Articles by Nick Butler
It is increasingly common to describe academic research as a "publication game," a metaphor that ... more It is increasingly common to describe academic research as a "publication game," a metaphor that connotes instrumental strategies for publishing in highly rated journals. However, we suggest that the use of this metaphor is problematic. In particular, the metaphor allows scholars to make a convenient, but ultimately misleading, distinction between figurative game-playing on one hand (i.e. pursuing external career goals through instrumental publishing) and proper research on the other hand (i.e. producing intrinsically meaningful research). In other words, the "publication game" implies that while academic researchers may behave just like players, they are not really playing a game. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, we show that this metaphor prevents us, ironically, from fully grasping the lusory attitude, or play-mentality, that characterizes academic work among critical management researchers. Ultimately, we seek to stimulate reflection about how our choice of metaphor can have performative effects in the university and influence our behavior in unforeseen and potentially undesirable ways.
From its inception, leadership studies has embraced the positivist tradition of hypothesis testin... more From its inception, leadership studies has embraced the positivist tradition of hypothesis testing. In this tradition, psychometric instruments are meant to ward off belief from scientific practice by testing theories against empirical facts. While leadership scholars purport to conform to the standards of value-neutral science, this paper tells a different story. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 39 positivist leadership researchers, we argue that leadership studies is heavily invested with faith in two main ways: (a) faith in leadership concepts, even when their accompanying measures fall short of methodological standards and (b) faith in leadership studies as a science, even when it is tainted by commercial interests and professional rewards. Ultimately, we suggest that positivist epistemology is accepted in leadership studies as an article of faith. By exploring the interconnection between science and belief in the business school, we draw attention to the "secular religion" of scientism in leadership studies.
This paper offers an analysis of the professional project that was pursued by the Institute of Ma... more This paper offers an analysis of the professional project that was pursued by the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) on behalf of its members. The paper builds on Sturdy's (2011) call to develop empirically grounded accounts of the ways and means of consulting. In addition, it responds to the analysis of the Association of Project Management (APM) developed by Hodgson, Paton and Muzio (2015), which invited further comparative study of professional projects. Drawing on archive data, this paper develops a comparative analysis that considers four key themes: (1) the professionalization strategies developed by the IMC and the APM; (2) jurisdictional issues and shifts in the fields of consulting and project management; (3) the structure of credentials developed for practitioners in both arenas; and (4) the attitudes and actions of key stakeholders shaping policy in the APM and the IMC. The paper examines the contrasting fortunes of the APM and the IMC, yet observes similarities in working practices across these apparently distinct settings. Reflecting on this comparison, the authors consider the nature, contours and limits of consulting professionalism and conclude with the suggestion that, within the analysis of professional projects, conventional conceptualizations of 'success' and 'failure' should be considered as 'impostors'.
Freelance creative work is a labour of love where opportunities for self-expression are combined ... more Freelance creative work is a labour of love where opportunities for self-expression are combined with exploitative working conditions. This article explores this dynamic by showing how a group of freelance creative labourers navigate employment while coping with the pressures associated with economic precarity. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, we argue that full-time stand-up comedians engage in 'pecuniary' forms of emotion management in an occupational field where social networks and professional relationships play a prominent role. First, comedians project an image of positivity to demonstrate a willingness to work for little or no pay in order to curry favour with comedy club promoters. Second, comedians suppress feelings of anxiety and frustration that arise from financial insecurity in order to keep their relationships with promoters on an even keel -even when the rate of pay and promptness of remuneration fall below acceptable standards. Our study thus has implications for other creative sectors in which precarity is the norm, since it suggests that emotional labour is a resource not only for engaging with customers and clients but also for engaging with multiple employers, negotiating pay and dealing with conditions of insecurity in freelance settings -often with unintended, paradoxical, results.
