Charles F. Abel

Evolutionary critical theory, metaphor, and organizational change

Purpose – Aims to consider what the best metaphor or set of metaphors might be in the organizational change process.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual discussion and approach are taken.Findings – Metaphors have proven to be highly effective aids to understanding the circumstances, clarifying the direction and resolving the problems of organizational change. However, despite their efficacy, there is much debate over what the best metaphor or set of metaphors might be. This paper argues that this uncertainty is resolved by employing Veblens metaphor of “endogenous evolution”, and that this claim is supported by current studies of organizational change.Originality/value – The paper is of value to management professionals in helping to develop skills for facing the onset of, and consequences of, the processes of organizational change.

Power, Emancipation and the Administrative State

Until recently, critical theorists have conceived of power in terms of domination. Public bureaucracies were thought to play a central role in domination as they mediated on behalf of dominant interests both by embodying and enforcing the dominant ideology, and by reinforcing society-wide practices of domination. Habermas, however, has suggested that one particular form of power, “communicative power,” might be emancipatory rather than domineering in nature and that the domineering practices of public institutions might be set aright through its proper expression and exercise. This paper argues that power as first conceptualized in Veblens evolutionary critical theory and as further explicated by Foucault, is of a still more intricate and subtle nature than suggested by Habermas. Further, it argues that as a consequence public agencies have both less potential for mediating domination and more potential for advancing emancipation than critical theorists originally thought.

Metaphor, cultural imagery, and the study of change in public organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how mechanistic and organic metaphors might be fused through the application of cultural imagery.Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a theoretical examination of metaphor and its application in public organizations. Specifically, this paper examines the possibility that images from popular culture might offer some insights. Selected metaphors linked by elective methodological affinities are examined in order to determine potential significance of the Robocop metaphor for guiding research in organizations.Findings – The popular culture image Robocop from 1980s films can help us detect what is not being included in most theoretical analyses of public organizations, while simultaneously helping us to purge the negative connotations of the Robocop image.Research limitations/implications – The popular culture image can help us to understand change in public organizations.Originality/value – It is one of the few, if any, papers using popular culture ...

Beyond the mainstream: foucault, power and organization theory

While mainstream organization theory has contributed to making organizations a productive part of society, they have simultaneously contributed to the creation of a “dark side” of organizational existence that stifles the individual, frustrates the attainment of desired social ends and distorts many core values of democratic societies. Mainstream theory recognizes this “dark side,” but has been unsuccessful at suggesting how it might be ameliorated or avoided. The writings of Foucault, however, reveal not only how the “dark side” arises but also how it might be avoided so that organizations may develop and pursue interests in common with both society and the individual.

Recasting Critical Theory: Veblen, Deconstruction, and the Theory-Praxis Gap

Abstract This paper contends that Thorstein Veblen’s economic and social thought constitute a remarkably advanced form of critical theory. This “evolutionary critical theory” shares the goals, methods, assumptions, and critiques of thought associated with modern critical theory as it has developed out of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research. However, it is more comprehensive in its critical approach, denying both that emancipation and responsive democratic pluralism are necessarily adaptive, and that they necessarily provide the “fittest” institutions. In contrast to other critical theory, Veblen’s emphasis on non-teleological and non-deterministic social evolution constitutes a dynamic social construction that closes the theory-praxis gap and explains why historical change is not consistently emancipatory.

Toward a Signature Pedagogy for Public Administration

Abstract Every profession rests upon a particular body of text, thought, and practice. This corpus is taught, in all esteemed professions, by way of a signature pedagogy. Many conclude that, because the practitioners and academics of our profession must bridge theory and practice, and because the singular characteristic of our profession is that people make decisions and act under conditions of greater uncertainty than those enjoyed by other professions, Public Administration does not admit to such a pedagogy. This paper argues that these difficulties are opportunities, rather than obstacles, toward devising such a pedagogy, and that our students can learn how to (1) thrive on chaos, (2) make rapid decisions based on incomplete and biased information, (3) resolve novel situations even as apprehensive parties clamor to secure their interests, (4) collaborate with a team of fellow bureaucrats as they identify, share, and (5) master a situation that is filtered through a fog of quasi-accurate information. Students also can learn how to navigate the situation by identifying patterns for problem-solving, and employing sophisticated representations to develop and communicate their ideas, while grappling with important political, environmental, and social interests — by way of a pedagogy that is at once immersive and uncertain, yet directive and retentive. Suggestions are made about how to manage such a pedagogy, based on the research of behaviorists, cognitivists, and affectivists.

Toward a Theory of Social Justice for Public Administration

Three principles of Catholic social theory suggest three principles of justice for assigning basic duties in administrative praxis. They can be derived from the fundamental moral principles of public administration and the fundamental moral principles of capitalism as expounded by Adam Smith and elaborated by subsequent theorists: First, each person participating in an administrative practice, including those affected by it, has an equal duty to seek the widest efficacious distribution of benefits and burdens that is reasonable under the circumstances (distributism). Second, no administrative function or problem may be performed or solved in a manner that disempowers either the individuals or the group accorded goods or services (subsidiarity). Finally, all administrative functions or problems must be addressed in such a manner as to develop and maintain trust and confidence among administrative agencies and the people they serve (solidarity). These principles express justice as a composite of three ideas: dignity, opportunity, and responsibility.

Friedrich, Pragmatism, and the Warrants of Authority

Thoughtfully employed, Carl Friedrichs conception of authority leads us to a pragmatic solution to the problem of what should constitute the proper warrants of authority. Contrary to the thinking of some who favor pragmatism in Public Administration, the discourse on this problem is neither pointless nor likely to dissolve should we opt for fully inclusive collaboration between administrators and citizens. And contrary to those who argue that genuine authority must originate in truth, Friedrichs concept of authority elucidates the contingent nature of truth and sets us upon a pragmatic trajectory out of the theoretical lacuna into which we are led by conservative and liberal thinkers. In brief, it suggests that people and institutions should only be recognized as legitimate authorities when they demonstrate the ability to generate directives founded upon reasons that derive from collaborative problem-solving, a process whereby knowledge gained through praxis of many and placed, through a wide-ranging and open discourse, in reflexive equilibrium with values, traditions, and goals that have themselves been collaboratively devised through the same process.

A Critical Analysis of Emergency Management

This article examines the underlying assumptions, imagery, and ideology of the discourse on emergency management that emerged among politicians, the media, and political appointees following Hurricane Katrina. The purpose is to investigate the extent to which they constituted an effective framework for thinking through, talking about, evaluating, and engaging with emergencies. It is our intent to systematically reveal the underlying assumptions, goals, values, and beliefs embedded in this particular discourse with a view toward understanding how this discourse delimited and shaped our understanding and expectations of emergency management by government agencies.

What's Left of Capitalism and What We Should Do About It

The capitalism of Adam Smiths devising is intent upon unfettering our natural liberty so that we might act upon our interests to the betterment of the whole. Government agencies promoting a cheerful and hearty populace were taken by Smith as a necessary ingredient to his scheme. The free-market capitalism of our own devising is intent upon efficiency, a trait of markets that Smith considered a natural by-product of our creativity as expressed in open markets. With natural liberty no longer the priority, the world has become safe for an evolved form of feudalism. Administratively, this feudalism is characterized by a weak government incapable of regulating markets to promote either a healthy or a happy populace yet called upon persistently to resuscitate failing markets and firms with tax dollars. As a fix, Schumpeters blueprint for a market-socialism might be modified so that the means of production are regulated by public agencies rather than owned by our government. Such a fix might return public agencies to their earliest incarnations as entities charged with the task of improving governance by countering rapacious market practices.