Alfred Kieser

Rhetoric and Myth in Management Fashion

A count of publications over a period of time indicates that management concepts come and go like fashions. After a discussion of theories of fashion in aesthetic and technical objects, it is argued that rhetoric, an aesthetic form, is the main fabric of management fashions and that therefore theories of fashion in aesthetic forms are generally applicable to explanations of management fashions. The rise and fall of management fashions, especially fashions in organizational design, will be analysed using a concept of an arena of management fashion. The most important players in this arena are authors of management books, publishers, management seminar organizers and professors of business schools, who in different ways contribute to the attractiveness of the arena and, thereby, to the speed with which the fashion spreads. The best accelerator of a management fashion is a management bestseller which applies a specific rhetoric. Management fashions and the principles propagated by them prove useful in restructuring projects within organizations. They simplify the process of initiation and conceptualization as well as the coordination between parallel restructuring sub-projects; they are useful tools in political manoeuvres during the implementation process and they help in making the organization appear rational after the completion of the restructuring process. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of management fashions for the relationship between theory and practice.

Why the Rigour-Relevance Gap in Management Research is Unbridgeable

In this paper we discuss, on the basis of system theory, the rigour–relevance gap in management research and the proposal to overcome it. From a system theory perspective, social systems are self-referential or autopoietic, which means that communication elements of one system, such as science, cannot be authentically integrated into communication of other systems, such as the system of a business organization. Social systems can only irritate – provoke – each other, i.e. alter conditions in such a way that other systems are forced to respond. Because of the differences between management science and practice it is impossible to assess relevance of research output within the system of science. On the basis of our analysis we show that neither action research nor Mode 2 research nor recent approaches to collaborative research can succeed in producing research that is rigorous as well as relevant. Researchers and practitioners cannot collaboratively produce research, they can only irritate each other. However, sometimes irritations or provocations turn out inspiring.

Introduction: History in Organisation Studies

This article introduces a series of studies on history in organization studies. The appeal for greater engagement with history has, for the most part, come as a reaction to the largely historical character that organization studies gained during its development as a separate discipline in the second half of the twentieth century. This has turned out to be the case despite the fact that, in looking back to its roots, the study of organizations can claim a heritage that has been attentive to historical influences. The turn away from history can and has been attributed to the scientific slant that has come to dominate the field since the 1960s, particularly in North America. With such detachment, organization studies has remained aloof to the around the connections of history to social science. The essay by Clark and Rowlinson is a full expose of one of the major strands of what we have labeled above as the reorientationist position. These authors explicitly call for a historic turn as part of a broader transformation in the study of organizations. Clark and Rowlinson specify their call by arguing that the turn would or should entail, first, a move away from conceptualizing organizational studies as a branch of the science of society.

The Practical Relevance of Management Research: Turning the Debate on Relevance into a Rigorous Scientific Research Program

AbstractHow and to what extent practitioners use the scientific results of management studies is of great concern to management scholars and has given rise to a considerable body of literature. In ...

Niklas luhmann and organization studies

The article reviews the book “Niklas Luhmann and Organization Studies,” edited by David Seidl and Kai Helge Becker.

Success Factor Research Overcoming the Trade-Off Between Rigor and Relevance?

Success factor studies seem to offer a way out of the rigor verses relevance dilemma: Researchers, in their attempts to identify factors that are causes of performance and can be manipulated by managers, apply sophisticated analyses in rigorous ways. As it turns out, however, the findings of performance analyses usually contradict each other, and practitioners are unable to follow and to evaluate the discussions between the researchers that are published in scientific journals. Thus, rather than a correspondence, as implied by performance studies, a trade-off between rigor and relevance is the overall outcome of this kind of research. On the basis of sociological concepts, the authors show that this effect is a consequence of the inner dynamics of science as a social system. This means that the potential of performance research to create actionable knowledge is limited.

Collaborate With Practitioners But Beware of Collaborative Research

Collaborative research is seen as a promising approach for bridging the rigor-relevance gap. In this essay, the authors criticize that the proponents of this approach tend to downplay communication difficulties between practitioners and researchers. The authors apply psycholinguistic concepts of layperson–expert communication and system theory to demonstrate that it is extremely difficult to integrate knowledge that has been generated in the different contexts of science and practice. The authors argue that collaborative approaches like action research, consulting, or executive training are more effective than collaborative research in ridging the rigor-relevance gap. A critical review of reports on collaborative research projects discloses some evidence in support of their assumptions. We conclude by encouraging researchers and practitioners to inspire each other through different forms of collaboration. However, we argue that attempts to turn managers into coresearchers with the special responsibility for making sure that rigor is complemented by relevance are overvalued in the academic discourse.

The Americanization of Academic Management Education in Germany

After a conceptualization of Americanization, an overview over the process of Americanization of the German system of higher education in management is provided. This process is characterized by four phases: (a) the almost complete absence of American influences on academic German management education before World War II, (b) the “re-education” of German managers after World War II based on American principles of the free market and management approaches with some assumed effects on academic management education, (c) the increasing acceptance of American approaches to management sciences within academia, starting in the 1950s, (d) the attempts to Americanize (via Europeanizing) the higher management education institutions.

Corporate Goals, Managerial Objectives, and Organizational Structures in British and West German Companies:

Arguments regarding the presence of similarities and differences in management and organization across countries draw attention to the potential relevance of culture, contextual contingencies, and economic-cum-political system. These are examined by reference to comparisons of corporate goals, managerial objectives, and modes of organizational structuring (particularly around the investment decision process) in British and West German companies. The findings reinforce the view that in capitalist systems high profitability and growth are dominant corporate goals. In some respects, the structure adopted by companies in the two countries appeared to match their contingent conditions, although differences in decision making were consistent with a culturalist explanation. Where contrasts emerged in the objectives and opinions held by senior managers it was not always clear whether these were more likely to be a reflection of cultural factors rather than, for example, the generally greater success of the German companies.

Are Consultants Moving Towards Professionalization

Due to impressive market growth over several decades, consulting can today be regarded as an influential industry. In spite of this success, consulting is confronted with prejudices, which, to some extent, can be linked to difficulties in the evaluation of consulting services. By guaranteeing certain qualification levels, professionalism is generally considered useful for reducing this kind of uncertainty. In this chapter, using a German case as an example, we analyze professionalization efforts among consultants. We argue that these efforts will never be successful if the classical concept of professionalism is applied. However, seen from the perspective of the “new professionalism” that concentrates on work behaviour, consultants qualify as highly professional.