Beyond the hegemonic narrative – a study of managers

Abstract

Abstract:Purpose -The aim of this paper is to investigate managerial behaviour through the use of narrative analysis to identify stories that are often ignored, silenced or 'missed out' by the hegemonic managerialist narrative.Design/methodology/approach -The data was generated from an eighteen month period of participant observation of a group of managers after they were acquired as part of a $1 billion takeover. The analysis considers the strategic perspective, the managerial perspective and the 'small' story. FindingsStrategy can be diverted or altered by managers lower down the organization. This is consistent with Dalton (1959) where managers lower down the organization adapt and change strategy to make it work. The need for greater consideration of the value of managers acquired as part of a merger or acquisition. Research limitations/implicationsParticipant observation and ethnomethodological narrative analysis have the potential to go beyond the hegemonic managerialist literature and identify a much more complex picture.However, such research is always open to criticism as being from the author's 'own perspective' and appearing to claim 'omnipresence'. Other stories have been given voice but it is never possible to say that all stories have been recovered from the silencing processes of the organization. Practical implicationsA clearer understanding of how management operates within an organization in practice. This enables organizations to reconsider how they engage managers. In addition the paper highlights the need for more focus on acquired people and processes post acquisition. 3 Originality/valueThis paper aims to provide an insight into management behaviour beyond the usual treatment of managers as an amorphous mass as is common in most of the hegemonic managerialist narrative.

Managerial narratives: a critical dialogical approach to managerial identity

“…While there is a great deal of work that has engaged qualitative methods in studying managers' narratives and/or which has adopted a narrative analytical approach to understanding management and organizations, there is relatively little that has used data acquired through extended written narratives of managers (Down and Reveley, 2009;Fronda and Moriceau, 2008;Landau and Drori, 2008;Letiche et al, 2008;Vickers, 2008;Watson, 2009). Indeed, in a literature search for this paper the author found no references for any study that had collected written narratives from practicing managers.…”

Hearing the authentic voice of stakeholders? Implications for governance of tourism strategy-making

“…It considers the impact of governance on authentic voice within strategy-making by addressing how narratives function as one of the deep power structures through which leadership is dispersed (Parry & Hansen, 2007) and how power operates within the social practices of the stakeholders to make some voices come to the fore whilst others are silenced (Dawson, 2003;Vickers, 2008;Darwin et al, 2002).…”

Stories affording new pathways: bridging the divide between aged and disability care

“…There is a considerable body of research on storytelling organizations (Boje, 1991(Boje, , 2008Gabriel, 2000;Reissner, 2008), and the way change generates stories (Letiche et al, 2008;Fronda and Moriceau, 2008;Steuer and Wood, 2008;Corvellec and Hultman, 2012) that are used to make sense of (Sims et al, 2009;Brown and Humphreys, 2003;Boyce, 1995;Thurlow and Mills, 2009;Islam, 2013) and resist change (Dawson and McLean, 2013;Vickers, 2008), with rather less attention being given to stories as a way of engaging participants in an early dialogue on the need and parameters for change (Briody et al, 2012;Jabri, 2012). Although there is a growing interest in organizational and individual readiness for change (Rafferty et al, 2013;Haffar et al, 2014) as well as the development of new ideas in the search and selection of innovation opportunities (Tidd and Bessant, 2013) the use of stories and the storying process during the initial conception of innovation and change remains largely unexplored (Denning, 2008).…”