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The Politics of Management Knowledge
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The Politics of Management Knowledge

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September 1996 | 256 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
The notion that management knowledge is universal, culture-neutral, readily transferable to any country or situation, has come under mounting challenge. The Politics of Management Knowledge goes beyond such `broad-brush' assertions to explore in detail the relations between management knowledge, power and practice in a world where globalization highlights, rather than obscures, the locally specific character of many management recipes.

The book recognizes the political nature of management knowledge as a discourse produced from, and reproducing, power processes within and between organizations. This theme underpins discussion of the ways in which management ideas and practices `produce' managers of a particular kind - person of enterprise, bureaucrat, heroic leader and so on. Critical examinations of certain current management theories - lean production, excellence, entrepreneurship - illuminate the myriad modes in which relations of power intermingle with relations of knowledge.

Eminent authors from a variety of countries address the social and political processes involved in cross-cultural transference of management ideas across the world. They also look to the future, stressing the need for a substantial new understanding that is less attuned to the corporate worlds of today and more appropriate for the increasingly diverse organizations likely to emerge in the twenty-first century.

Stewart R Clegg and Gill Palmer
Introduction
Producing Management Knowledge

 
 
PART ONE: PRODUCING MANAGERS
Paul du Gay
Making Up Managers
Enterprise and the Ethos of Bureaucracy

 
Klaus P Hansen
The Mentality of Management
Self-Images of American Top Executives

 
John Child and Suzana Rodrigues
The Role of Social Identity in the International Transfer of Knowledge through Joint Ventures
 
PART TWO: COMPARATIVE CULTURAL RECIPES FOR MANAGEMENT
Bengt Sandkull
Lean Production
The Myth which Changes the World?

 
Jos[ac]e Luis Alvarez
The International Popularization of Entrepreneurial Ideas
Eduardo Ibarra-Colado
Excellence at Large
Power, Knowledge and Organizational Forms in Mexican Universities

 
Jean-Fran[ci]cois Chanlat
From Cultural Imperialism to Independence
Francophone Resistance to Anglo-American Definitions of Management Knowledge in Qu[ac]ebec

 
 
PART THREE: THE FUTURE FOR MANAGEMENT
Ian Palmer and Richard Dunford
Interrogating Reframing
Evaluating Metaphor-Based Analyses of Organizations

 
Harvie Ramsay
Managing Sceptically
A Critique of Organizational Fashion

 
Harry Scarbrough and Gibson Burrell
The Axeman Cometh
The Changing Roles and Knowledges of Middle Managers

 
Stewart R Clegg et al
Management Knowledge for the Future
Innovation, Embryos and New Paradigms

 

`A valuable collection of readings which will assist both academics and practising managers who are seeking clarification on the themes and language of postmodernism as a framework for interpreting management knowledge - one most likely to assist management educators gain further insights into a field which is being recognised as extensive and complex' - Financial Times, New Delhi

`I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in critical approaches to management' - Asia Pacific Business Review

`The reader will find a number of stimulating analyses of management practices' - European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology

`The Politics of Management Knowledge explores the relations between management knowledge, power and practice within the context of globalisation.... [the book] presents open discussion on a range of issues, identification of advantages and disadvantages of various perspectives followed by the identification of possible criteria for choosing a solution. There is a constant ideology throughout that is averse to adopting one model, rather the need for flexibility and creative lateral thinking is encouraged in the reader. Overall I feel that this is an interesting read which could benefit many academics and students' - School Leadership and Management

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