Devi Akella

A reflection on critical management studies

Critical Management Studies (CMS) is interested in examining and challenging the legitimacy of traditional management theories, values and assumptions. CMS believes by reflecting and questioning existing management practices, it is possible to generate better norms, policies, ideas and management values. The essence of CMS is to deconstruct the various management techniques and functions, to expose any forms of discrimination and exploitation taking place in contemporary organisations and emancipate employees from their pain, suffering and frustration. This paper seeks to make a contribution in the area of CMS, by examining the overall effectiveness of CMS in fulfilling its objectives. It seeks to address the effectiveness of CMS in achieving its goals in organisations, with the support of an empirical study conducted at a professional accounting firm.

Changes in Managerial Work

This article seeks to examine how recent structural and organizational changes could have had an impact on the role and work of managers in contemporary organizations with support of empirical data gathered from a case study undertaken in India. The article basically looks at issues like effects of recession, new work of managers, their managerial style and types of skills required to effectively fulfil the functions of managers.

Workplace Bullying: Not a Manager’s Right?

Previous research on workplace bullying has narrowed its subjective boundaries by drawing heavily from psychological and social-psychological perspectives. However, workplace bullying can also be understood as an endemic feature of capitalist employment relationship. Labor process theory with its core characteristics of power, control, and exploitation of labor can effectively open and allow further exploration of workplace bullying issues. This article aims to make a contribution by examining workplace bullying from the historical and political contexts of society to conceptualize it as a control tool to sustain the capitalist exploitative regime with empirical support from an ethnographic case study within the health care sector.

Discipline and Negotiation

This article examines issues of power and control in learning organizations. The emphasis is on understanding the working environments of learning organizations, taking into consideration the intricacies of power and control. It focuses on the relationship between management and employees and its overall implications in the effective governance of these organizational forms. The paper critically analyses 42 in-depth interviews undertaken at a multinational situated in Botswana to deconstruct the democratic and participative models of learning organizations.

Learning Organizations Managerial Control Systems

Learning organizations have been described in reverential terms like employees’ paradises, good management practices, socialistic models and workplace democracies etc. These organizations provide working environments where the employees and management together reflect on all decisions, resolve all differences, if any, through mutual dialogue, and open communication systems resulting in high levels of trust, co-operation and commitment on the part of the employees which enables generation of learning. To develop such an atmosphere, these organizations adopt flat and flexible structures, use dialogue as a mode of open communication, a personnel oriented managerial style and appraisal systems, which encourage flexibility and creativity. This article will argue that the very essence of learning organizations i.e., its constituting elements or characteristics can be interpreted as a subtle form of a hegemonic control system which could impede the whole process of learning itself.

Pain and Stress in Learning Organizations

This article adopts the middle perspective, the fluorescent light model to examine the painful and stressful experiences, which employees face in the course of their working lives in learning organizations. The article provides insights on why such abuses are accepted and tolerated by the organizational members without any form of external confrontation and resistance against the management of the learning organizations.

Theory to Practice: Practice to Theory

How does one learn and acquire knowledge? Which approach is better—practical exposure and application, or learning concepts and techniques grounded in theoretical models and framework? Which method is correct—which method has all the solutions? This is a key topic of debate in the contemporary management/educational scenario. The two books reviewed in this issue of OMJ present the two sides of this debate. The books are both valuable sources of information and knowledge in the area of management. However, their approaches toward creation and generation of knowledge are totally different. The first book, titled Organizational Ethics: A Practical Approach, edited by Craig E. Johnson, is a comprehensive volume on organizational ethics. The book covers theories, principles, and philosophies of ethics and ethical behavior, relating them to individual behaviors, organizational environments, teams, and group function and decision-making concerns. The various facets of organizational elements such as interpersonal communication, power and politics, conflict, and leadership are examined under the lens of ethics and moral values. Ethical culture and its influence on values, vision and mission, and norms of an organization are emphasized. All theoretical assertions pertaining to ethical behavior and dilemmas are practically explored using case studies, projects, and assessment for handson experience and corporate examples. Ashwini Gangadharan’s review provides a succinct analysis of the book. Her review focuses on the need and usefulness of the book and the role of ethics and ethical behavior at both organizational and individual levels. She provides detailed summaries of all sections of the book highlighting important perspectives and elements pertaining to ethical behavior and stages. She opines that this book could be considered a “systematic guide to ethical decision making and a guide to creating an ethical environment in the organization.” Ashwini Gangadharan lauds the potential and significant contribution of this book.

