“My intention is to explore what happens when an organization’s bathroom becomes the locus of heated debate and cynical resignation. In contrast to viewing this rarely studied space as irrelevant to culture and identity, I argue that addressing such a space as culturally important has strong implications for understanding how authorship is constituted in organizations.“ […]
Tag: management
The benefits of management short sightedness [new study]
High-level decision-makers within a company often behave in a short-sighted way – with a pronounced lack of concern for what might happen in the future. In other words, they’re managerially myopic. You might think that such behaviour could damage a firm’s performance. And you’d be right. [See, for example, Blockholder Trading, Market Efficiency, and Managerial […]
The Logic of Absurdity – and the puzzle of leadership irrelevance
“Leaders are often thought to be instrumental to the performance of the organizations they lead. However, considerable research suggests that their influence over organizational performance might actually be minimal. These claims of leader irrelevance pose a puzzle: If leaders are relatively insignificant, why would someone commit to leading?” Taking steps towards explaining the puzzle, Daniel […]
Unlearning – a broader picture (new study)
The concept of ‘Unlearning’ (from an organisational point of view) was first formally described by Hedberg, Nystrom & Starbuck (we believe) more than 30 years ago in their paper ‘Camping on See-saws: Prescriptions for a Self-designing Organization’, for Administrative Science Quarterly, 21(1): 41–6. [* see note below] However, scroll forward to 2016 for an update […]
Wining, dining and whining
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch” runs the old adage. But is there? And/or, should or shouldn’t there be? Similar questions are addressed in a new paper from Benjamin E. Hermalin, (Thomas and Alison Schneider Distinguished Professor of Finance and Professor, Department of Economics at the Haas School of Business, University of California, […]
Male-Body-Part-Metaphors-driven Organizational Change
If, from a critical and/or strategic management perspective, you’ve examined the metaphorical resources provided by specific parts of the male body for thinking [about] masculinity in social and organizational contexts, then, like many others, you may well have concentrated on the phallus. Now, a new paper in the journal Human Relations (March 5, 2015) points […]
Czech managers have trouble with shoes, reports Gullová
The Central European Business Review (CEBR) is a scholarly peer-reviewed journal focused on strategic business issues with a Central European perspective. For an example of a paper reflecting this remit, see an article which the CEBR published in the inaugural issue – Flaws in the Social Manners of Czech Managers. It’s authored by professor Ing. […]
How to manage women, advisedly, 1944-style [video]
The US Federal Security Office produced this 1944 video about how to manage women. “They’re not naturally familiar with mechanical principles, nor machines,” you will learn: BONUS [quasi-related]: The Dresden Dolls perform “Coin-Operated Boy”:
The Greedy Bastard’s Guide to Business
Morris B. Holbrook, who is the William T. Dillard Professor Emeritus of Business at Columbia University Business School, New York, has had 35-plus years of experience in teaching MBAs. This experience has enabled him, possibly prompted him, to author a new paper for the Journal of Macromarketing (December 2013, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 369-385) […]
The bonsai management model
“The necessity of performing managerial activities is perceived and apprehended not only in agricultural enterprises, food processing units, industrial works etc. but also in hospitals, schools, museums, theatres, design studios and many other organisations. The need of managerial activities is as old as the organised human society itself. Management is necessary for all groups of […]