Description
Why do just a few management ideas become hugely popular, while many others remain virtually ignored? What distinguishes a management guru from just another consultant? Why are we such dedicated followers of management fashion? Since the 1980s, popular management thinkers, or management gurus, have promoted a number of performance improvement programs or management fashions that have greatly influenced both the everyday conduct of organizational life and the preoccupations of academic researchers. This book provides a rhetorical critique of the management guru and management fashion phenomenon with a view to building on the important theoretical progress that has recently been made by a small, but growing, band of management researchers. Fantasy theme analysis, a dramatistically-based method of rhetorical criticism, is conducted on three of the most important management fashions to have emerged during the 1990s: the reengineering movement promoted by Michael Hammer and James Champy; the effectiveness movement led by Stephen Covey; and the learning organization movement inspired by Peter Senge and his colleagues. In addition to its rhetorical and empirical contributions, this book aims to stimulate a much-needed critical dialogue between practioners and academics about the sources of the underlying appeal of management gurus and managementfahions, and their effect upon the quality of management and organizational learning.
