This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Hotho, S. Articles by Pollard, D. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Management as Negotiation at the Interface: Moving Beyond the Critical—Practice Impasse

Dundee Business School, University of Abertay Dundee, Dundee, UK, bstsh{at}tay.ac.uk

David Pollard

Leeds Business School, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK, D.J.Pollard{at}Leedsmet.ac.uk

The seemingly marginal contribution of management theory to management practice has been commented on in different contexts. Specifically, critical management studies (CMS) seems suspended in an impasse between the aim to critique dominant management practice and discourse, and the expectation to facilitate transformative management action. This paper argues that the theory—practice impasse may, in part, be a result of reductivist perspectives discursively produced by both mainstream and critical management studies. To illustrate this argument, the paper refers to a case study exploring middle management practice in the higher education context. It demonstrates that academic middle management practice as constructed by polarized and polarizing discourses of either managerial or critical orientation is counterproductive to a full understanding of this practice and the contribution it can make to organizations if properly understood, and proposes an alternative reading aimed to `cross the divide' between discourses and between theory and practice. It is proposed that a more constructive engagement with multiple rationalities can move towards a more comprehensive understanding of currently marginalized management activity, and, from there, towards a more productive link between theory and practice.

Key Words: academic management • change • critical management • rationality • universities

References

• Ainley, P. (1994) Degrees of Difference: Higher Education in the 1990s. London: Laurence and Wishart .
• Allen, D. (2002) `Personal Reflection on Being a Head of Department ', in S. Ketteridge, S. Marshall and H. Fry (eds) The Effective Academic: A Handbook for Enhanced Academic Practice, pp. 70—71. London: Kogan Page .
• Alvesson, M. and Deetz, S. (2000) Doing Critical Management Research. London: Sage .
• Alvesson, M. and Willmott, H. (1996) Making Sense of Management: A Critical Introduction. London: Sage .
• Barnett, R. (2000) Realizing the University in an Age of Supercomplexity. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press .
• Bolan, R.S. (1999) ` Rationality Revisited. An Alternative Perspective on Reason in Management and Planning', Journal of Management History 5(2): 68—86 .
• Boyett, I. (1996) `New Leader, New Culture, "Old University "', Leadership and Organization Development Journal 17(5): 24—30 .
• Burke, K. (1945) A Grammar of Motives. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press .
• Carr, A. (2000) ` Critical Theory and Management of Change in Organizations' , Journal of Organizational Change Management 13(3): 208—20 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Casey, C. (2004) ` Contested Rationalities, Contested Organizations: Feminist and Postmodern Visions' , Journal of Organizational Change Management 17(3): 302—14 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Chia, R. (2000) ` Discourse Analysis as Organizational Analysis' , Organization 7(3): 513—18 .[Free Full Text]
• Clark, H., Barry, J. and Chandler, J. (1998) `On Whether it is Better to be Loved or Feared: Managerialism and Women in Universities', in D. Jary and M. Parker (eds) The New Higher Education: Issues and Directions for the Post-Dearing University, pp. 207—22. Stoke-on-Trent: Staffordshire University Press .
• Davies, A. and Thomas, R. (2002) ` Managerialism and Accountability in Higher Education: The Gendered Nature of Restructuring and the Cost of Academic Service' , Critical Perspectives on Accounting 13: 179—93 .[CrossRef]
• Dearing, R. (1997) The National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education: Higher Education in the Learning Society. London: HMSO .
• Dearlove, J. (1998) `The Deadly Dull Issue of University "Administration": Good Governance, Managerialism and Organising Academic Work' , Higher Education Policy 11: 59—79 .[CrossRef]
• Denton, D.D. and Kellett, B. (1994) ` A Time for New Academic Managers' , Higher Education Policy 7(2): 45—46 .
• Doost, R.K. (2000) ` Tenure and Beyond. The Search for Meaning ', Managerial Auditing Journal 15(4): 187—91 .[CrossRef]
• Fairclough, N. (2003 [1992]) Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Blackwell .
• Ford, P., Goodyear, P.M., Heseltine, R., Lewis, R., Darby, J., Graves, J., Sartorius, P., Harwood, D. and King, T. (1996) Managing Change in Higher Education: A Learning Environment Architecture. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press .
• Fournier, V. and Grey, C. (2000) ` At the Critical Moment: Conditions and Prospects for Critical Management Studies' , Human Relations 53(1): 7—32 .[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Garrick, R. (1997) Inquiry into Higher Education. Report of the Scottish Committee. www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/nchie/scottish.htm.
• Gergen, K.J. (2001) Social Construction in Context. London: Sage .
• Gregory, M. (1996) ` Developing Effective College Leadership for the Management of Educational Change' , Leadership and Organization Development Journal 17(4): 46—51 .[CrossRef]
• Gordon, G. (1995) `Higher Education 2005: Pointers, Possibilities, Pitfalls, Principles' , Quality Assurance in Education 3(4): 21—29 .[CrossRef]
• Hall, S. (1993) ` Thatcherism Today' , New Statesman and Society November 26: 14—16 .