This paper draws on the work of Lacanian philosopher Slavoj Žižek to explore the ideological fant... more This paper draws on the work of Lacanian philosopher Slavoj Žižek to explore the ideological fantasies of strategy. Specifically, the paper argues that the academic field of strategyas-practice (SAP) quilts a set of organizational activities and practices around the mastersignifier of 'strategy'. This means that SAP theory circles around a void that its proponents seek to fill through an endless search for the objet petit a, the paradoxical object-cause of desire. The paper demonstrates this by showing how the SAP literature conceptualizes the practice of strategy in a circular and self-referential way, i.e. as an effect that respectively posits its own cause. The illusion is that the practice of strategy appears to be present from the very beginning in the SAP literature, when it has been constituted post factum. Ultimately, the paper seeks traverse the fantasy of strategy and reveal the surplusenjoyment at the heart of SAP theory. The paper concludes by exploring alternative ways of understanding the practice of strategy from the perspective of the transgressive 'act' (passage à l'acte).
Critical scholars in the business school are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of ... more Critical scholars in the business school are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of their research beyond the confines of academia. This has been articulated most prominently around the concept of 'critical performativity'. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with critical leadership scholars, this article explores how academics engage with practitioners at the same time as they seek to maintain a critical ethos in relation to their external activities. While proponents of critical performativity tend to paint a frictionless picture of practitioner engagement-which can take the form of consulting, coaching, and leadership development-we show how critical scholars may end up compromising their academic values in corporate settings due to practitioner demands and other institutional pressures. Taken together, these pressures mean that critical scholars often need to negotiate a series of (sometimes insoluble) dilemmas in practitioner contexts. We argue that the concept of critical performativity is unable to contend meaningfully with these tensions because it replicates the myth of the 'heroic-transformational academic' who is single-handedly able to stimulate critical reflection among practitioners and provoke radical change in organizations. We conclude with a call for further reflection on the range of ethical dilemmas that can arise during academic-practitioner engagement.
In 2014, leadership studies saw the retraction of a number of journal articles written by promine... more In 2014, leadership studies saw the retraction of a number of journal articles written by prominent researchers who are closely associated with popular concepts such as transformational leadership, authentic leadership, ethical leadership and spiritual leadership. In response, The Leadership Quarterly published a lengthy editorial that presented these retractions as a sign of health in a mature scientific field. For the editors of The Leadership Quarterly, there is no crisis in leadership studies. In this paper, we suggest that the editorial is a missed opportunity to reflect on positivist leadership studies. In our view, leadership ought to be in crisis because this would stimulate the community to question its guiding assumptions and reconsider its methods and objectives. We therefore hope to open up a critical discussion about the means and ends of mainstream leadership studies – not least of all its scientific pretensions.
Alvesson and Spicer’s 2012 article ‘A stupidity-based theory of organizations’ is an audacious at... more Alvesson and Spicer’s 2012 article ‘A stupidity-based theory of organizations’ is an audacious attempt to introduce a new concept into academic discourse and public debate – the concept of ‘functional stupidity’. This paper argues that, while the idea of functional stupidity is presented as an academic concept, it veers worryingly towards a management buzzword. To this extent, functional stupidity can be viewed as both a provocative concept for use in critical management research and a practitioner-oriented catchphrase. This matters, I suggest, because it opens up a space for further research that is based on highly problematic foundations.
In recent years, the discourse of 'relevance' has risen to prominence in the universitybased busi... more In recent years, the discourse of 'relevance' has risen to prominence in the universitybased business school. At the heart of this discourse is the suggestion that management researchers should align their research practices more closely with the needs of practitioners in external organizations. One important but under-researched strand of this debate focuses on the way in which 'relevance' is pursued by business scholars via forms of practitioner engagement such as management consulting, corporate presentations, executive education and personal coaching. Drawing on extensive semi-structured interviews, this paper explores the motivations, rewards and tensions experienced by leadership scholars in the process of engaging with practitioners. This study suggests that the pursuit of 'relevance' may come into conflict with norms of scholarly conduct, which in turn gives rise to a series of trade-offs and compromises. Ultimately, the authors argue that the prevailing discourse of relevance provides an alibi for scholars to orient themselves towards practitioners in ways that contravene their academic identity and research ethos (whether post-positivist, interpretivist or critical).
