Grandiosity in contemporary management and education
(2016) In Management Learning 47(4). p.464-473- Abstract
- Contemporary practitioner and academic discourses of organizations and management have developed a tendency to discuss everyday organizational phenomena in overblown and remarkable ways. It is now commonplace to view organizations in terms of visions, missions, strategies, charisma, entrepreneurship, best practice and so on. A hyped-up language is becoming endemic to ordinary discussions of ordinary organizations doing ordinary things. This calls for some critical attention. One way of capturing this tendency to hype is through the idea of grandiosity that is taking over the ways mundane organizational phenomena are constructed and debated. In this essay, we argue that grandiosity is the product of the narcissism of our times, reinforced... (More)
- Contemporary practitioner and academic discourses of organizations and management have developed a tendency to discuss everyday organizational phenomena in overblown and remarkable ways. It is now commonplace to view organizations in terms of visions, missions, strategies, charisma, entrepreneurship, best practice and so on. A hyped-up language is becoming endemic to ordinary discussions of ordinary organizations doing ordinary things. This calls for some critical attention. One way of capturing this tendency to hype is through the idea of grandiosity that is taking over the ways mundane organizational phenomena are constructed and debated. In this essay, we argue that grandiosity is the product of the narcissism of our times, reinforced by contemporary consumerism; we suggest that grandiosity not only affects adversely critical reflection of organizations and management, but more importantly that it undermines organizational performance and learning. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/f6ee619e-53ef-4ac6-ba91-90d3d4b354ea
- author
- Alvesson, Mats LU and Gabriel, Yiannis LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2016-09
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Grandiosity, management, organizations
- in
- Management Learning
- volume
- 47
- issue
- 4
- pages
- 10 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84981744798
- wos:000382586400006
- ISSN
- 1350-5076
- DOI
- 10.1177/1350507615618321
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f6ee619e-53ef-4ac6-ba91-90d3d4b354ea
- date added to LUP
- 2016-06-30 10:29:59
- date last changed
- 2022-03-24 00:13:59
@article{f6ee619e-53ef-4ac6-ba91-90d3d4b354ea,
abstract = {{Contemporary practitioner and academic discourses of organizations and management have developed a tendency to discuss everyday organizational phenomena in overblown and remarkable ways. It is now commonplace to view organizations in terms of visions, missions, strategies, charisma, entrepreneurship, best practice and so on. A hyped-up language is becoming endemic to ordinary discussions of ordinary organizations doing ordinary things. This calls for some critical attention. One way of capturing this tendency to hype is through the idea of grandiosity that is taking over the ways mundane organizational phenomena are constructed and debated. In this essay, we argue that grandiosity is the product of the narcissism of our times, reinforced by contemporary consumerism; we suggest that grandiosity not only affects adversely critical reflection of organizations and management, but more importantly that it undermines organizational performance and learning.}},
author = {{Alvesson, Mats and Gabriel, Yiannis}},
issn = {{1350-5076}},
keywords = {{Grandiosity; management; organizations}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{4}},
pages = {{464--473}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Management Learning}},
title = {{Grandiosity in contemporary management and education}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1350507615618321}},
doi = {{10.1177/1350507615618321}},
volume = {{47}},
year = {{2016}},
}