• Halsey, A.H. (1992) Decline of Donnish Dominion: The British Academic Professions in the 20th Century. Oxford: Clarendon .
• Jackson, M.P. (1999) ` The Role of the Head of Department in Managing Performance in UK Universities', International Journal of Education Management 13(3): 142—55 .
• Jackson, N. and Carter, P. (2000) Rethinking Organisational Behaviour. Harlow: Prentice Hall .
• Jary, D. and Parker, M., eds (1998) The New Higher Education: Issues and Directions for the Post-Dearing University, pp. 207—22. Stoke-on-Trent: Staffordshire University Press .
• Johnston, C. (2004) ` Department Heads "Shirk Responsibilities "', Times Higher Education Supplement 30 January: 9 .
• Kennerley, J.A. (1992) ` Managing Professionals and Professional Autonomy ', Higher Education Quarterly 46(2): 166—73 .
• Knight, P.T. and Trowler, P.R. (2001) Departmental Leadership in Higher Education. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press .
• Leadership and Management (2003) A Report of the Joint Working Group, April 2002—July 2003. http://shefc.ac.uk.
• Martin, E. (1999) Changing Academic Work: Developing the Learning University. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press .
• Meyer, H.-D. (2002) ` The New Managerialism in Education Management: Corporatization or Organizational Learning ', Journal of Educational Administration 40(6): 534—51 .[CrossRef]
• Middlehurst, R. (1993) Leading Academics. Buckingham: Open University Press and The Society for Research into Higher Education .
• Middlehurst, R. (1995) `Changing Leadership in Universities', in T. Schuller (ed.) Changing Universities. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press .
• Osseo-Assare, A.E. and Longbottom, D. (2002) ` The Need for Education and Training in the Use of the EFQM Model for Quality Management in Higher Education Institutions' , Quality Assurance in Education 10(1): 26—36 .[CrossRef]
• Parker, M. (2002) Against Management. Cambridge: Polity .
• Parker, M. and Jary, D. (1995) `The McUniversity: Organisations, Management and Academic Subjectivity' , Organization 2(2): 319—38 .[Abstract]
• Prichard, C. (2000) Making Managers in Universities and Colleges. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press .
• Prichard, C. and Willmott, H. (1997) ` Just How Managed is the McUniversity ?', Organization Studies 18(2): 287—316 .[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Rowley, J. (1997) `Academic Leaders: Made or Born ?', Industrial and Commercial Training 29(3): 78—84 .[CrossRef]
• Rowley, D.J. and Sherman, J. (2003) `The Special Challenges of Academic Leadership' , Management Decision 41(10): 1058—63 .[CrossRef]
• Rutherford, D. (1992) ` Appraisal and Action: A Case Study of Innovation and Leadership' , Studies in Higher Education 17(2): 201—10 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Shore, C. and Selwyn, T. (1998) `The Marketisation of Higher Education: Management, Discourse and the Politics of Performance', in D. Jary and M. Parker (eds) The New Higher Education: Issues and Directions for the Post-Dearing University, pp. 151—72. Stoke-on-Trent: Staffordshire University Press .
• Taylor, P.G. (1999) Making Sense of Academic Life: Academics, Universities and Change. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press .
• Townley, B. (1993) ` Performance Appraisal and the Emergence of Management' , Journal of Management Studies 30(2): 221—38 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Townley, B. (1999) ` Practical Reason and Performance Appraisal' , Journal of Management Studies 36(3): 287—307 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Townley, B. (2002) ` The Role of Competing Rationalities in Institutional Change' , Academy of Management Journal 45(1): 163—79 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Trow, M. (1994) `Managerialism and the Academic Profession: The Case of England' , Higher Education Policy 7: 11—18 .
• Trowler, P.R. (1998) Academics Responding to Change: New Higher Education Frameworks and Academic Cultures. Buckingham: The Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press .
• Trowler, P.R. (2001) `Captured by the Discourse? The Socially Constitutive Power of New Higher Education Discourse in the UK' , Organization 8(2): 183—201 .[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Tyack, D.B. and Cuban, L. (1995) Tinkering Towards Utopia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
• White, R.F. and Jacques, R. (1995) ` Operationalizing the Postmodernity Construct for Efficient Organizational Change Management' , Journal of Organizational Change Management 8(2): 45—71 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Willmott, H. (1994) `Bringing Agency (Back) into Organizational Analysis: Responding to the Crisis of (Post)modernity', in J. Hassard and M. Parker (eds) Towards a New Theory of Organizations. London: Routledge .
• Wilson, T. (1991) ` The Proletarianisation of Academic Labour' , Industrial Relations Journal 22(22): 250—62 .
• Winter, R. (1996) `New Liberty, New Discipline: Academic Work in the New Higher Education', in R. Cuthbert (ed.) Working in Higher Education, pp. 71—83. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press .
• Zald, M.N. (2002) ` Spinning Disciplines: Critical Management Studies in the Context of the Transformation of Management Education' , Organization 9(3): 365—85 .[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Organization, Vol. 14, No. 4, 583-603 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1350508407078768


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Hotho, S. Articles by Pollard, D. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?