Humour is becoming an increasingly prevalent topic in organization studies. On the one hand, humo... more Humour is becoming an increasingly prevalent topic in organization studies. On the one hand, humour is said to enable workers to undermine management control; on the other hand, humour is said to provide managers with a resource for ensuring compliance with corporate objectives. This paper seeks to challenge the duality found in the literature between rebellious and disciplinary forms of humour by examining the meaning and significance of laughter in organizations. Following Bergson, it will be argued that laughter serves to rectify overly rigid behaviour that has temporarily disrupted the natural elasticity of life. This will serve to attune us to the way in which laughter -whether it is directed at a dominant group or a marginalized group -plays a socially normative role in organizations through processes of ridicule and embarrassment.
The regime of excellence -manifested in journal rankings and research assessmentsis coming to inc... more The regime of excellence -manifested in journal rankings and research assessmentsis coming to increasing prominence in the contemporary university. Critical scholars have responded to the encroaching ideology of excellence in various ways: while some seek to defend such measures of academic performance on the grounds that they provide accountability and transparency in place of elitism and privilege, others have criticized their impact on scholarship. The present paper contributes to the debate by exploring the relationship between the regime of excellence and critical management studies (CMS). Drawing on extensive interviews with CMS professors, we show how the regime of excellence is eroding the ethos of critical scholars. As a result, decisions about what to research and where to publish are increasingly being made according to the diktats of research assessments, journal rankings and managing editors of premier outlets. This suggests that CMS researchers may find themselves inadvertently aiding and abetting the rise of managerialism in the university sector, which raises troubling questions about the future of critical scholarship in the business school.
The idea of 'excellence' has become widespread in the modern university, in part due to UK assess... more The idea of 'excellence' has become widespread in the modern university, in part due to UK assessment exercises such as the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and the Research Excellence Framework (REF). As a result, academic careers are becoming increasingly oriented around publications in highly ranked journals. For critical management scholars, this poses a particular difficulty: how to negotiate the demand for excellence at the same time as maintaining a critical ethos in relation to one's work. Our study, which is based on interviews with members of the editorial board of Organization, examines this tension by outlining the 'secrets of excellence' according to some of the most excellent critical management scholars in the field. Although our tone is at times ironic and provocative, the paper arises from a genuine concern about the risks involved in playing the publication game. Ultimately, we argue that the game of excellence tends to master its players, rather than the other way around.
Critical perspectives in organization studies often dismiss Descartes' philosophical contribution... more Critical perspectives in organization studies often dismiss Descartes' philosophical contribution because it is seen to legitimize a patriarchal and phallocentric mode of reasoning. In particular, the Cartesian mind-body dualism is said to reinforce gender inequality in organizations by privileging the rational mind over the emotional body. However, not only is this view incomplete and misleading, it also fails to consider the more significant division between reason and madness in Descartes' work. For Foucault, Descartes' Meditations plays a role in excluding madness from the domain of thought at the beginning of the classical age; this mirrors organizational practices of exclusion in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, namely the incarceration of the mad in houses of confinement. This tells us that Descartes' work has relevance for understanding the relation between philosophy and organizations in a specific historical context. In place of the historically de-contextualized use of philosophy we frequently find in organization studies, we propose that organizational scholars should seek to identify physical exclusions, conceptual binaries and historical breaks in order to conduct a critical ontology of the present -what we call a 'history of organizational limits'.
This paper outlines the research method and objective of 'clinical management studies'. While cri... more This paper outlines the research method and objective of 'clinical management studies'. While critical management studies (CMS) has for some years provided much of the resources for managerial and organizational critique, it is suggested here that the label of CMS should be discarded in order to renew its critical project. Clinical management studies is proposed as a new label for critical research within management departments and business schools. At the most basic level, clinical management studies involves diagnosing the symptoms of management and organization. Foucault's method -the archaeology of knowledge -provides a set of methodological guidelines with which to conduct this diagnostic activity. It is argued that clinical management studies exercises a critical attitude towards the present because it aims simultaneously to describe and transform certain aspects of management and organization.
Book chapters by Nick Butler
Editorials by Nick Butler
Uploads
Articles by Nick Butler
Book chapters by Nick Butler
Editorials by Nick Butler