Studying Managerial Work: A Critique and a Proposal [1]

This chapter outlines conceptualizations of management reviewing several major empirical studies of managerial work by M. Dalton, J. P. Kotter, and H. Mintzberg. It examines the critical examination of these studies by considering alternative frames of reference for making sense of capitalist work organization. Finally, A. Giddens’ theory of structuration is advanced as providing an alternative methodological framework for the study of managerial work. In his textbook treatment of management, J. Child distinguishes between several different conceptualizations, or images of management. The political aspect of management was equated with the view of management as a ‘system of power and authority within which different personal and group strategies are pursued’. In the process of acting, agents are conceived by Giddens as mobilizing interpretative schemes, norms and other facilities which, collectively, are described as the modalities of structuration. The interaction between R. K. Brown and the steward illustrates how a system of legitimation supports the normative regulation of interaction.