Making Sense of Management: A Critical Introduction

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The first edition of Making Sense of Management set out to provide a fresh perspective on management that was both broad and critical, exploring how the disruptive and constructive potential of critical theory can be realized in organizations. Along the way, it has proven to be a landmark contribution to critical management studies. As well as setting the agenda for current research, this revised edition has been written to appeal to a broader readership and open up critical theory for the general management student.

New sections on HRM, brands, identity, ethics and leadership have been fully developed alongside the rest of the text to reflect the current state of play in critical management studies.

The second edition of Making Sense of Management will be of interest to students and researchers in critical management studies and students on general management courses with a critical perspective.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• About the Authors (p. x)
• Preface (p. xi)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Knowledges of management - conventional and critical (p. 5)
• Plan of the book (p. 7)
• Part I Introducing Critical Theory to Management (p. 11)
• 1 Management in Critical Perspective (p. 13)
• Seductions of capitalism and the limits of 'progress' (p. 14)
• Beyond the understanding of management as a technical activity (p. 19)
• Critical theory and modern society (p. 22)
• The capacity for critical reflection (p. 22)
• Critical thinking and management practice (p. 27)
• The challenge of change and the vision of democracy (p. 29)
• Making sense of management: Unpacking the received wisdom (p. 33)
• Making sense of management: Sketching a critical perspective (p. 36)
• Managers as agents and targets of instrumental reason (p. 39)
• Conclusion (p. 40)
• Notes (p. 43)
• 2 Critical Thinking: Forms of Knowledge and the Limits of Critique (p. 46)
• The limits of scientific knowledge (p. 47)
• Science and Critical Theory (p. 51)
• The unfolding of critical thinking about management and organization (p. 55)
• Four paradigms for analysing management (p. 58)
• The critical tradition (p. 63)
• Some themes in Critical Theory (p. 64)
• Critiques of Critical Theory (p. 72)
• Summary and conclusion (p. 79)
• Notes (p. 80)
• Part II Management Specialisms in a Critical Perspective (p. 83)
• 3 Critical Conceptualizations of Management (p. 85)
• On metaphors and metaphorical understanding (p. 85)
• Critical theoretic conceptualizations of management (p. 90)
• Conclusion (p. 104)
• Notes (p. 105)
• 4 Critically Assessing Management Specialisms I: Organization Theory, HRM and Leadership (p. 106)
• Organization theory (p. 107)
• Human resource management (p. 116)
• Leadership (p. 122)
• Summary (p. 126)
• Notes (p. 127)
• 5 Critically Assessing Management Specialisms II: Marketing and Strategic Management (p. 129)
• Marketing (p. 130)
• Strategic management (p. 143)
• Conclusion (p. 154)
• Notes (p. 155)
• 6 Critically Assessing Management Specialisms III: Accounting, Information Systems and Operational Research (p. 157)
• Accounting (p. 157)
• Information systems (p. 163)
• Operational research (p. 168)
• Conclusion (p. 173)
• Notes (p. 173)
• Part III Recasting Critical Theory and Management (p. 175)
• 7 Recasting Emancipation in Management and Organization Studies (p. 177)
• Management and emancipation (p. 178)
• Critiques of Critical Theory (p. 181)
• Reconceptualizing emancipation (p. 191)
• Emancipation: Types and foci (p. 198)
• Summary and conclusion (p. 210)
• Notes (p. 211)
• 8 Critical Theory and Management Practice (p. 214)
• Means of promoting progressive social change (p. 215)
• CMS and career choices (p. 225)
• CMS and decision making (p. 227)
• Global justice and critical management (p. 240)
• Situating CMS in the context of management education and research (p. 242)
• Education as agenda setting (p. 244)
• From action learning to critical action learning (p. 247)
• Conclusion (p. 251)
• Notes (p. 252)
• Appendix: Brief History of the Frankfurt School (p. 255)
• The early years (p. 256)
• Critiques of totalitarianism (p. 257)
• The resurgence of critical theory (p. 258)
• Notes (p. 261)
• References (p. 262)
• Index (p. 298)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Alvesson (Univ. of Lund, Sweden) and Willmott (Univ. of Manchester) offer a broad and critical view of management practice. Attacking trendy "guru management" prescriptions, they recommend critically questioning the idea that management is a morally neutral technology. Their evaluative approach to management asks moral questions similar to those asked in other areas of social science. Perhaps the most interesting discourse relates their analysis to the various subdisciplines of management, including accounting, marketing, and information systems. In conclusion, they consider possible ways to integrate their framework with other current approaches. They are critical of popular management approaches for assuming the legitimacy of existing priorities and values and for merely supplementing established means of control. Ultimately, their book calls for management to become a vehicle for progressive social change. Many references. Upper-division undergraduate through faculty collections. L. J. Cumbo; Emory and Henry College