 | This article possibly contains original research .(September 2014) |
Critical management studies (CMS) is a loose but extensive grouping of theoretically informed critiques of management, business and organisation, grounded originally in a critical theory perspective. Today it encompasses a wide range of perspectives that are critical of traditional theories of management and the business schools that generate these theories.
It is widely suggested that CMS began with Mats Alvesson and Hugh Willmott's edited collection Critical Management Studies (1992). Critical Management Studies (CMS) initially brought together critical theory and post-structuralist writings, but has since developed in more diverse directions.
CMS grows at the same time as the global expansion of business schools, especially in north-western Europe. Decreases in state funding, so the narrative has it, for social sciences and increases in enrolments for business schools during the 1980s resulted in many academics with graduate training in sociology, history, philosophy or related fields of study ending up with jobs "training managers" or training students who wanted to become managers.
These academics brought different theoretical tools and political perspectives into business schools. They began to question the politics of managerialism and to link the techniques of management to neo-liberalism. These new voices drew on the Frankfurt School of critical theory, and the work of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze. Later Feminism, queer theory, post-colonial theory, anarchism, ecological philosophies, and radical democratic theory also had some influence. (See Alvesson and Willmott 2003 for a survey of the field.)
The roots of CMS are contested but are connected to the series of UK Labour Process Conferences that began in 1983 and reflected the impact of Braverman's (1974) attempt to make Marxist categories central to understanding work organisations. Industrial relations and labor studies scholars have joined the CMS fold in the US and northwestern Europe, seeking new opportunities for employment as labor and trade union related programs have diminished in number. At the same time a significant strand of critical accounting studies began to develop marked by the publication of Tony Tinker's Paper Prophets (1985) and the appearance of the journal Critical Perspectives on Accounting. Feminist and Marxist work in the sociology of work and organizations also predates the term CMS.
Contrasting with the dominant origin narrative is an account which states that, along with the contributors to CMS from the intellectual traditions identified here, there is a significant - and overlapping - bloc among CMS scholars of those who have had extensive pre-University experience as workers and managers. The inconsistencies between their experiences in the workplace and the claims of mainstream managerialism, and an intention to connect those experiences to broader explanations and theorizing leads these people to CMS.
The main home of CMS has been in the organisation theory and behaviour parts of British, Australian and Scandinavian business schools, [1] though there are strong contributions in related fields such as sociology, sociology of education, and critical pedagogy. [2] Further, contributions stem from accounting with growing interest in other management specialisms, such as marketing, international business, operational research, logistics etc. Since the 1990s academics from North America and other parts of the world are also engaging with this body of writing and research. The CMS Division within the (American) Academy of Management (AoM), with a membership of around 800, is larger and more international than some of its other divisions.
Many heterodox scholars in various parts of the world had been inspired by the international activities of the Standing Conference on Organisational Symbolism. This latter grouping developed work which drew variously on post-structuralism and symbolic interactionism in order to develop a cultural and anthropological understanding of contemporary organizations. Others, though, were without affiliation and/or seeking new formations and alliances. Since 1999, there has been a bi-annual CMS conference held in the UK as well as workshops and a bi-annual conference held at US Academy of Management.
Today there are significant concentrations of CMS scholars in the UK at the School of Business and Management at Queen Mary, University of London, the Essex Business School at the University of Essex, the Organization Studies's research themes of Sheffield University Management School at the University of Sheffield, [3] and the Marketing Research Group at Royal Holloway. There were concentrations at the University of Leicester, and the Alliance Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester, but this is no longer the case as a result of controversial changes in research strategy. Elsewhere, Copenhagen Business School, Lund School of Economics and Management at Lund University and Istanbul Bilgi University have clusters of CMS scholars.
Many CMS scholars globally rely on conferences and journals like Tamara Journal for Critical Organization Studies, ephemera: theory and politics in organization, Culture and Organization, or Organization: the critical journal of organization, theory and society for their affiliations.
