ABSTRACT
There is a long-running tension, or even a paradox, which lies at the heart of management – both as a social practice and as an academic discipline.2 Briefly stated, that paradox is that, on the one hand, management has been seen as being capable of representing itself as a technical practice (Reed 1989) which dominates ever more, and more diverse, areas of social activity (Deetz 1992) whilst, on the other, it has been seen as being incapable of sustaining a project of professionalisation (Abbott 1988; Whitley 1995). This is a paradox because if management is held to be a technical practice, then why is it not possible for managers to achieve closure around a body of technical knowledge and, consequently, to license and control managerial work? If, on the other hand, management is incapable of professionalisation, what is the source of its ability to enter and dominate ever more areas of social activity?
