Management as craft and developing craftership

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to offer an appraisal of the craft metaphor in management with particular reference to authority, resistance, care and the interior landscape of the manager/crafter.Design/method/approachThis is a conceptual essay that draws on an autoethnography.FindingsRespect for the limits of managerial and bureaucratic authority and an appreciation of the manager/crafter's interior landscape are crucial aspects of effective craft and management practice. Insights into the practice of craft may enhance understanding of how both craft and management are a potent brew of politics, power, people, history, reason, faith and authority and just how crucial the interior landscape of the manager/crafter is.Originality/valueThis article offers a focus on an inadequately examined aspect of management/craft – the interior landscape of the manager – that is informed by an auto-ethnography and suggests a case for conceptualizing management as craft, with implications for management development.