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W9: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE OF MANAGEMENT & ORGANISATION (AN ALTERNATIVE…
W9: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE OF MANAGEMENT & ORGANISATION
MAINSTREAM APPROACHES
CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES
Removing normalcy biases from the point of view, identifying the unspoken ideologies (chu nghia) behind decisions or assumptions
UNSPOKEN IDEOLOGIES
Individualism
: Social theory that emphasizes that the need of each person is more important that needs of whole society.
Managerialism
: The belief in the value of professional managers and concepts and methods they used
Capitalism
: Economic and political system where trade and industry is controlled by private owners for profit.
Neo-liberalism
: Transfer of control of economic factors to private sector from public sector.
Adopting a viewpoint that asks questions about the rationale and validity behind things
ASSUMPTIONS
What is an organisation?
All organisation are composed of ppl; have a distinct pupose and have a deliberate structure.
"A consensual collective"
(tap the dong long)
A collection of people working tgt with a division of labour to achieve a common purpose.
Activities results in output and if appropriately choses and efficiently chosen -> organisation is successful
Consensus(su dong long) is important and lack of consensus is often associated with a lack of effort -> inefficiency and poorer performance.
Initially, focus was on identifying the best way to organise to achieve success
Division of labour will lead to expertise and efficiency - Adam Smith
Hierarchy of authoru and responsibility to control and coordinate - Fayol and Weber
Theorists conceptualised organisations as a system of inter-related parts and they working tgt to have synergistic outcomes.
Unity (tinh thong nhat) is presented as a common good
Normalising control over workers' mids and bodies
What is management?
Centres around technical activity
Managers = Experts
The ppl in organisations who directly support and help activate the work efforts and performance accomplishments of others
" Amid the confusion and uncertainty about what management is, there has been a tendency to privilege (dac an) to one meaning:
management as a universal process that comprises a number of technical functions
Central to this formula is the understanding about what management is a distinctive component of all complex systems, and it is rational to allocate this activity to those who are deemed to be experts."
PARADIGMS
MANAGEMENT AS A SCIENCE
Progressive & objective
Irrefutability & pseudo-science (khong the bac bo)
Started in the 16th century - Francis Bacon
Still the dominant view of science
Rational and logical investigation of observable phenomena
PARADIGMS
DEFINITION
Identified paradigm shifts - incremental developments
Science is not purely objective but has subjective elements (consensus of experts)
Does science progress a straigt line of process?
Social Construction
All knowledge is derived from and sustained by social interaction
Knowledge is not universal but rather a product pf particular social and historical context.
Social construction is often unconscious and we often only become aware when things go wrong.
THEORIES
BURRELL & MORGAN 1979
Nature of social science
: An objective reality, can be investigated thru objectives observation and understood as universal laws VS A subjective reality, product of cognition(nhan thuc) and therefore personal and intangible.
Nature of society
: Emphasis society's unity and cohesiveness (dinh ket) VS Those who seek to understand the deep-seated structural conflict and possibilities for radical change.
Content
Interpretive
: Try to observe on-going process to better understand human behaviour
Radical Humanist
: Release social constraint (bat ep) that limit human potential, often anti-organisation
Functionalist
: Primary paradigm for organisational study.
Radical Structuralist
: See inherent structural conflict that generate constant change
HASSARD & COX 2013
Extending the Burell & Morgan
New ways of looking at management studies.
Content
Structural: Realist, Positivist, Determinist, Deductivist
Anti-Structural: Nominalist, Constructionist, Voluntarist, Interpretive
Post-structural: Relativist, Relationist, Deconstructionist, Reflexive
CRITICISMS OF DOMINANT PERSPECTIVES
WEBER: the iron cage of bureaucracy (quan lai)
Bureaucracy was rational and efficient
Concentrated power in a few, largely unregulated ppl
Benefits meant that it became inevitable and inescapable
WEIL: oppression (dan ap)
When ppl are treated as means rather than ends
Management is a new form of oppression
Degradation (giang chuc) of workers is not from classed exploitation but rather oppression
MARX & ENGELS: alienation (Bat hoa)
Workers gave up ownership of their labour in return of wages
False consciousness thru which the working class are misled into (bi lam hieu nham) accepting this exploitation (boc lot) as natural & unavoidable.
They do not represent lived experience
JOBS AND BODIES
JOBS EVALUATION
This hypothetical ideal worker is able to devote all their time and energy to the organisation
The closest an organisation can get to this hypothetical ideal is the male worker who can devote his time to work while his wife takes responsibility for the family
Evaluates positions, not incumbents(chuc vu). It considers the ideal worker, rather than real individuals who will all have strengths and weaknesses
BODIES: 'The abstract(truu tuong), bodiless (vo hinh) worker who occupies the abstract, gender-neutral job has no sexuality, no emotions, and does not procreate(sinh de)' (Aker 1990)
AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH
FOURNIER & GREY (2000) identified 3 characteristics of CMS: Denaturalisation; Reflective; Non-performative
CMS aims to unmask power relations and identify how power is manifested(ro rang) and wielded (dc thi hanh)
CMS (critical management studies) gained momentum in 1970s
Emancipation( Giai phong) - Alvesson&Wilmott
The process by which individuals and group become freed form repressive(uc che) social and ideological conditions
Mainstream scholars argue that the proper role of managers is the promotion of organisational profitability - CMS scholars argue the need for true autonomy (quyen tu quan).
CRITISMS
Internal
That critical theory in giving a voice to one group of workers may nevertheless maintain marginalisation(su gat ra) of others.
That thought is often difficult to translate into action (praxis)
External
Critical theory is the work of disgruntled(bat binh) intellectuals from privileged backgrounds which retards their ability to identify with the working class
Poststructuralists question whether knowledge can ever be separated from power
Critical theory is hopelessly value laden and political
GENDER in ORG
Lack of women in senior management bc: Women are not capable of doing work required at the top, Women do not have the desire to be at the top, Structural impediments(tro ngai) prevent them reaching the top
Solutions: Affirmative(qua quyet) action and quotas, official mentoring programs for women
The world of work in Aus is gendered: 'Women continue to earn less than men and less likely to advance their careers as far as men, accumulate less retirement savings. At the same time, men have less access to family-friendly policies such as parental leave or flexible working arrangements than women'
5 WAYS ORG R GENDERED (ACKER 1990)
Constructions of symbols
may explain, express or reinforce gender divisions
Interactions
btw men n women reflect n
reinforce differential power position
btw genders.
Divisions along gender lines
of labour, allowed behaviours, physical space, power, institutions (family and state that maintain these)
There processes help create gendered identities reflected in choice of work, clothing, language and presentation of self
Having material form in work rules, contracts and managerial directives including systems of job evaluation.