Management & Organizational History recent issues

Towards neuroscientific management? Geometric chronophotography and the thin-slicing of the labouring body

Corbett, J. M. — 2008-06-23

The conventional history of the labour process suggests that Taylorism played a key role in the development and popularization of production management techniques in general, and work science in particular.This paper argues that the work of Herman von Helmholtz, Eadweard Muybridge, and Etienne-Jules Marey helped establish a broader ideology of the labour process encompassing physiological, psychological and psychodynamic elements of human behaviour. Through the medium of chronophotography, this ideology offered a visual vocabulary of efficiency which pre-dated the work of Frederick Taylor and continues to influence management research and practices today.

Rating tales: An evaluation of divergent views of occupational identification

Reveley, J., McLean, P. — 2008-06-23

This article evaluates two divergent views of the future of occupation identification by core industry employees. The first asserts that occupational identities are waning as identity-challenging managerial techniques reshape classic worker identities. The second contends that frontline workers are developing new repertoires of resistance that sustain robust occupational identities. Underlying these views, respectively, is an implicit teleology and a cyclical notion of labour history that posits trade unions as the locus of identity formation and resistance. Contemporary instances of occupational identification render these assumptions problematical. Drawing from an underground coalmining industry case study, we show how miners achieve a shared occupational identity through narrative resistance to individuating managerial techniques. We conclude that (a) labour movement decline and heightened managerialism spell neither the end of occupational identification nor of oppositional resistance, and (b) the historical unidirectionality and labour organizational essentialism contained in the two rival accounts of occupational identification are untenable.

There's nothing as good as a practical theory: The paradox of management education

Weatherbee, T., Dye, K., Mills, A. J. — 2008-06-23

Practicing managers, the users and consumers of management theory, are arguably not applying theories as they were originally conceived. They are using an ontologically based version of theory that is only tenuously related to its epistemological origins. Turning Lewin's famous dictum on its head, we argue that for the management practitioner there really is nothing so good as a practical theory.

C. Howard Tripp and brewery management: The emergence of service sector management 1850-1914

Mutch, A. — 2008-06-23

1892 saw the publication of Brewery Management by C. Howard Tripp,the first book in the sector to address problems of management, as opposed to the technical problems of brewing.This article explores the growth of management knowledge in this sector, correcting the tendency to focus on manufacturing when exploring the roots of management. An examination of Tripp's account also indicates some of the barriers to the spread of management practices. The analysis, informed by institutionalist perspectives, suggests that we pay careful attention to the structural and cultural influences on management practices.

From counterfactual history to counter-narrative history

Mordhorst, M. — 2008-05-19

Counterfactual narratives are a refreshing development in the writing of history.They put contingency back into history, and serve as a necessary antidote to traditional deterministic tendencies. They accomplish the reintroduction of experimental elements into academic approaches to history. This experimental spirit animates the present article, which focuses on counter-narrative as an alternative strategy for writing history. If, as the counterfactualists claim, the past in itself is nonlinear and chaotic, but is constructed as linear and ordered only by the historian's narratives, then we must study this construction at least as closely as `the facts'. Instead of asking, `What if something different had happened?' I will ask, `What if other stories had been told?' I discuss the implications of the counter-narrative method, arguing that it provides us with new insights into why some narratives attain hegemonic status, and how this can help us to understand the construction and function of historical consciousness.

The right to be human and human rights: Maslow, McCarthyism and the death of humanist theories of management

Cooke, B., Mills, A. J. — 2008-05-19

This article is constructed around the counterfactual of Abraham Maslow being made to testify before a McCarthy-type investigation in the US ColdWar era. We set out the extent to which Maslow was, factually, engaged with the internal US Cold War and note his surveillance by the FBI. This lends plausibility to our counterfactual case: there were episodes in Maslow's life and work which rendered him vulnerable to McCarthyite inquisition.Two sets of consequences for humanism in management history of this initial counterfactual event are explored, depending on whether he would or would not have testified. Concluding, we argue that while we counterfactualize Maslow's life, we cannot logically do so for Maslow's hierarchy. That hierarchy's deceitfulness is revealed by its naturalization of a narrative of sequential social/individual betterment, in which the factual social evil of McCarthyism is unrepresentable.

Counterfactual history, management and organizations: Reflections and new directions

Maielli, G., Booth, C. — 2008-05-19

This article reflects on the papers published in the Symposium on 'Counterfactual History in Management and Organizations'. After describing the background to the symposium we review some important themes in the multidisciplinary domain of counterfactuals. We discuss each of the papers published in the symposium and set out our views on future directions for counterfactual history in the management and organization studies discipline.

