What do recent management fads and fashions have in common?What are the implications and limitations of the prescriptions on offer for people's working lives?Managerial fads and fashions, guru panaceas and organisational innovations have proliferated over the last 20 years. Drawing on case studies from the UK manufacturing and financial service sectors, this book argues that the emergence and popularity of a new range of management innovations reflects and facilitates the reproduction of a neo-liberal economics that has dominated Western politics for over almost a quarter of a century. The book contends that current management thinking around'new'forms of work organization is immersed in a contemporary version of the American Dream. Referring to empirical research, the authors identify numerous difficulties confronting the implementation of this discourse, including:Collective and individual forms of resistanceUnintended consequences and contradictory tensions around the notions of autonomy versus controlIndividualism versus collectivismInsecurity versus commitmentQuality versus quantity. Organization and Innovation concludes that the contemporary American Dream offers only'one'dream of a better tomorrow and offers a powerful argument that we should seek other dreams that question rather than simply legitimise current inequalities.

Knights, David; McCabe, Darren

Berkshire: Open University Press

ISSUES IN SOCIETY, BUCKINGHAM, Unknown, 2003

Issues in society, Berkshire, England, 2003

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

Issues in society, Milton Keynes, 2003

Issues in society, Maidenhead, 2003

INTSTDT edition, October 1, 2003

1 edition, October 1, 2003

tight margin
obscured text

Includes bibliographical references (p. [187]-200) and index.

Introduction: Innovation (in)action -- 1. Management Innovation In Historical Perspective -- 2. The False Promise Of The American Dream: Organization, Innovation And Change Management -- 3. A Research Framework: Tqm As An Illustrative Case -- 4. Manufacturing Autonomy: Re-engineering And Culture Change -- 5. Tales Of The Unexpected: Strategic Management And Innovation -- 6. Teamworking And Resistance -- 7. A 'one Team' Approach To Knowledge Management -- 8. Conclusion. David Knights And Darren Mccabe. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [187]-200) And Index.

This book attempts a sociologically informed, detailed empirical analysis of a diverse range of recent management innovations including business process re-engineering (BPR), culture change, knowledge management (KM), strategic management, teamworking and total quality management (TQM).

ix, 210 p. ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references (p. [187]-200) and index

2024-07-01