The virus of management

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dc.contributor.author	Kjær, Peter	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Frankel, Christian	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2009-02-04T10:24:23Z
dc.date.available	2009-02-04T10:24:23Z
dc.date.issued	2004-01-21T00:00:00Z	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6707
dc.description.abstract	The virus metaphor may be used in studies of management knowledge not only as a way of describing diffusion processes but also as a way of thinking about viral elements of knowledge production. In the present article, organizational viruses are viewed as ensembles of basic distinctions that are constitutive of concrete bodies of knowledge and which form mutable engines of organizational self-descriptions. Organizational viruses, we contend, are both characterized by stability in terms of their basic productive configuration, while at the same time allowing for a high degree of variation in terms of concrete management knowledge and practice. The article is structured as follows. After the introduction, we first develop the notion of organizational virus as into an analytical approach. Second, we discern in the work of Frederick Taylor on scientific management and Max Weber on bureaucracy, two quite distinct viral configurations that we claim have infected most modern management knowledge – both on a discursive level and on the level of concrete organizational self-descriptions and practice. Third, we discuss our findings and raise the question of how viruses ‘work’, how they interact, and why they become infectious.	en_US
dc.format.extent	18 s.	en_US
dc.language	eng	en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries	Working paper;2003-18	en_US
dc.subject.other	taylorisme	en_US
dc.subject.other	bureaukrati	en_US
dc.subject.other	organisationssociologi	en_US
dc.subject.other	videnskabelse	en_US
dc.subject.other	scientific management	en_US
dc.title	The virus of management	en_US
dc.type	wp	en_US
dc.accessionstatus	modt04jan21 mielmo	en_US
dc.contributor.corporation	Copenhagen Business School. CBS	en_US
dc.contributor.department	Institut for Organisation og Arbejdssociologi	en_US
dc.contributor.departmentshort	IOA	en_US
dc.contributor.departmentuk	Department of Organization and Industrial Sociology	en_US
dc.contributor.departmentukshort	OIS
dc.idnumber	x656378416	en_US
dc.publisher.city	København	en_US
dc.publisher.year	2003	en_US
dc.title.subtitle	A viral perspective on bureaucracy and scientific management	en_US