Management in Quandary: A Critique of Organizational Power

2023 APEX Award for Excellence Winner. Excitement and anticipation are commonly felt at the start of careers. Over time enthusiasm for the future is often replaced by a sense of drudgery. Ambitious goals of making a difference subside as simply making it through the day becomes increasingly challenging. How does management contribute to this all-too-common organizational dynamic? Power resides at the core of management theory and praxis. Through a critique of organizational power, Ross Jackson examines management as an ideology, revealing how those in organizations experience subjugation and alienation through institutional dressage. Often when alienation is analyzed the focus is exclusively on workers. This critique extends that focus by exploring how lower-echelon managers, as the body and voice of organizations, experience subjugation and alienation as well. In response to these organizational dynamics, the spectacle of work emerges in which workers and managers alike pretend to work. When extended over the course of career, the spectacle contributes to a sense of nihilism and meaninglessness. Whereas they exist on different organizational strata, the shared experience of organizational subjugation and alienation by workers and lower-echelon managers provides a basis for collaborative solidarity. Since organizations are socially constructed realities, they can be refined based on current needs and demands. A path forward exists. How much longer shall subjugation and alienation be the consequence for one’s work? Collaborative solidarity and care within organizations are within reach. It is possible to move towards authenticity and autonomy. With the concepts developed through this critique, one can create a path forward that is authentic, collaborative, and fulfilling for oneself and caring of all those questioning, confronting, or contending with organizational power. This is long overdue. It is time to move beyond the lethargy of passive acceptance of the status quo, and join the prolonged struggle for greater authenticity and autonomy at work.
ASIN: B09SL635KP
VSKU: BVV.B09SL635KP.VG
Condition: Very Good
Author/Artist:Jackson, Ross
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: Book has little sign of wear or use