Special Topics in Critical Management Studies

Module overview

This module introduces contemporary themes associated with critical management and organization theory, with the objective of creating an in-depth and critical understanding of some of the challenges posed in work and organizations today. Such challenges include work intensification, increasing inequalities, identities, managing ethically, changing patterns of work such as gig economy, crises and the employment relationship, digital transformations, and alternative organizational forms. This will involve learning about the multiple and often competing perspectives that pertain the study of organizations including capitalist political economy, diverse economies and post-capitalist work organizations.

Linked modules

Prerequisites: MANG1020 and MANG2001

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

conduct independent research using a range of information sources;
write well-crafted critical reviews and present them in a well-structured manner.
use a wide range of intellectual ideas, tools, techniques and analytical thinking to enrich and advance your arguments;

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

identify contemporary themes, and through conducting literature reviews, present reflexive analysis;
reflect on own practice as future managers and re-assess personal and professional futures.
critically assess dominant business models and critically discuss and propose alternatives;
explain the importance of alternative approaches to organizations that will tackle social problems such as climate change, migration, inequalities, financial crisis and poverty;

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

the key contemporary debates in the field of Management and Organisation Studies;
the context, major events and trends in the history of these themes and how they relate with debates in business, ethics, equality and sustainable organizational practice;
different organisational approaches that address challenges in the world of work in the 21st century.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

The module will be taught through a range of methods including lectures, class discussions, guided reading, small group work followed by group presentations and discussions, exploration of interactive case studies/papers, and videos. You will be supported by published course materials and VLE. Weekly lectures – These are large group sessions where the main theme of the week/ lecture will be discussed. Everyone enrolled on the module will be expected to attend and contribute to the weekly sessions. Seminars– This constitutes a highly interactive part of the module: The students will be assigned to work groups (of 4-5 students) from the Week 1. Groups will be responsible for reading around 1 topic every other week (2hr-seminars) to share with the rest of the class on pre-assigned seminar topics/ case studies and readings. A great part of your learning will take place during preparation for the presentations, and class discussions that will follow.

Study time
Type	Hours
Independent Study	114
Teaching	36
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

Journal Articles

Fleming, Peter, Carl Rhodes, and Kyoung-Hee Yu. (2019). On why Uber has not taken over the world. Economy and Society, 48(2).

Sveningsson, S., & Alvesson, M. (2003). Managing managerial identities: Organizational fragmentation, discourse and identity struggle. Human relations, 50(10), pp. 1163-1193.

Brown, A. D. (2015). Identities and identity work in organizations. International journal of management reviews, 17(1), pp. 20-40.

Daskalaki, M., Fotaki, M. & Sotiropoulou, I. (2018). Values Practices and Community Organizing: The Case of Alternative Exchange Networks. Organization Studies, 40(11), pp. 1741-1765.

Ibarra-Colado, E. (2006). Organization studies and epistemic coloniality in Latin America: thinking otherness from the margins. Organization, 13(4), pp. 463-488.

Fournier, V. & Grey, C. (2000). At the Critical Moment: Conditions and Prospects for Critical Management Studies. Human Relations, 53(1), pp. 7-3.

Fleming, P. (2017). The human capital hoax: Work, debt and insecurity in the era of Uberization. Organization Studies, 38(5), pp. 691-709.

Ibarra, H., & Barbulescu, R. (2010). Identity as narrative: Prevalence, effectiveness, and consequences of narrative identity work in macro work role transitions. Academy of management review, 35(1), pp. 165-154.

Voronov, M. (2008). Toward engaged critical management studies.. , 15(6), pp. 939-945.

Daskalaki, M., C. Butler and J. Petrovic (2016). Somewhere in-between: Narratives of Place, Identity and Translocal Work. Journal of Management Inquiry, 25(2), pp. 184-198.

Hatch, M. J., & Schultz, M.. The dynamics of organizational identity. 2002, 55(8), pp. 989-1018.

Daskalaki, M., Hjorth, D. & Mair, J. (2015). Are Entrepreneurship, Communities and Social Transformation Related?. Journal of Management Inquiry, 24(2), pp. 419-423.

Wood, A., Graham, M. & Lehdonvirta, V. (2019). Good gig, bad gig: Autonomy and algorithmic control in the global gig economy. Work, Employment and Society, 33(1), pp. 56-75.

Ahsan, M. (2018). Entrepreneurship and ethics in the sharing economy: A critical perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 161(1), pp. 19-33.

Textbooks

Towers-Clark, Charles (2019). The uberization of work: Pros and cons of the gig economy. Forbes.

Hamilton L.L. Mitchell & A. Mangan (2019). Contemporary Issues in Management, A Critical Management Approach. (2nd edition). Edward Elgar.

Tadajewski, M., Maclaran, P., & Parsons, E. (2011). Key concepts in critical management studies. Sage.

Parker, M., Stoborod, K., & Swann, T. (2020). Anarchism, Organization and Management: Critical Perspectives for Students. Routledge.

Linstead, S.L., Fulop, L. and Lilley, S. (2009). Management and Organisation: A Critical Text.. Palgrave.

Grey, C. (2009). A very short, fairly interesting and reasonably cheap book about studying organizations. 2nd Edition.. Sage Publications Ltd.

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	100%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	100%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External