Abstract
Life in organizations and society appears tomany social commentators as increasingly more demandingand insensitive to the needs of people. In this paper,the Myth of Management is explored to investigate some of the key beliefs and images throughwhich contemporary management is practiced. Myth, inthis context, is understood as consisting of beliefs andvalues which serves to provide meaning for human action. The adoption of a particular mythicframe is argued to direct the management oforganizations to particular ends and purposes. Centralto a Myth of Management are the doctrines of SocialDarwinism and Function Rationality, and these are brieflyevaluated in their impact on organizational life. Anarchetypal approach, with particular reference to thearchetype of the hero, is employed to explore the depth dimensions which underpin the formulationand exercise of the Myth of Management. The conclusionreached is that the myth of management exacts a criticalcost on people and society which can only be addressed through a reflectiveconsciousness.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
ADLER, A. The neurotic constitution. New York: Moffat, Yard & Co., 1917.
ADLER, A. The practice and theory of individual psychology. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1924.
ADLER, A. What life should mean to you. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1932.
ADLER, A. Social interest: A challenge to mankind.London: Faber and Faber, 1938.
ALLABY, M. Facing the future. The case for Science. London: Bloomsbury, 1995.
APPLEYARD, B. Understanding the person: Science and the soul of modern man. London: Picador, 1994.
BECKER, E. The denial of death. New York: Free Press, 1973.
BERG, O. Symbolic management of human resources. Human Resource Management Journal, 1986, 25, 557-579.
BERMAN, M. There-enchantment of the world. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1978.
BILLIG, M. Ideology and social psychology: Extremism, moderation and contradiction. Oxford: Blackwell, 1982.
BOHM, D. Wholeness and the implicate order. London: Routledge, 1980.
BOWLES, M. L. Myth, meaning and work organization. Organisation Studies, 1989, 10(3), 405-421.
BOWLES, M. L. The organisation shadow. Organisation al Studies, 1991, 12(3), 387-404.
BOWLES, M. L. Logos and eros: The vital syzygy for understanding human relations and organizational action. Human Relations, 1993, 46(11), 1271-1290. (a)
BOWLES, M. L. The Gods and Goddesses: Personifying social life in the age of organization. Organisation Studies, 1993, 14(3), 395-419. (b)
BROWN, K. C. (Ed.). Hobbies: Studies London: Blackwell, 1965.
BUBER, M. I and thou (translated by T. Clark). Edinburgh: Scribner, 1958.
CAMPBELL, J. The hero with a thousand faces. Cleveland: World Publishing Company, 1951.
CAMPBELL, J. Mythological themes in creative art and literature, J. Campbell (Ed.) Myth, dreams and religion. New York: Dutton, 1970, pp. 138-176.
CAMPBELL, J. The masks of god. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976.
CARTER, B. Capitalism, class conflict and the new middle class. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985.
CLEGG, S. Frameworks of power. London: Sage, 1989.
CROSBY, P. B. Quality without tears: The art of hassle free managem ent. New York: McGraw Hill, 1984.
DEMING, H. S. The Deming guide to quality and competitive position. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1987.
DENHARDT, R. In the shadow of organisation. Lawrence, KS: Regents Press of Kansas, 1981.
DODDS, E. R. The Greeks and the irrational. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1951.
FAYOL, H. General and industrial management. London: Pitman, 1949.
FEIGENBAUM, A. V. Total quality control. New York: McGraw Hill, 1983.
FUKUYAMA, F. The en d of history and the last man. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993.
GIMPL, M. L., & DAKIN, S. R. Management and magic. California Management Review. Fall 1984, 125-136.
HABERMAS, J. Toward a rational society (translated by J. J. Shapiro). Boston: Beacon Press, 1970.
HAECKEL, C. The history of creation (Vol. I). London: H. King, 1876.
HAMPDEN-TURNER, C., & TROMPENAARS F. The seven cultures of capitalism. New York: Doubleday, 1993.
HAYEK, F. A. Individualism and economic order. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1980.
HEIDEGGER, M. Existence and being (trans. by W. Brock). Chicago: H. Regnery, 1949.
HENDERSON, J. L. Ancient myths and modern man. In C. G. Jung(Ed.), Man and his symbols. London: Picardor, 1964.
