The Conduct of Management and the Management of Conduct: Contemporary Managerial Discourse and the Constitution of the ‘Competent’ Manager*

Abstract

The character and conduct of the manager has formed a central focus of attempts to govern economic life throughout the present century. And current programmes of organizational change involve radical attempts to reconstitute the nature and conduct of management. This is attempted through the identification and implementation of management competencies. Discourses of organizational reform such as human resource management, total quality management and business process re-engineering all place a critical emphasis on anti-bureaucratic, organic and flexible forms of organization, which are also seen to require the development of particular capacities and predispositions among managers. Essential to their vision of 'managerial work' is a composite of 'entrepreneurial' attributes. Management competencies appear to offer a congenial method for the reconstitution of the manager along 'entrepreneurial' lines, not simply because they are inherently founded on managers' self-management and self-presentation of identified behaviours, but also because they represent individualized forms of business functions (and are often associated with the establishment of market relations within the organization).

‘I don’t know what I am doing!’: Surfacing struggles of managerial identity work

“…Whilst various discourses emerge and compete for managerial attention over time (Du Gay et al 1996), the majority remain faithful to the overarching aims of the modernist ideal. For example, contemporary discourses, notably entrepreneurial discourse which emphasises initiative, autonomy and responsibility (Du Gay et al, 1996) and leadership discourse which recasts managers as leaders (Ford and Harding, 2007), arguably amplify the aims of the modernist project.…”

“…For example, contemporary discourses, notably entrepreneurial discourse which emphasises initiative, autonomy and responsibility (Du Gay et al, 1996) and leadership discourse which recasts managers as leaders (Ford and Harding, 2007), arguably amplify the aims of the modernist project. As such, it is recognised that much managerial discourse can be described as 'grandiose' (Sveningsson and Alvesson, 2003).…”

Transnational freelancing: Ephemeral creative projects and mobility in the music recording industry

“…Further, as in most other sectors of the creative economy, the industry has seen the development of new relationships between employee and employer, where employers no longer accept responsibility for the employment and development of the workforce, but rather have a relationship with the employee that is transactional, contractual and short-term (du Gay et al, 1996). In 2006, for example, Air Studios, a major studio in North-West London, took all of their recording engineers off the studio payroll, effectively forcing them to become freelance.…”

“…Thus in freelance work a particular kind of relationship exists between employee and employer, in which employers no longer accept responsibility for the employment and development of the workforce, but rather have a relationship with the employee that is transactional, contractual and short-term (du Gay et al, 1996), reflecting a shift from organizational to market-based employment relationships (Storey et al, 2005).…”

The Consequences of Perceived Usefulness of Training (PUT): The Self-Efficacy Perspective

“…The studies of competency's link to managerial success and to effective performance in literature also proliferated and widened into other fields (e.g., Boyatzis, 1982;Du Gay, Salaman, & Rees, 1996;Lawler, 1994;Mansfield, 1996;McCall & Lombardo, 1983;McLagan, 1996;Mirabile, 1997;Posner & Kouzes, 1988;Spencer & Spencer, 1993). Competency has great considerable practicality and has contributed to improving both individual and organizational performance (McClelland,1973;Spencer et al, 1993).…”