The adoption of management paradigms in Finnish management research 1937‐2007

Abstract

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.

Reaffirming opportunities for pluralism in management scholarship

“…Any research is informed by philosophical assumptions about epistemology, ontology, and axiology. Although some sets of assumptions – particularly logical‐positivism – may dominate in some disciplines and geographical territories and be favored by some journals, a wide range of philosophical and theoretical positions have emerged in management and cognate disciplines internationally (e.g., Bonache & Festing, 2020; Burrell & Morgan, 1979; Hassard, 1991; Huehn, 2008; Seeck & Laakso, 2010; Shepherd & Challenger, 2013; Sułkowski, 2010). European Management Review is interested in accommodating well‐written work from all paradigmatic positions.…”

Psychological management: changing qualities of the ideal manager in Finland 1949‐2009

“…323-327). The organization culture theories that gained importance from the early 1980s onwards, and the innovation theories during the 2000s have similarly emphasized communality, human interaction and intrinsic motivation (Barley and Kunda, 1992;Morgan, 1997;Seeck, 2008).…”

“…One of Taylor's followers, Lillian Gilbreth, drew attention to the "human factor", and her ideas approached those of the later human relations school (Mousa and Lemak, 2009;Seeck, 2008, p. 60;Wren, 2005, p. 163). However, the next rational management modelsystems rationalism -emphasized structures and functionality, and had little interest in the human factor (Barley and Kunda, 1992;Seeck, 2008).…”

“…Finland offers us an interesting national JMH 19,1 context for the subject, since a significant organizational and managerial change took place over a well-defined time period. Different management theories were mostly adopted from the late 1940s onwards, alongside a rapid economic transformation from an agricultural society to an industrialized high-tech welfare state with a large service sector (Haapala, 2006;Seeck, 2008).…”

Economic crisis, technology and the management of education

“…A running theme in some of the recent analyses is that, notwithstanding the endorsement of ‘autonomy’ in England, central control and public accountability have increased over the past thirty years, not weakened (Glatter 2012: 564; Simkins, 2012). Similarly, in the wider reaches of management studies, there have been analyses of the comings and goings of various management rhetorics (Abrahamson, 1997; Grint, 2008; Nahapiet, 2008; O’Reilly and Reed, 2011; Seeck and Laakso, 2010). Curiously, the field of management studies in education has been largely silent about the possible consequences of what has been widely seen as a major financial crisis.…”