernstein, 1994). It is worth noting that Foucault himself late in life, when he learned about German Critical Theory, expressed himself very positively about the Frankfurt School and emphasized his affinity:

it is this form of philosophy that, from Hegel, through Nietzsche and Max Weber to the Frankfurt School, has founded a form of reflection in which I have tried to work. (Foucault, 1994: 148)

We refrain here from commenting more extensively upon the relationship, critiques and debates between CT and other forms of critical analysis (see Alvesson and Willmott, 1996). Instead, we underscore our belief that there is less point in stressing theoretical rigour and orthodoxy than in welcoming inspiration from a variety of theories and ideas that share ‘enough’ affinities to advance and extend critical studies of management.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THIS VOLUME

More than half of the present volume comprises commissioned chapters that cover new topics and themes (see table below). The inclusion of more new rather than revised chapters is signalled by a modification of the book’s title, rather than its replacement or just labelling it the second edition.

The collection has a number of potential readerships and uses. For researchers committed to studying management critically, it provides an overview of work from a variety of perspectives and across a range of topics, subdisciplines and themes. For academics interested to learn more about the field, the collection offers a comparatively accessible point of entry into a range of areas so that specialists can readily appreciate what is distinctive about studying management critically. For teachers, it provides a series of resources that could be used to complement established courses by providing students with a taste of non-mainstream approaches to particular topics. It could also be adopted selectively as a supplementary text for advanced studies of areas covered by the collection. Or it could provide the basis for advanced undergraduate or postgraduate courses and modules in Critical Management Studies. For more reflective practitioners (including researchers and teachers in their organizational work), the collection offers access to ideas and perspectives that, by providing alternative, non-managerialist frameworks of interpretation, can be valuable in broadening their repertoire of theoretically informed ways of making sense of their experiences and moving in directions that are informed by the concerns addressed by critical studies of management.

Revised and updated from Critical Management Studies	Commissioned Contributions for Studying Management Critically
Introduction	Burrell and Dale: Space
Deetz: HRM	Jermier and Forbes: Environmentalism
Forester: Methodology	Levy, Alvesson and Willmott: Strategy
Morgan: Marketing	Martin: Feminism
Power, Laughlin and Cooper: Accounting	Parker: Ethics

A brief overview of each of the following chapters provides an outline of the volume’s scope and focus. Stanley Deetz (Chapter 2) addresses how modern corporations have a variety of stakeholders with competing interests within and between each of them. Many have documented the way arbitrary advantages are given to management and the questions this raises for a democratic society. Deetz argues that a productive analysis of these issues must consider the politics involved in the construction of the human subject and his/her knowledge. He contends that the basic democratic issue is not the representation of stakeholder interests, but the social production of stakeholders and their interests. Human resources management is seen to provide the most explicit treatment of the recruitment, development and regulation of the human subject in the workplace. Drawing upon Foucault’s analysis of power as discipline, this chapter offers insights into the everyday, practical manner by which power is deployed and potential conflicts suppressed through human resources management.

John Forester (Chapter 3) probes a transcript from a staff meeting of urban planners in a small municipality’s city hall to challenge/refute the view that Critical Theory, and especially Habermas’s theory of communicative action, has little relevance for the analysis of empirical cases and has less to say about how we might explore the work of managers and administrators. Forester shows how we might develop an empirically grounded, phenomenologically sensitive, and politically critical sociology by appropriating and building upon Habermas’s action theory and his analysis of speech acts in particular. Much more than claims about any ‘truth’ of the matter is at stake in organizational and political interaction. Actors construct and contest agendas and identities alike; they use humour and irony to do actual work; and they not only continually negotiate relations of status and authority, but they shape each other’s imaginations and commitments as well.

Joanne Martin’s contribution (Chapter 4) explores the affinities and divergences between feminist theory and Critical Theory. Although they both focus on social and economic inequalities and share an agenda of promoting system change, these fields of inquiry have developed separately and seldom draw on each other’s work. This chapter identifies areas of common interest and assesses the validity of critiques of feminist theory – such as claims that it focuses on privileged women and does not challenge existing hierarchical arrangements. It is suggested that these critiques fail to recognize and address much contemporary feminist scholarship, and it is argued that synergies between Critical Theory and feminist theory could and should be better appreciated and further explored.

David Levy, Mats Alvesson and Hugh Willmott (Chapter 5) present a critique of strategic management, contending that it needs to be taken seriously as the exercise of power in contested social networks of firms, governmental agencies, and non-governmental actors such as labour and environmental groups. Building on prior critiques of the strategy literature, the chapter draws from Gramsci to offer a historical materialist perspective on struggles for influence within social and economic networks. The Gramscian perspective is seen to facilitate and enrich attempts to integrate strategy, dynamics and agency within institutional theory and social movement theory. If power lies in the strategic coordination of resources rather than mere possession of them, then a strategic conception of power offers the opportunity for subordinate groups to develop coalitions capable of challenging dominant groups and effecting change at the corporate, industry or issue level.

Glenn Morgan’s chapter on marketing (Chapter 6) notes how the dominant paradigm in marketing embraces various versions of positivism and, ethically, has identified itself with ‘the needs of the consumer’. Marketing aims to provide a scientific approach to uncovering what consumers as individuals ‘really, really want’. An effect of this, Morgan contends, is to corrode other potential forms of collective identity, particularly around ideas of citizenship. Critiques of marketing emanating from the Frankfurt School, post-modernism and Foucault-inspired research are then reviewed before commending an approach that conceives of marketing as a set of practices and technologies with specific origins and effects which constitute the subjectivity of the ‘consumer’ and the objectivity of the ‘market’ in distinctive ways. Such an approach, Morgan contends, offers the possibility of developing an empirical and theoretically informed critique of marketing.

Michael Power, Richard Laughlin and David Cooper (Chapter 7) identify accounting as a pervasive force in modern society that is strongly connected to pressures for globalization and economic rationalization as it affects decision-making by governments, corporations and individuals. Accounting claims to represent reality – to tell us ‘true costs’ and ‘the bottom line’ – and, in so doing, it helps to constitute what is seen as legitimate performance. It would seem that if control of complex modern societies is to be secured, then ever more elaborate forms of economic calculation are required, of which accounting is a dominant instance. In this chapter, some central el...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Notes on Contributors
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Disciplinary Power, Conflict Suppression and Human
• 3 On Fieldwork in a Habermasian Way: Critical Ethnography and the Extra-ordinary Character of Ordinary Professional Work
• 4 Feminist Theory and Critical Theory: Unexplored Synergies
• 5 Critical Approaches to Strategic Management
• 6 Marketing and Critique: Prospects and Problems
• 7 Accounting and Critical Theory
• 8 Greening Organizations: Critical Issues
• 9 Building Better Worlds?: Architecture and Critical Management Studies
• 10 Business, Ethics and Business Ethics: Critical Theory and Negative Dialectics
• Index