Popular Management Books: How They are Made and What They Mean for Organizations

Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Title......Page 3
Copyright......Page 4
Dedication......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Illustrations......Page 9
Preface......Page 10
Acknowledgements......Page 12
A growing interest in management knowledge in the 1980s......Page 14
Popular managerial manifestations as elements of the organisational environment......Page 16
From the production of popular managerial manifestations to their consumption by organisations......Page 18
Some limitations of the study......Page 19
Earlier studies of popularised management knowledge......Page 20
The diffusion and production of management books4......Page 24
An outline of the study......Page 26
The general managerial discourse......Page 28
Environments and organisations......Page 33
Trends in the environment and carriers of managerial manifestations......Page 35
The general managerial discourse as a layer in the institutional environment of organisations......Page 37
Institutional pressure, discourses and organisations......Page 38
The general managerial discourse: where ideas are textualised......Page 42
Introduction......Page 44
Knowledge in social science......Page 45
The ‘nature’ of managerial knowledge......Page 49
Management knowledge and the production of managerial manifestations......Page 52
The diffusion of management knowledge and the distribution of managerial manifestations......Page 54
Management knowledge and black boxes......Page 56
The consumption of managerial manifestations......Page 57
The translation of managerial manifestations......Page 59
Conclusions......Page 62
Introduction1......Page 63
General trends in the western managerial discourse......Page 64
General characteristics of the supply of management books......Page 65
Books distributed through management book clubs......Page 68
Books appearing on a Swedish bestseller list......Page 69
The bestselling books in Sweden during the 1980s......Page 71
Books used in academic management education......Page 73
Conclusion: Americanisation and nationalism......Page 75
Introduction1......Page 78
The main issues......Page 79
Similarities and differences between the main issues......Page 82
Fragmentary accounts as ‘metaphors’......Page 83
Universalism......Page 85
Personal expertise, normativity and positioning to other studies......Page 86
Platitudes......Page 89
Labels......Page 91
Deconstruction of the texts: the search for a hidden agenda......Page 92
Leadership......Page 93
Organisations and environments......Page 95
Conclusions: the hidden agenda......Page 96
What do the texts represent: knowledge or ideology?......Page 98
Conclusions......Page 101
Introduction......Page 102
From reseach institute to consulting firm......Page 103
Action-research......Page 104
Business orientation and consultation......Page 108
Expansion, internationalisation and standardised consultation......Page 110
Normann leaves and establishes SMG......Page 113
Early conclusions: from high concentration on research to standardised consultancy......Page 115
Doing business and being modern: what makes popular management books what they are......Page 117
Motives, considerations and internal social forces......Page 118
Exogenous forces which prompted standardised consulting......Page 119
A struggle towards legitimacy......Page 120
Being modern: towards standardisation of ideology......Page 121
Concluding remarks......Page 122
Introduction......Page 124
Towards standardisation of production and supply......Page 125
Allies in the popular managerial discourse......Page 126
Standardisation and the development of management knowledge......Page 129
Consumption prompts standardisation......Page 131
Organisations and standardised discourse......Page 132
The consumption of management standards......Page 134
Standards and the development of local organisational discourses......Page 136
Standards as symbols of meaning......Page 137
Standards and the construction of organisations......Page 139
The popular managerial discourse: a textualised paradise......Page 140
This is not the end…......Page 142
A pragmatic approach......Page 145
Studying the diffusion of management books......Page 147
Entering text5......Page 149
Characterising texts (step one)......Page 150
Deconstructing texts (step two)......Page 151
Studying what texts represent: knowledge or ideology? (step three)......Page 153
Examining the context of production......Page 155
An analytical scheme......Page 156
Conclusion......Page 158
Notes......Page 160
Bibliography......Page 165
Other sources: interviewees......Page 173
Index......Page 174