Understanding Management

This book views management as a complex set of social and symbolic processes often characterized by considerable ambiguity and paradox. In particular, it develops the body of work concerned with building experienced-based, grounded description and understanding of the processes of management and managing.

The contributors explore: the dynamics, subtleties and complexities of managerial life; its informal as well as formalized features and practices; and the significance of the cultural and symbolic in organizations. There is a concern with meanings and the relationships between managerial talk, thought and action. The contributors also draw on both established social anthropological concepts - such as culture, myth, ritual, totem and taboo - for understanding the nature of managing, and concepts deriving from newer postmodernist themes and developments. Throughout, the book emphasizes the importance of critical reflection for learning and change in management and organization.