 |
|
 |
|
|
The ‘New
Spirit of Capitalism’ and the CMS Project
Conveners:
Peter Fleming
p.fleming@qmul.ac.uk
Andre Spicer
Andre.Spicer@wbs.ac.uk
This
research workshop aims to explore the significance of what
Boltanski and Chiapello (2005) term the ‘new spirit of
capitalism’ for the CMS project. Boltanski and Chiapello argue
that 1960s radical humanism has been partially absorbed by
management thought in relation to authenticity, expressions of
difference, autonomy and so-forth. Such developments can be
noted in the latest wave of management gurus in which
resistance and anti-corporate deviance is encouraged in the
face of an otherwise bland industrial landscape. Some insist
organizations hire ‘wacky’ radicals since they are more likely
to be creative and innovative. Others argue that the firm
ought to become a zone of fun and partying. Elsewhere, the
‘tempered radical’ is celebrated as an agent of progressive
change. Academic scholarship has noted the ‘industrialization
of bohemia’ in Silicon Alley dot.com companies in which
anti-capitalist values and an underground counter-culture were
forged. Fair-trade branding in consulting firms, open
sexuality in call-centers, generation-Y attitudes in IT
start-ups all trade in a partial inclusion of the radical
values once considered anathema to the firm. This is the
‘google’ way of running the firm.
In
light of this emerging shift of emphasis in managerial
discourse and practice (or the ‘new spirit of capitalism’),
this workshop aims to some of the following question:
 | How
we make sense of the much discussed notion of resistance and
power given that firms may now be championing practices
considered disruptive by critical scholars) |
| How
we make sense of CMS as a pedagogical movement when the new
spirit of capitalism might actually prefer the dynamic
subversive over the dull conformist? |
| How
do we make sense of radical political interventions when
they are often harnessed to create new markets? |
| Are
demands for liberation, creativity and autonomy appropriate
rallying cries for CMS anymore |
| Is
conformity the new rebellion? |
The
motivation for the workshop is simple: neither the PDW nor the
main program events at the AOM give us enough opportunity to
engage in in-depth discussion of papers in critical management
studies. So the workshop will be organized as a series of
parallel streams (working groups). Each stream will consist of
people who have contributed papers on a well-defined topic
(perhaps with some invited discussants), and the group will
work together over the course of the day-and-a-half, going
around the room discussing the papers in turn. In order to
maximize discussion, authors will not present their own
papers, but rather participants will be asked to present and
discuss each others' papers. We will also arrange a couple of
plenary sessions and some social time where all the
participants come together.
We are
yet to finalize the cost of the workshop, but based on present
estimates, we anticipate that the workshop will cost between
$400 and $550 for each participant, depending on whether they
choose to stay for two nights or three, and whether they
choose single or double rooms. The fee will include meals
(lunch and dinner on 7th and all 3 meals on 8th). We will
finalize the details quickly on this front.
If
you wish to be part of this stream, please submit a 250 word
abstract to
p.fleming@qmul.ac.uk and
Andre.Spicer@wbs.ac.uk
by January 15th, 2008. Please note that
submissions can be concurrently on review at the regular AOM
2008 conference as well. The submission of an abstract
constitutes a good-faith agreement to submit a full paper for
the stream by June 1, 2008 if the paper is accepted. The
final paper should be less than 8000 words in length.
NEW
DATES (as of 30 December 2007)
Feb 20: Abstracts of papers submitted to stream conveners
March 10: Submissions accepted/rejected
June 15: Full papers submitted by this date for inclusion in
the Workshop.
|
|
|
|
