ABSTRACT
In most business cases, “management” and “overflow” are antithetical notions. Management is about producing and channeling flows—not overflows. If overflow occurs, the “over” means that management has failed to some extent to accomplish its distinctive mission of flow generation and control. Management is about framing the world, and overflows challenge managerial frames and underline their limits (Callon, 1998). Once the overflow occurs, of course, a new managerial task begins: overflow channeling and/or reduction. Take, for instance, British Petroleum’s tragic oil spill of April 2010. Nothing had been preplanned; the company had to invent overflow management on the spot.