Social enterprises in Palestine: a critical analysis

This paper aims to critically examine the concept of social enterprises in Palestine. It uses the lens of institutional theory to understand how the political and economic context of the society can influence certain types of entrepreneurial behaviors and be responsible for the emergence of social enterprises. The paper uses a critical perspective to deconstruct social enterprises in Palestine to shed light on reasons for their emergence, motives and agendas.,A case study design was used to examine the phenomenon of social enterprises. The case study method is valuable in describing the how and why issues of a phenomenon in the present time frame. Two leading social enterprises operating within the Palestinian region were identified. The two enterprises were contacted for a series of interviews (over a period of few months) with their owners and other active members.,The empirical findings suggest that social enterprise model is still in its embryonic stages in Palestine. Their social mission of community development and sustainability is not completely sincere. The social entrepreneurs were willing to compromise social mission for economic surplus. The national structure, political framework, legal environment, social, cultural and the economic conditions of Palestine have served as suitable launching pads for social enterprises with not so authentic mission of serving the society. It has encouraged entrepreneurial philosophy and behavior, which has masked hidden economic and political agendas with exterior goals of social welfare and community development.,This paper adopts a critical perspective and a qualitative methodology, and this raises the concern if the arguments pertaining to social enterprise raised in this paper can sustain in a developed nation with a stabilized political scenario or whether this alternative ideology is only relevant to underdeveloped countries with unstable, political conditions, such as Palestine.,This paper provides relevant information for students, critical academics and policymakers.,The paper argues for a more concise definition for the model of social enterprises. It argues for clear legal guidelines which could monitor the formation of social enterprises in Palestine.,This paper provides an alternative perspective on social enterprises within a constrained and political unstable economy of Palestine.

Dialogue for Fostering Participation or Manipulation

Dialogue is a communication form which enables open and honest communication between employees and management. Without dialogue there can be no exchange of information and ideas nor any shared understandings between labor and management. Dialogue leads to reflection of one’s perceptions, transference of knowledge and understanding, detection and correction of errors and generation of new ideas, and mental schemas and concepts. However, the role of dialogue and its overall effectiveness in designing democratic and collaborative working environments remains “curiously underexplored”. This article uses the power ideologies of Lukes and empirical data gathered in the form of interviews from the health care sector to understand the true purpose and agenda of dialogue in contemporary organizations.

Creating Successful Teams

Understanding teamwork and group behaviors is crucial for organizational success in today’s environment. Intense competition, rampant unpredictability, and a constant need for innovation have increased the significance of interdependence and the demand for greater levels of collaboration and communication. Teams, if designed properly with clear goals, well-defined tasks, and team members with right skills, and if given adequate resources, can ensure optimum performance and efficiency. In this context, the book The Synergist: How to Lead Your Team to Predictable Success written by Les McKeown fills a much needed gap on overcoming conflict and uniting as a group. So far, books on teamwork have dealt with symptoms of group dysfunctions like lack of trust, poor communication, and fear of change. McKeown, in contrast, attempts to illustrate how an individual style of management could avoid dissensions and conflicts from arising. The author describes three individual styles—the bold dreamer (visionary), pragmatic realist (operator), and systems designer (processor)—and how they could all lead to gridlock. He then suggests a fourth style, which is