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Management and Language
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Management and Language
The Manager as a Practical Author

First Edition
Edited by:


October 2002 | 196 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Management and Langugage explores and develops the image of the manager as one who is aware of, and attends to, the way in which language is used in everyday managerial activity. Much managerial activity is achieved through language and a vital task for any manager is to generate with others an intelligible account of the various feelings that surround the contested issues in the organization.

Such a process involves reading a context from different perspectives, constructing new meanings, framing the complexities and dilemmas faced into new 'landscapes' of possible future actions, and creating a persuasive argument for those landscapes amongst those who must work in them. For such a process to be conducted successfully a range of abilities and skills become relevant such as storytelling, metaphors and developing arguments.

Management and Language is a timely publication with contributions from eminent academics in the field. This book will be engaging reading to academics and management teachers interested in critical management theory and those generally open to new and different approaches to management. It will also be of relevance to practising managers who wish to have a deeper understanding of how they use language in their everyday work.

David J Holman and Richard Thorpe
Introduction
Management and Language: The Manager as a Practical Author

 
 
PART ONE: SETTING THE SCENE
John Shotter and Ann L Cunliffe
Managers as Practical Authors
Everyday Conversations for Action

 
 
PART TWO: DEVELOPING AND UNDERSTANDING THE STORY
David M Boje
Using Narrative and Telling Stories
David J Holman, Jeff Gold and Richard Thorpe
Full of Characters
Identity and Talk in Practical Authoring

 
Richard Thorpe and Joep Cornelisson
Visual Media and the Construction of Meaning
 
PART THREE: DEVELOPING THE AUTHOR'S POSITION
Francois Cooren and Gail T Fairhust
The Leader as a Practical Narrator
Leadership as the Art of Translating

 
Shirley Willihnganz, Joy L Hart and Charles A Willard
The Logic of Message Design in Organisational Argument
Stanley Deetz
Authoring as a Collaborative Process through Communication
 
PART FOUR: REWRITING THE SCRIPT, RESCRIPTING THE AUTHOR
Jeffrey D Ford and Laurie W Ford
Conversations and the Authoring of Change
Mike Pedler
All in a Knot of One Anothers' Labours
Action Learning as Joint Practical Authoring

 
Dorothy Lander and Craig Prichard
A Critical Conversation Between Author Managers and Management Authors

David Holman

Richard Thorpe

Richard Thorpe is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Leeds where he was latterly Professor of Management Development and Pro Dean for Research at Leeds University Business School. His early industrial experience informed the way his ethos has developed. Common themes are a strong commitment to process methodologies and a focus on action in all its forms; an interest in and commitment to the development of doctoral students and the development of capacity within the sector; and a commitment to collaborative working on projects of mutual interest. Following a number of years in industry, he joined Strathclyde University as a... More About Author

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ISBN: 9780761969075
£142.00

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