Management education and the theatre of the absurd

Starkey, Ken; Tempest, Sue; Cinque, S.

Abstract

In this paper we adopt a humanities perspective to reflect on the nature of business schools and management education (Vargish, 1991; March & Weil, 2005; Adler, 2006; McAuley & Sims, 2009). Business schools have been criticised for becoming the “hired hands” of business (Khurana, 2007) to the detriment of a higher purpose, institutions that champion a utilitarian morality, the shallowness and indeed the dangers of which are revealed in various business scandals and especially the financial crisis of 2007-8, the effects of which cast a long shadow over today’s economic and social landscape. This has led to the criticism that business schools have lost part of their essential “philosophic connection” to issues of humanity and human identities (Augier & March, 2011: 233-4). We argue that one way to encourage philosophical reconnection is to expand management education’s engagement with the humanities (Czarniawska & Gagliardi, 2006).

Citation

Starkey, K., Tempest, S., & Cinque, S. (2019). Management education and the theatre of the absurd. Management Learning, 50(5), 591-606. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507619875894

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 16, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Oct 22, 2019
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 4, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 6, 2019
• Journal: Management Learning
• Print ISSN: 1350-5076
• Electronic ISSN: 1461-7307
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 50
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 591-606
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507619875894
• Keywords: Management of Technology and Innovation; Strategy and Management; General Decision Sciences
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2562797
• Publisher URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1350507619875894
• Related Public URLs: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/mlq
• Additional Information: Copyright © 2019 by SAGE Publications