Tales in the manufacture of knowledge: Writing a company history of Pan American World Airways

Durepos, G., Mills, A. J., Mills, J. H. — 2008-05-19

The strength of historical accounts of organizations has been their ability to present the development of a particular company or companies in an apparently seamless, linear and concrete fashion (Rowlinson 2004). Recent academic literature on the subject has approached popular and conventional manners of writing company histories with much skepticism, questioning the particular nature and privileged status of knowledge produced in such accounts. Specifically, it has been suggested that understanding the intent of central historical actors, as well as grounding cultural accounts of company histories in the circumstances of their production can aid in a more holistic and in some cases plural (Boje 1995) understanding of the content of the history (Gillespie 1991; Rowlinson 2004).This paper begins with a review of the current literature on company histories in which two commonly discussed perspectives are outlined and discussed. We first argue that missing from the current perspectives of crafting company histories is an understanding of how the socio-political context in which the company history is crafted comes to influence the actual story told or knowledge produced about the company history. Second, it is suggested that a use of Actor-Network Theory or ANT (Latour 1987) may provide some useful insights as to the socio-political process of writing company histories and the influence of these processes on the nature of knowledge produced. Due to the emphasis on performativity in ANT (Law 1992), the third section of this paper extends the first two sections empirically by drawing on materials from the Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) archive at the University of Miami's Otto Richter Library.¹ Through a presentation of the political process of writing a company history of Pan Am, ANT is used to show how the actors involved in crafting the company history negotiate and craft what is now a privileged and taken for granted`factual' company history. Finally, it is proposed that the strength of our approach lies in a recasting of company histories as created and crafted through the negotiated `ordering' (Law 1994) of story-tellers.

The last British work songs: Music, community and class in the Kent hop fields of the early-mid 20th century

Korczynski, M., Pickering, M., Robertson, E. — 2008-05-19

This article examines the widespread practice of singing during the picking of hops in the Kent hop fields from the 1920s through to the 1950s.The singing is analysed both in terms of its position as a late, rare and therefore potentially revealing example of British work songs in the 20th century, and in terms of the light it casts on the musical culture of the singers, working class women of London's East End. It is argued that the songs expressed and sprang from the strong sense of community amongst the hop-pickers. Further, singing emerged in hop-picking precisely because it was a `working holiday' in which the dichotomies of work and leisure broke down.The musical activity of the hop-pickers is seen as expressing an active culture of creativity, class and community — in contrast to Stedman Jones' influential characterization of London's working class as enmeshed in a culture of passive consolation.

Counterfactuals, superfactuals and the problematic relationship between business management and the past

Maielli, G. — 2007-12-07

This article analyses counterfactuals and superfactuals as means to develop scenarios, by focusing on the relationship between the design of heuristic tools for decision-making and the analysis of an organization's past. It therefore addresses the questions whether and to what extent the ex-post analysis of the past can help us to understand the present and take ex-ante strategic decisions. The Fiat case is analysed, by focusing on how the Italian carmaker responded to expected changes in the structure of the Italian and EC car markets from 1970 onwards. A counterfactual will be explored to hypothesize what might have happened, had the Fiat management developed a superfactual on the basis of the company's evolutionary patterns each time a change in the output mix was planned. Finally, the article puts forward a simple scenario for Fiat's future.

`What if?': Synthesizing debates and advancing prospects of using virtual history in management and organization theory

MacKay, R. B. — 2007-12-07

As the `historic turn' in management and organization studies gathers pace scholars are shifting their attention to questions such as what constitutes management and organization history.This article debates and advances the prospects of using virtual history in management and organization theory. The article begins by reviewing some of the most vociferous opponents of counterfactual history and it addresses each one of their arguments in turn. It then proceeds on to consider a range of perspectives on the criteria that should be used to ensure scholarly rigour in the writing of counterfactual history. Following, the article seeks to advance the prospects of using counterfactual history in management and organization theory. The article concludes that counterfactuals already constitute an important part of both our cognitive and scholarly processes of reasoning, and they influence judgements and decision-making. Consequently, they have the potential to make valuable contributions to both the theory and practice of researching and managing organizations.

The limitations of economic counterfactuals: The case of the Lancashire textile industry

Toms, S., Beck, M. — 2007-12-07

The article presents a history of the Lancashire cotton textile industry from the perspective of decision-making entrepreneurs as embedded historical actors, in contradistinction to the economics-based counterfactuals that dominate the recent historiography of the industry. A simulation approach is used to recreate the decision-making parameters faced by entrepreneurs and is used to support a genealogical path-dependent interpretation to overcome the problems of teleology and hindsight. Using historical evidence and evidence from the simulation, a critique of three economics-based counterfactuals is developed. These are the Lazonick counterfactual, the Keynesian counterfactual and the neo-classical counterfactual. It is shown that none of these take into account the full context of the decisions that were taken and none therefore offer a convincing explanation of the collapse of the industry.

