Management: A Critical Text

Citation

Shadforth, T. (2000), "Management: A Critical Text", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 13 No. 5, pp. 504-511. https://doi.org/10.1108/jocm.2000.13.5.504.2

At first glance this book did not appear to be very inspiring. The title suggested yet another management text attempting a broad brush approach to a diverse, multi‐disciplinary subject. The rather staid front cover further served to reinforce the notion that this was going to be a dull read. Although there are aspects of this book that do not seem to work, which will be discussed later, it was pleasantly surprising in many ways.

Instead of breaking down into functional sections, each of the 11 chapters consists of contributions by a variety of writers, with each chapter illustrating a different perspective on management and managing, e.g. culture, gender, ethics. The analysis in each chapter is supported by a number of questions and a case study. The case studies are short, often very interesting, and great care has obviously been taken to select them from across different countries and cultural backgrounds. They readily lend themselves to use as seminar material. However, the manner in which these interesting case studies and questions are “answered” at the end of each chapter did not seem entirely appropriate in light of the authors’ aims for the text.

Fulop and Linstead acknowledge from the outset that “there are many sides to management, no simple and clear answers and no one best way to do it” (p. 3). The authors declare that they are not attempting to offer simple solutions but instead stimulate discussion and debate and attempt to generate confidence in those managing the diverse and volatile. The enquiring manager is offered a number of perspectives on negotiating their way through shifting and changing organisational realities but then in most (although not all) chapters is offered pre‐packed solutions to problems.

The emphasis throughout is on self‐criticism, reflection and critical enquiry which Fulop and Linstead describe as “the very condition for management to be able to learn, adapt and influence the rapidly changing world conditions in the coming century” (p. 2). These are not new ideas by any means but they are intertwined within the text and arguments of each chapter and are not treated as separate, optional extras in the manager’s toolkit.

However, there is also a strong suggestion in this book that managers can rise to be something “better than” those being managed which does not seem to fit with the idea of relationships (not individuals) as the focus. In their texts, Davies and Harre (1990) articulate that who we are is a joint production and Gergen (1995) talks of act/supplement. The idea of a manager being “better than” another ceases to make any sense in the light of these alternative perspectives on relationships and relations.

The way that the authors apply relational theory is not always convincing. For instance, in Chapter 4 (Power and politics in organisations), the relational discussion of power is framed in terms such as:

… often the interests of power are thwarted precisely because the powerless would need more information in order to perform more effectively, which would entail the revelation of motives the powerful would rather suppress.

This perspective, which amongst other things includes the concealment of (real?) motives does not seem to sit comfortably under the relational theory umbrella. For instance, Gergen (1994) critiques deceit in all of its forms e.g. fraud, cheating, duplicity, on the grounds that they are constructions arising from peculiarly Western conceptions of the mind.

On a related theme, there are a large number of lists and tables throughout the text which are neat but again are in direct contrast with the introductory statement that “We don’t think that there are a few basic principles down to which management can be distilled” (p. 1). One example of this can be found in exhibit 1.1, a list of the six sources of knowledge available to the manager!

The introduction clearly sets out the philosophy behind the book, including the idea that management revolves around the management of relationships not resources and Fulop and Linstead round off by describing the threefold challenge to management of:

1. 1.

   (1) being able to “surf” the waves of changing relationships and maintaining a sense of balance;

2. 2.

   (2) being able to sense the immense inter‐connectedness of things through their relationships without being overcome by the vertigo of possibilities (a kind of analysis paralysis), and still be able to act effectively; and

3. 3.

   (3) not looking for simplicity where it cannot be found but rather to see the complexity of managing relationships as a distinct advantage, which is vital to learning about oneself and one’s organisation.

The message of this chapter, and indeed the rest of the book, seems to be that the individual manager needs to reframe what they observe and hear from others and consider that people with a variety of different roles, experiences and value sets are looking at exactly the same problem. Understanding perspectives seems to be the main thrust of the text and the formal study of management is offered as the best way forward.

This is an ambitious book, which attempts to review developments in the field of management and provide some practical and interesting material to take that analysis forward. The carefully planned structure is easy to navigate. For the lecturer, there is a great deal of interesting material contained in the text that could usefully be employed as a basis for class discussion and the references at the end of each chapter appear to be comprehensive and thorough and could be a good starting point for a keen practitioner/student of management. However, it was not as critical and challenging as might have been expected based on the introductory comments and the neat structure at times leads to an over‐simplification which is not helpful in developing critical awareness.