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Mats Alvesson, University of Lund
Dan Kärreman

International PhD course:

Critical management studies (7.5 credits)

Many researchers in management and organization studies hold the assumption that companies and other organizations are institutions working for 'the common good', that the outputs are making things better for customers, employees, owners and the general public. Organizational structures and practices are understood as functional for the accomplishment of organizational objectives, which then serve various stakeholders. Typically, organizational and institutional arrangements are viewed as fair and/or unproblematic.

In contrast, critical management studies problematize the status quo. It focuses on the 'darker' side of business and organizations, or what Gareth Morgan in Images of Organizations called "the ugly face". The word 'critical' has, of course, a number of meanings. All research is critical in the sense that the researcher is observant and intolerant of weak argumentation, speculative statements, erroneous conclusions etc. In critical management studies, 'critical' is understood as the stimulation of a more extensive reflection upon established ideas, ideologies and institutions in order to liberate from or at least reduce repression, self-constraints or suffering.  Critical research aims to stand on the weaker part's side when studying or commenting upon relations of dominance. Critical theory is referred to as a tradition of social science, including the Frankfurt School and related authors and lines of thought such as Foucault, critical poststructuralism, certain versions of feminism and so on. Critical management studies is a large and expanding research orientation, prominent in organization studies but also to some extent in accounting, marketing and strategy. 

The PhD course aims to give an advanced introduction to the theoretical frameworks, research interests and methodologies in Critical management studies, especially in organization studies but to some extent also in other subdisciplines of management. The course will also give examples of critical studies and show how critical research can be produced. Participants will have an opportunity to discuss their own PhD projects.

Content:

Critical theory
Poststructuralism
Foucault
Feminism
Critical organization studies
Critical marketing studies
Critical accounting studies
Critical management research methods
Applications

Teaching

The course will include 30 hours of teaching, lectures and seminars.

Examination

Written exam paper 

Literature

Alvesson & Deetz: Doing Critical Management Research. Sage 2000 (some chapters)
Alvesson & Willmott (eds) Studying Management Critically. Sage 2003
Grey & Willmott (eds): Critical Management Studies. Oxford University Press 2005
Selection of papers

Teachers

Responsible for the course will be Mats Alvesson and Dan Kärreman, Lund University. Lectures and seminars will be given by Chris Grey, André Spicer, Hugh Willmott and others.

Schedule

The course will be given in a concentrated format, 9 - 13, April 2007.

Course fee

The course fee is 300 euro.

Practicalites

Lund is located in Southern Sweden, 1 hour train ride from Copenhagen. There is a direct Ryanair flight from Stanstead to Lund/Malmoe. We will assist in finding cheap accommodation.  

Application

Application with a short bio and motivation of interest for the course should be sent to [log in to unmask] by March 15th. We can give earlier notication of acceptance if needed.



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André Spicer
Industrial Relations and Organisational Behaviour
Warwick Business School
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

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+44 (0)24 7652 4513 
http://andre.spicer.googlepages.com/home