Major points of debate have focused on CMS's relationship with more orthodox forms of Marxism, on the nature and purposes of CMS critique, on questions of inclusion and exclusion (Fournier and Grey 2000), on the possibilities of social transformation from within business schools (Parker 2002), and on the development of alternative models of globalisation.
One trend in CMS has seen the incorporation of autonomist Marxist theory, first introduced to the English-speaking world by the work of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri (2000). New CMS scholars using these theories have interests in proposing alternative non-capitalist forms of organizing work and life - often built around the notion of collective responsibility for the commons. Other developments include engagements with post-colonial theory and critical race theory to investigate the way management and business schools contribute to what Cedric Robinson (1983) has called "racial capitalism". Recent critical works have referred to Bourdieusian theory (structuralist constructivism) [4] [5] to point to the risks of elitism [6] [7] and social inequality, [8] particularly in management education. Michael Loughlin of Manchester Metropolitan University has discussed aspects of management theory as "pseudo-science". [9]
Wider impatience with market-managerial forms of organization occur commonly enough outside the business school, from anti-corporate protests to popular-media presentations of managers. CMS attempts to articulate these voices within the business school, and to provide ways of thinking beyond current dominant theories and practices of organizations.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to academic disciplines:
Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor/trade unions, employer organizations, and the state.
In the social sciences there is a standing debate over the primacy of structure or agency in shaping human behaviour. Structure is the recurrent patterned arrangements which influence or limit the choices and opportunities available. Agency is the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. The structure versus agency debate may be understood as an issue of socialization against autonomy in determining whether an individual acts as a free agent or in a manner dictated by social structure.
In the field of sociology, cultural capital comprises the social assets of a person that promote social mobility in a stratified society. Cultural capital functions as a social relation within an economy of practices, and includes the accumulated cultural knowledge that confers social status and power; thus cultural capital comprises the material and symbolic goods, without distinction, that society considers rare and worth seeking. There are three types of cultural capital: (i) embodied capital, (ii) objectified capital, and (iii) institutionalised capital.
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical perspective to view social transformation. It originates from the works of 19th-century German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. As Marxism has developed over time into various branches and schools of thought, no single, definitive Marxist theory exists. Marxism has had a profound impact in shaping the modern world, with various left-wing and far-left political movements taking inspiration from it in varying local contexts.
Peter McLaren is a Canadian-American scholar and Emeritus Professor of Urban Education at the University of California, Los Angeles, having taught at UCLA from 1993 until 2013. Prior to that, he taught at Miami University of Ohio (1985-1993). Most recently, he served as a Distinguished Professor in Critical Studies at Attallah College of Educational Studies, Chapman University (2013-2023) until his retirement, where he was Co-Director of the Paulo Freire Democratic Project and International Ambassador for Global Ethics and Social Justice. He is the Honorary Director of the Center for Critical Studies in Education at Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China. According to Stanford University's database, McLaren belongs to the top 2% of the world’s most influential scientists.
Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct field research may simply observe animals interacting with their environments, whereas social scientists conducting field research may interview or observe people in their natural environments to learn their languages, folklore, and social structures.
The sociology of education is the study of how public institutions and individual experiences affect education and its outcomes. It is mostly concerned with the public schooling systems of modern industrial societies, including the expansion of higher, further, adult, and continuing education.
Social pedagogy describes a holistic and relationship-centred way of working in care and educational settings with people across the course of their lives. In many countries across Europe, it has a long-standing tradition as a field of practice and academic discipline concerned with addressing social inequality and facilitating social change by nurturing learning, well-being and connection both at an individual and community level. The term 'pedagogy' originates from the Greek pais (child) and agein, with the prefix 'social' emphasising that upbringing is not only the responsibility of parents but a shared responsibility of society. Social pedagogy has therefore evolved in somewhat different ways in different countries and reflects cultural and societal norms, attitudes and notions of education and upbringing, of the relationship between the individual and society, and of social welfare provision for its marginalised members. Social pedagogues work within a range of different settings, from early years through adulthood to working with disadvantaged adult groups as well as older people. To achieve a holistic perspective within each of these settings, social pedagogy draws together theories and concepts from related disciplines such as sociology, psychology, education, philosophy, medical sciences, and social work.
