Organization and Innovation

by Knights, David; McCabe, Darren

• ISBN13: 9780335206841
• ISBN10: 0335206840
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-10-01
• Publisher: Open University Press

Summary

What do recent management fads and fashions have in common? What are the implications and limitations of the prescriptions on offer for people's working lives? Managerial fads and fashions, guru panaceas and organisational innovations have proliferated over the last 20 years. Drawing on case studies from the UK manufacturing and financial service sectors, this book argues that the emergence and popularity of a new range of management innovations reflects and facilitates the reproduction of a neo-liberal economics that has dominated Western politics for over almost a quarter of a century. The book contends that current management thinking around 'new' forms of work organization is immersed in a contemporary version of the American Dream. Referring to empirical research, the authors identify numerous difficulties confronting the implementation of this discourse, including: Collective and individual forms of resistance Unintended consequences and contradictory tensions around the notions of autonomy versus control Individualism versus collectivism Insecurity versus commitment Quality versus quantity. Organization and Innovationconcludes that the contemporary American Dream offers only 'one' dream of a better tomorrow and offers a powerful argument that we should seek other dreams that question rather than simply legitimise current inequalities.

Table of Contents

Series editor's foreword	vii
Acknowledgements	x
Introduction: innovation (in)action	1	(6)
Organization of the book	4	(3)
Part One	7	(68)
1 Management innovation in historical perspective	9	(18)
Scientific management	13	(3)
Human relations	16	(2)
Neo-human relations	18	(2)
Post-war consensus: collective bargaining	20	(2)
Thatcherism	22	(3)
Conclusion	25	(2)
2 The false promise of the American Dream: organization, innovation and change management	27	(22)
The American Dream	29	(4)
The Great Gatsby	33	(16)
Innovation in context	49
Business evangelists in a disenchanted world: Plus ça change, plus la même chose	43	(6)
3 A research framework: TQM as an illustrative case	49	(26)
Rational managerialists	50	(1)
A critical control focus	51	(2)
Case study: Carco	53	(4)
A processual approach	57	(3)
Towards an alternative perspective for organizational research	60	(4)
Case study: Inco Insurance	64	(7)
Summary	71	(4)
Part Two	75	(88)
4 Manufacturing autonomy: re-engineering and culture change	77	(20)
Call centre work	79	(2)
Case study: Loanco	81	(13)
Discussion and summary	94	(3)
5 Tales of the unexpected: strategic management and innovation	97	(18)
Introduction	97	(2)
Strategic planning and innovation	99	(4)
The context	103	(2)
The case studies	105	(8)
Discussion and summary	113	(2)
6 Teamworking and resistance	115	(28)
Teamworking in retrospect	116	(8)
Case study: Intermotors	124	(15)
Discussion and summary	139	(4)
7 A 'one team' approach to knowledge management	143	(20)
Knowledge management in perspective	145	(4)
Case study: Loanco revisited	149	(9)
Discussion and summary	158	(5)
Part three	163	(15)
8 Conclusion	165	(13)
Notes	178	(9)
References	187	(14)
Index	201