Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T07:30:16.820Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A reflection on critical management studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Devi Akella
Devi Akella*
Affiliation:
College of Business, Albany State University, Albany GA, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Critical Management Studies (CMS) is interested in examining and challenging the legitimacy of traditional management theories, values and assumptions. CMS believes by reflecting and questioning existing management practices, it is possible to generate better norms, policies, ideas and management values. The essence of CMS is to deconstruct the various management techniques and functions, to expose any forms of discrimination and exploitation taking place in contemporary organisations and emancipate employees from their pain, suffering and frustration.

This paper seeks to make a contribution in the area of CMS, by examining the overall effectiveness of CMS in fulfilling its objectives. It seeks to address the effectiveness of CMS in achieving its goals in organisations, with the support of an empirical study conducted at a professional accounting firm.

Keywords

critical management studiesknowledgepowermanagersreflectionefficiency
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 100 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alvesson, M and Willmott, HC (1992) On the idea of emancipation in management and organisation studies, Academy of Management Review 17: 432–64.Google Scholar
Alvesson, M and Willmott, HC (1996) Making Sense of Management, Sage Publications, London.Google Scholar
Antonacopoulou, EP (1999) The Power of Critique: Revisiting Critical Theory at the End of the Century, Proceedings of the First International Critical Management Conference, 14-16 07, UMIST, Manchester, UK.Google Scholar
Braverman, H (1974) Labour and Monopoly Capital, Monthly Review Press, New York.Google Scholar
Burawoy, M (2004) Public sociologies: Contradictions, dilemmas and possibilities, Social Forces, 82: 1603–1618.Google Scholar
Carroll, SJ and Gillen, DJ (1987) Are classical management functions useful in describing managerial work, Academy of Management Review, 13: 38–51.Google Scholar
Chia, R and Morgan, S (1996) Educating the philosopher manager, Management Learning, 26: 37–64.Google Scholar
Clegg, S and Dunkerley, D (1997) Critical Issues in Organisation, Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Edwards, R (1979) Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the Twentieth Century, Basic Books, New York.Google Scholar
Fayol, H (1949) General and Industrial Management, Pitman Publications, London.Google Scholar
Fournier, V and Grey, C (2000) At the critical moment: Conditions and prospects for critical management studies, Human Relations, 53: 7–32.Google Scholar
Grey, C (1994) Career as a project of the self and labour process discipline, Sociology, 26: 479–97.Google Scholar
Grey, C and Mitev, N (1995) Management education: A polemic, Management Learning, 26: 73–90.Google Scholar
Grey, C and Willmott, H (2002) Contexts of CMS, Organization, 9: 411–418.Google Scholar
Hales, CP (1986) What do managers do? A critical review of the evidence, Journal of Management Studies, 23: 88–115.Google Scholar
Johnson, P and Duberley, J (2000) Understanding Management Research: An Introduction to Epistemology, Sage Publications, London.Google Scholar
Mingers, J (2000) What is to be critical? Teaching a critical approach to management undergraduates, Management Learning, 31: 219–237.Google Scholar
Mintzberg, H (1973) The Nature of Managerial Work, Harper and Row, London.Google Scholar
Mintzberg, H (1983) Structures in Fives: Designing Effective Organisations, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs NJ.Google Scholar
Mukherjee, A and Reed, D (1999) Capitalist firms as agents of development, Proceedings of the First International Critical Management Studies Conference, 14-16 07, UMIST, Manchester, United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Power, M (1991) Educating accountants: Towards a critical ethnography, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 16: 333–53.Google Scholar
Silverman, D (1993) Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction, London, Sage.Google Scholar
Smallman, C (2005) A Process Thought Perspective on Critical Management Inquiry, Proceedings of the Academy of Management Conference, 5-10 08, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.Google Scholar
Stewart, R (1976) Contrasts in Management, McGraw Hill, Maidenhead.Google Scholar
Stewart, R (1984) The nature of management? A problem for management education, Journal of Management Studies, 21: 323–30.Google Scholar
Watson, T (1994) In Search of Management: Culture, Chaos and Control in Managerial Work, Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Westwood, S (1984) All Day Every Day: Factory, Family Women's Lives, Pluto Press, London.Google Scholar
Yin, RK (1989) Case Study Research: Design and Method, Sage Publications, California.Google Scholar