Critical Management Studies - Controversy and Debate

Controversy and Debate

Main points of debate have focused on the relationship with more orthodox forms of Marxism, the nature and purposes of CMS critique, as well as questions of inclusion and exclusion (Fournier and Grey 2000), the possibilities of social transformation from within business schools (Parker 2002), and the development of alternative models of globalisation.

A recent trend in CMS has seen the incorporation of automist Marxist theory, first introduced in the English-speaking world by the work of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri (2000). New CMS scholars using these theories are interested in proposing alternative non-capitalist forms of organizing work and life often around the notion of collective responsibility for the commons. Other recent developments include engagements with post-colonial theory and critical race theory to investigate the way management and business schools contribute to what Cedric Robinson (1983) has called racial capitalism.

Wider impatience with market managerial forms of organization are common enough outside the business school, from anti-corporate protest to popular media presentations of managers. What CMS attempts to do is to articulate these voices within the business school, and provide ways of thinking beyond current dominant theories and practices of organization.