How experts think about counterfactuals in business history: The role of theoretical commitments and disciplinary perspectives

Henik, E., Tetlock, P. E. — 2007-12-07

Past work in politically charged domains has revealed a blame-game dynamic in how historical observers think about counterfactual scenarios. Our working hypothesis, however, is that business historians will prove less ideologically polarized into rival communities of co-believers and more likely to treat disputes over causation as matters of degree. Early data indicate that, although exceptions exist, counterfactual reasoning about business history is indeed moderated by widespread faith that: (a) it is difficult to delay the advance of scientific knowledge and its translation into useful technology; (b) quasi-rational actors operating in competitive markets will bring history back onto the `equilibrium path' quite quickly. We trace these differences to the weaker incentives for finger-pointing, the stronger influence of sociology-of-science work documenting the commonness of`multiples' in discovery, and the predominance of economic and game-theoretic models.

Narrating near-histories: The effects of counterfactual communication on motivation and performance

Wong, E. M. — 2007-12-07

While research on counterfactuals has demonstrated that thinking counterfactually (imagining how past events could have been different) improves organizationally relevant outcomes, little is known about the effects of narrating these near-histories, or explicitly communicating counterfactuals, on these outcomes. In this article, I advance a framework for understanding the counterfactual communication-performance relationship. Building on previous work linking counterfactual communication with impression formation, I propose that counterfactual communication influences motivation and subsequent performance through its effects on impression formation. Findings from an experiment demonstrated that individuals who received upward counterfactuals (thoughts of how things could have been better) were more motivated than were those who received downward counterfactuals (thoughts of how things could have been worse), and this motivation led to superior performance. Additionally, receivers' impressions of speakers mediated this relationship.

From boardroom to bunker: How Fred Taylor changed the game of golf forever

Taylor, S. G., Bedeian, A. G. — 2007-10-23

Frederick Taylor devoted his life to establishing management as a profession with high standards of scientific accuracy. Rather than revisit Taylor's efforts to enhance workplace efficiency through improved management, this paper chronicles a little-known aspect of his personal life, his passion for the game of golf. In particular, it recounts how Taylor, building on his belief that there was `one best way' to do everything, extended the principles of scientific management beyond the workplace to the world of sports and made contributions that continue to influence how golf is played today.

`Culture' and the limits of innovation in marketing: Ernest Dichter, motivation studies and psychoanalytic consumer research in Great Britain, 1950s 1970s

Schwarzkopf, S. — 2007-10-23

This article studies the reception of the Austro-American market and consumer researcher Ernest Dichter and of motivation research in the United Kingdom between the early 1950s and the 1970s. Dichter became a `brand' in 1950s America, where he advised corporations on how to use psychoanalysis in order to research the `hidden' motivations of their consumers. When Dichter arrived in London, British market researchers had already closed the market for market research services. Cultural barriers stemming from a globalized language of anti-consumerist cultural criticism and anxieties about the possibilities of `American' brainwash-marketing techniques limited the acceptance of a groundbreaking market research technique. In my conclusion, I relate the case of Ernest Dichter to the problem of purely cultural — not economic — barriers to innovation in marketing and the rise of a `guru industry' as part of the social history of management.

A historical-cultural approach to the study of business ethics using the modern novel: An illustration

Crump, N., Amiridis, K., Costea, B. — 2007-10-23

The aim of this paper is to explore the fundamental relationship between ethics and business in their tragic historical unfolding as formulated in one of H.G. Wells's lesser novels, The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914). Wells directly and explicitly addresses themes concerning modern business corporations, business people, management, social responsibility and domestic life at the turn of the twentieth century. We emphasize the centrality and importance of the form and style of the modern novel as a specific expression of ethics, that is, as a product of the continuous and tragic engagement of people with the finite horizon of life against which questions of moral sources emerge.Wells's novel offers a new platform for reflection upon the cultural rationale of business institutions and management in modern society in two main directions. First, we show how he creates the context for a much necessary historical analysis required to properly re-problematize the ethical sustainability of the ideal of the `corporation' as the centre of the economy in modernity. Secondly, we work out how he allows us to ask the crucial and perennial question of whether the pursuit of profit can ever be reconciled with the urgent ethical imperative of modernity: finding the cultural resources necessary to sustain human freedom and emancipation against the limits of a political economy of acquisitive capitalism. Such problems are not simply of historical interest; they are central, but are largely neglected in texts of `business ethics' since they are uncomfortable for, and incompatible with, such texts' simplistic, mechanical, ahistorical and rather defensive frameworks.

Friendship and organization: Learning from the western friendship tradition

French, R. — 2007-10-23

This article describes and explores some key concepts from the classical, Western friendship tradition in order to see whether anything may be learned from them about the processes of organizing today. First, it looks at the difference between the modern notion of friendship, which emphasizes intimacy as the basis for an interpersonal relationship, and the classical tradition, which held a much more differentiated view, extending from the interpersonal to the political and systemic. In particular, the idea of friendship as a hexis is described — that is, as a state of mind or disposition towards others rather than just an intimate relationship. Second, it looks at the idea of `levels' of friendship — from those based on utility or pleasure to those rooted in a striving after virtue — which opens up possibilities for analysing the culture of human relationships in organizations. Finally, it examines ways in which these ideas might be applied in organizations through the elaboration of the practices of friendship in the context of levels of friendship and of the idea of friendship as a state of mind.