Critical Management Studies

"This is a useful contribution to the management literature and should be obligatory reading for management students." --Systems Practice "Alvesson and Willmott have compiled an interesting and provocative collection on the application of Critical Theory (CT) to the study of management and organization. . . . The editors manage to fulfil their promise of indicating what a critical analysis of management functions might look like." --Management Learning "A thought-provoking book for students and teachers in the field. . . . The topics are well chosen, and the contributors well-versed in their field." --Journal of the Operational Research Society "I enjoyed reading this book. To the credit of the editors, both its general conception and its implementation are excellent. Not only was their selection of authors adequate but also, it is apparent, they managed to get individual contributions well in line with the global purpose of the book. Each contribution succeeds in adding relevant insights and making apparent critical research issues. The authors show how management cannot be seen simply as a neutral, 'technical' function concerned with the production of certain goods and services. Rather it is highly complex and significant social phenomenon which can and should be the subject of serious examination. . . . This book is a must as a reader for students and practitioners of management sciences, operations research, and system sciences." --European Journal of Operational Research "This volume of essays arising from a conference held in England in 1990 offers a stimulating and, in some ways, biting commentary on the current status of management research. Whether one is easy or not with the stance taken by critical theorists, the authors certainly attempt a more interesting analysis of organizational management than is normally the case." --British Journal of Management "This text . . . aspires to provide a more focused, explicit and coherent representation of a 'critical theory' perspective on management that draws its ethical, ideological and intellectual inspiration from, mainly, Habermas and Foucault. In this respect the underlying rationale for this book is based on a highly ambitious intellectual project insofar as it attempts to pull together the highly diverse, not to say disparate, theoretical stands which go to make up 'critical theory' and to assess their interpretative and explanatory potential in the field of management and organization studies." --The Occupational Psychologist The first to bring an integrated critical approach to the study of management and organizations, Critical Management Studies draws on a wide range of influential contemporary movements in the social sciences. The contributors provide a critically-oriented overview of management studies in the following areas: organization theory, organizational behavior, marketing, accounting, information systems, and operational research. They offer a state-of-the-art report on those areas which are currently most influenced by critical theory and discuss its relevance for practitioners. Key issues addressed include the relations between power, discursive practices, and conflict suppression in the modern corporation; the construction of pleasure as a potentially subversive force in organizational life; the double-edged role of a critical social science for managers; and doing critical management research. Critical Management Studies will interest academics and students in management and organization studies.