Managerialism is the reliance on professional managers and organizational strategies to run an organisation. It may be justified in terms of efficiency, or characterized as an ideology. It is a belief system that requires little or no evidence to justify itself. Thomas Diefenbach associates managerialism with a belief in hierarchy. Other scholars have linked managerialism to control, accountability, measurement, strategic planning and a belief in the importance of tightly-managed organizations.
William Richard Scott is an American sociologist, and Emeritus Professor at Stanford University, specialised in institutional theory and organisation science. He is known for his research on the relation between organizations and their institutional environments.
Richard Whittington is an academic in the area of Corporate Strategy. Currently, he is a Professor of Strategic Management at the Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of New College, Oxford. Whittington has been influential in the Strategy-as-Practice approach, a more sociological and less managerial approach to the study of business and corporate strategy. He was previously an Associate Editor at the Strategic Management Journal.
Leadership studies is a multidisciplinary academic field of study that focuses on leadership in organizational contexts and in human life. Leadership studies has origins in the social sciences, in humanities, as well as in professional and applied fields of study. The field of leadership studies is closely linked to the field of organizational studies.
Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century is a book about the economics and sociology of work under monopoly capitalism by the political economist Harry Braverman. Building on Monopoly Capital by Paul A. Baran and Paul Sweezy, it was first published in 1974 by Monthly Review Press.
Neo-Marxism is a collection of Marxist schools of thought originating from 20th-century approaches to amend or extend Marxism and Marxist theory, typically by incorporating elements from other intellectual traditions such as critical theory, psychoanalysis, or existentialism. Neo-Marxism comes under the broader framework of the New Left. In a sociological sense, neo-Marxism adds Max Weber's broader understanding of social inequality, such as status and power, to Marxist philosophy.
A critical theory is any approach to humanities and social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to attempt to reveal, critique, and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from social structures and cultural assumptions rather than from individuals. Some hold it to be an ideology, others argue that ideology is the principal obstacle to human liberation. Critical theory finds applications in various fields of study, including psychoanalysis, film theory, literary theory, cultural studies, history, communication theory, philosophy, and feminist theory.
Mats Alvesson is a Swedish management scholar and professor of business administration at Lund University, particularly known for having made key contributions in forming the field of critical management studies.
Ernest Anthony (Tony) Lowe was a British economist, and Professor of Accounting and Financial Management at the University of Sheffield, known for his work on management control, and management control systems.
John Hassard is a British social scientist specialising in organization theory. He is known for conducting a ‘multiple paradigm’ case study investigation in organizational research.
Steven G. Brint is an American sociologist specializing in the study of organizations and education.
In addition to the claim that 'quality' is somehow foundational to evaluation, such that to improve a service means to increase or improve its quality, we have seen that a key claim of management theory is that there are 'basic organisational criteria' common to all complex organisations (Berwick 1993, IHSM 1993, Laffel and Blumenthal 1993, Peters 1992). The existence of these common organisational criteria provides the basis for the claim that management is a science, a specific discipline with its own distinctive methods and principles, such that theories developed for the manufacturing sector [...] can meaningfully be applied to the project of improving such radically different practices as healthcare and education. [...] Books like The Textbook of Total Quality have as much claim to the title of a work of 'science' as Malleus Maleficarum .
| By type of organization | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By focus (within an organization) |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Management positions | |||||||||||||||||||
| Methods and approaches | |||||||||||||||||||
| Management skills and activities | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pioneers and scholars | |||||||||||||||||||
| Education | |||||||||||||||||||
| Degrees | |||||||||||||||||||
| Other |
| ||||||||||||||||||
