Studying Management Critically
- Mats Alvesson - Lund University, Sweden
- Hugh Willmott - Cardiff Business School, UK
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
This book gives a broad expanse of areas for consideration for MBA students in the area of Leadership and Management; as well as emphasising the application of critical analysis to the area of personal leadership development within multi-disciplinary areas of business. The publication therefore poses interesting questions for an emergent and developing leader.
This is a great book as an introduction to the more critical issues in the business field. I feel that some of the readings from this text will help students to engage with their own critical thinking, if not directly with the themes of the book itself. Critical thinking is often tricky for students, particularly those not from an academic background, as with our executive MBA. Therefore, the clear examples in this text will be very useful.
A very good and critical underpinning (perhaps a deconstructionist) of management
This book offers valuable background information for students to develop familiarity with CMS
