Purpose -This study examines when and how the main management paradigms have emerged and prevailed in Finnish management research. It offers a country-specific case on the diffusion of management paradigms in the field of management research. Originality/value -As the position of formal scientific management knowledge varies greatly across countries and historical periods, the study contributes to this line of research by giving a descriptive account of the paradigmatic development of management research schemes in Finland which can be compared and contrasted to the development of management research in other countries. The relevance of the study for management theory-building is in contemplating the relationships between the actors creating, diffusing and using managerial knowledge.
The paper analyses when and how different management paradigms have been adopted for teaching, in the subject of organization and management, by examining the curricula and study guides of the eight main business schools in Finland. The data was analysed in three ways: 1) the analysis of all the reading lists in curricula and study guides, 2) the analyses of subject descriptions in the study guides and 3) the analysis of individual course descriptions in the study guides.Theoretically, the study draws on the literature on German-style and American-style business schools, and on the literature on management paradigms and their dissemination. Our findings indicate that there are differences in the adoption of different management paradigms in management education in German-style and American-style business schools in Finland. For example, between 1980 and 1995, the most commonly used paradigm in teaching in German-style schools was the human relations paradigm, while in American-style schools the most popular paradigm was structural analysis. The results suggest that different traditions in arranging higher management education may have an impact on the content of teaching. This provides an interesting point of departure for investigating the contents of management education in other countries, too.
Purpose -The paper seeks to examine the manifestation of management paradigms in personnel magazines of Finnish metal and forest industry corporations from the 1930s to recent years. Design/methodology/approach -The research data consist of articles of personnel magazines on management. The articles were analyzed by quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Findings -The findings indicate that normative paradigms, such as industrial betterment, human relations school, and cultural theories, have been discussed in personnel magazines more than rational paradigms, although earlier studies suggest that in general rational management paradigms have been more influential in Finland. The frequent use of normative paradigms can be seen as a tool in enforcing the role of personnel journals in generating a sense of belonging and togetherness among employees. Normative paradigms are also discussed more frequently in the articles that are written from the viewpoint of the worker than those written from the viewpoint of the manager or company. Originality/value -The study offers empirical evidence on the adoption of management paradigms in different lines of industries. It also shows that personnel magazines provide a rich and interesting source of data that could be used more frequently than has traditionally been the case.
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