Over time management ideas and panaceas have been presented alternately as quick fix cures for all corporate ills and the emperor’s new clothes, beset by flaws and problems. This Handbook provides a different approach, suggesting that management ideas and panaceas should not be either adopted or rejected outright, but gives guidance in the art of assessing and applying management ideas and panaceas to various situations and contexts.

The contributors discuss the ways in which researchers, organizational actors and higher educational institutions (HEIs) can more wisely test the relevance of management ideas and panaceas, and adapt these to fit organizations in various contexts. They conclude that, in order to accomplish wiser relevance-testing and adaptation, there is a need for diversity, critical examination and transparency.

All students, scholars and researchers in management and organization with an interest in the adaptation and translation of management ideas and panaceas, will find this book to be of interest. Reflective practitioners will find the focus on context illuminating and helpful.

Critical Acclaim

‘I was fascinated by the prospect of this book and it did not disappoint. This book underscores in bold that many of the FMI discourses do concern “people at work”. If this volume helps to alter practice among managers, including HRM and HRD managers, and their educators, then this can only be to the good.’
– Ruth E Slater, Management Learning

‘What makes this book a unique innovative source full of surprising insights is that management panaceas are examined by most competent scholars. In highly readable chapters it is pointed out what it takes to successfully adapt panaceas to different contexts. Adaptation is necessary since management panaceas are all but “all-healing” and without contextualization they lose their persuasive power which is a crucial ingredient for their healing power.’
– Alfred Kieser, Mannheim University and Research Zeppelin University, Germany

Contributors

Contributors: E. Abrahamson, C. Abrahamson Löfström, N.J. Adler, S.B. Alavi, S. Ansari, P.A. Bamberger, E. Belogolovsky, A. Berthoin Antal, P. Bhatanacharoen, S. Bohn, S. Bort, P. Boselie, C. Brewster, T. Clark, D. Collins, A. Galander, D. Greatbatch, J. Hanham, S.-w. Hsu, P. Lamb, P. Lillrank, P.Maassen, A. Mamman, C. Mazza, J. McCormick, Ö. Ohlsson, A. Örtenblad, M. Parker, J. Reinecke, P. Reinmoeller, B. Rombach, C.-C. Rüling, H.P. Saxi, B. Stensaker, J. Strandgaard Pedersen, P. Thomas, P. Walgenbach, S.R. Whittle, M. Zawadzki,

Contents

Contents:

Preface

PART I BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION
1. Establishing the Art of Contextualizing Management Ideas and Panaceas as a Research Field
Anders Örtenblad

2. The Anatomy of Managerial Panaceas: Ontology, Epistemology and Technology
Paul Lillrank

3. Turning a Management Innovation into a Management Panacea: Management Ideas, Concepts, Fashions, Practices, and Theoretical Concepts
Suleika Bort

4. Putting Panaceas into Practice … Or Not: Translating Discourse into Social Practice in Complex and Contested Terrains
Pete Thomas

PART II PANACEAS IN NEED OF CONTEXTUALIZATION
5. Panacea or Pandora’s Box? The Role of Fairness Perceptions and Interpersonal Competitiveness in Determining how Pay Secrecy Affects Individual Task Performance
Elena Belogolovsky and Peter A. Bamberger

6. The Curious Case of Japanese Management: A Nation as a Panacea
Paul Lillrank

7. The Importance of Context when Applying Social Cognitive Theory in Organizations
John Mccormick, Seyyed Babak Alavi and José Hanham

8. The Search For Panaceas In Strategic Human Resource Management: A Wrong Turn For HRM Research?
Paul Boselie and Chris Brewster

PART III CONTEXTUALIZATION BY VARIOUS GROUPS OF ACTORS
9. The Art of Constructive Criticism
Östen Ohlsson and Björn Rombach

SECTION A CONTEXTUALIZATION BY RESEARCHERS
10. Changing the Story: Management Panaceas as Narrative Interventions
Susan Rosina Whittle

11. Researcher Intervention in the Process of Contextualizing Fashionable Management Ideas: Some Previous Experiences
Anders Örtenblad

12. A Stakeholder Approach to Advising on the Relevance of Management Ideas and Panaceas
Anders Örtenblad, Shih-Wei Hsu and Peter Lamb

SECTION B CONTEXTUALIZATION BY ORGANIZATIONAL ACTORS
13. Conveying the Adaptation of Management Panaceas: The Case of Management Gurus
Timothy Clark, Pojanath Bhatanacharoen and David Greatbatch

14. Neutralizing Managerial Panaceas: How Universities Cope with Management Fads
Peter Maassen and Bjørn Stensaker

15. The Creativity of Organizations in Taking Corporate Social Responsibility: Handling Conflicting Institutional Demands
Stephan Bohn, Anne Galander and Peter Walgenbach

16. Excellence and Intelligence: Managing Practice Adaptation in Organizations and Fields
Shaz Ansari, Patrick Reinmoeller and Juliane Reinecke

17. When a Managerial Panacea was Translated Rationally: The Case of Corporatization in the Swedish State-Owned Mail Enterprise
Carina Abrahamson Löfström

18. Artistic Interventions in Organizations: Beyond the Fad
Ariane Berthoin Antal

19. Good Reading Makes Good Action: Nothing so Practical as a Managerial Panacea?
Carmelo Mazza and Jesper Strandgaard Pedersen

SECTION C CONTEXTUALIZATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION
20. Smuggling Panaceas by Management Gurus: A Critical Approach
Michał Zawadzki

21. Empowering Students to Translate Management Panaceas
Anders Örtenblad, Peter Lamb and Shih-Wei Hsu

PART IV COMMENTS AND REFLECTIONS
22. Management Reforms as Fashion? Critical Remarks from a Philosophy of Science Perspective
Hans Petter Saxi

23. Theory as Fashion: What are Management Ideas For?
Martin Parker

24. Managerial Panaceas, Sensemaking and Identity Construction in Contemporary Organizations
Charles-Clemens Rüling

25. Global Wisdom: Not a Panacea, But Absolutely Necessary for Transcending Managerial Failures
Nancy J. Adler

26. Towards a Normative Theory of Contextualizing Management Ideas and Panaceas
Anders Örtenblad

Index