Please circulate widely
International PhD course, Lund University, Sweden. May 2-6, 2011
Critical Management Studies (7.5 credits)
Supervised by: André Spicer and Tony Huzzard
Many researchers in management and organization studies assume that
companies and other organizations work for ‘the common good’, that their
outputs make things better for customers, employees, owners and the
general public. Organizational structures and practices are thought to
accomplish organizational objectives and serve stakeholders. In short,
organizational and institutional arrangements are seen as fair and
unproblematic.
In contrast, critical management studies problematize the status quo. It
focuses on the ’darker’ side of business and organizations. 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 encourage liberation or at least
reduce repression. 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. We will look how this has been applied in organization studies
as well as other subdisciplines of management such as accounting,
marketing and strategy. The course will also give examples of critical
studies and show how critical research can be produced. During the
course, participants will be asked to to present their own PhD projects.
They will have an opportunity to receive feedback on their project from
faculty and other course participants.
Content:
The Theoretical Basis of Critical Management Studies.
This part of the course will look at the theoretical roots of CMS such
as critical theory, post-structuralism, critical realism,
post-colonialism and feminism.
Applying Critical Management Studies
This part of the course will look at how these theoretical roots have
been applied to various topics such as branding, leadership, ethics and
innovation.
Doing Critical Management Studies
This part of the course will look at the methodological approaches which
can be used in doing critical management studies. It will also involve
detailed engagement with students around how they are using CMS in their
own projects.
Teaching
The course will include 30 hours of teaching, lectures and seminars.
Examination
Written paper based on students own project
Literature
Alvesson & Deetz: Doing Critical Management Research. Sage 2000 (some
chapters)
Alvesson & Willmott (eds) Studying Management Critically. Sage 2003
Alvesson, Bridgeman & Willmott. Handbook of Critical Management Studies.
Oxford 2008.
Teachers
André Spicer (Warwick Business School) and Tony Huzzard (Lund
University) will supervise the course. Other teachers will include Mats
Alvesson (Lund University) and Dan Kärreman (Copenhagen Business
School). More teachers with announced.
Schedule
The course will be given in a concentrated format, 2 – 6 May 2011.
Course fee
The course fee will be 500 Euros plus VAT (25%).
Practicalites
Lund is located in Southern Sweden, a 40 minute train ride from
Copenhagen Airport. We will assist in finding cheap accommodation.
Application
Applicants should submit a short bio, 1 paragraph on their motivation of
interest for joining the course, and short abstract describing their own
research project(
emma.hevlund@fek.lu.se) by March 1st 2011 for provisional acceptance.
(We can give earlier notification of provisional acceptance if needed).
Students who are provisionally accepted will be forwarded details of a
CMS bank account number held by the host department. The course fee will
need to be paid into this account by 1st May for applicants to be
definitely accepted to the course.
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André Spicer
Industrial Relations and Organisational Behaviour
Warwick Business School
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom
Andre.Spicer@wbs.ac.uk
+44 (0)24 7652 4513
http://andre.spicer.googlepages.com/home
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