HILLMAN, J. The feeling function. In M. L. von Franz & J. Hillman (Eds.), Jung's topology. Zupurichi Spring, 1971.
HILLMAN J. Once more into the fray. Spring, 1994.
HOFSTADTER, R. Social Darwinism in American thought. New York: G. Brazillen, Inc., 1969.
HOFSTEDE, G. H. Culture's consequence. Beverely Hills: Sage, 1980.
HOLLIS, J. Tracking the Gods. Toronto: Inner City, 1995.
HORKHEIME, M. The eclipse of reason. Oxford: Oxford Unive rsity Press, 1947.
INGERSOLL, V. H., & ADAMS, G. B. Beyond organisational boundaries: Exploring the manage rial meta myth. Administration and Society, 1986, 18, 360-381.
JUNG C. G. Two essays in analytical psychology (C. W. Vol. VII). Princeton University: Princeton, 1966.
JUNG, C. G. The structure and dynamics of the psyche (C. W. Vol. VIII). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969.
KOSTERA, M. The modern crusade: The missionaries of management come to Eastern Europe. School of Management, Warsaw Unive rsity, 1993.
LASCH, C. The culture of narcissism. New York: Norton, 1978.
LASCH, C. The minimal self: Psychic survival in troubled times. London: Picador, 1984.
LOPEZ-PEDRAZA, G. Cultural anxiety. Einsiedeln: Daimon Verlog, 1990.
MANNHEIM, K. Man and society in an age of reconstruction. New York: Harcourt Brace-Jovanovich, 1940.
MIDGELY, M. Science as salvation: A modern myth and its meaning. London: Routledge, 1995.
MINTZBERG, H. The rise and fall of strategic planning. New York: Prentice Hall, 1994.
MORGAN, G. Images of organisations. London: Sage, 1986.
NIETZSCHE, F. Nietzsche: A reader (translated by R. J. Hollingdale). Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977.
ORWELL, G. Animal farm.London: Secker and Warburg, 1945.
PRESTHUS, R. The organisational society., 1978.
PYM, D. Post paradigm enquiry. In J. Hassard & D. Pym (Eds.), The theory and philosophy of organisations London: Routledge, 1990.
RIPPON, A. From factory floor to corporate confessional. Notework-Newsletter of the Standing Conference on Organisational Symbolism 1993, 12(1), 22-31.
ROTHBAND, M. N. Power and market. Park, Co: Institute for Human Studies, 1977.
SAMPSON, A. The sovereign state of ITT. New York: Stein & Day, 1978.
SARDELLO, R. Facing the world with soul. New York: Lindisfarne, 1992.
SCASE, R., & GOFFEE, R. Reluctant managers: Their work and lifestyles. London: Unwin Hyman, 1989.
SCHWARTZ, H. The usefulness of myth and the myth of usefulness: A dilemma for the organisational scientist. Journal of Management, 1986, 11(1), 31-42.
SCOTT, W. G., & HART, D. K. Organisational America. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1979.
SHAKESPEARE, W. G. R. Hibbard (Ed.), Hamlet. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.
SIEVERS, B. The diabolisation of death: Some thoughts on the obsolescence of mortality in organisation theory and practice. In J. Hassard and D. Pym (Eds.), The theory and philosophy of organisations. London: Routledge, 1990.
SIMON, H. Administrative behavior: A study of decision making processes in administrative organisations. New York: Macmillan, 1958.
SMIRCICH, L., & MORGAN, G. Leadership: The management of meaning. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 1982, 18, 257-275.
SPENGLER, O. The decline of the west. London: Court, 1923.
TAYLOR, F. Principles of scientific management. New York: Harper & Row, 1911.
TAYLOR, R. The Will to live: Selected writings of Arthur Schopenhaur. London: Ungor, 1962.
TRIST, E. C. Referent organizations and the development of inter-organizational domains. Human Relations, 1983, 36, 269-284.
WEBER, M. The theory of social and economic organization. New York: W. W. Norton, 1947.
WHITEHEAD, A. N., & RUSSELL, B. Principal mathematica. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1910.
WITTGENSTEIN, L. Tractatus logico-philosophicus. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1922.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bowles, M. The Myth of Management: Direction and Failure in Contemporary Organizations. Human Relations 50, 779–803 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016912507723
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016912507723