MGW4365

Perspectives and paradigms in management theory

(BUS)

Associate Professor Al Rainnie

6 points + One 3-hour session per week + Gippsland + First semester + Prerequisites: entry into BBus(Hons)

Synopsis: Views on the rationality and legitimacy of management structure and process reflect the complexity of modern organisation and management, and the multi-disciplinary nature of academic interest. Differences also arise from the ways in which observers 'make' sense of management and its contexts, eg assumptions about reality that underpin social sciences predispose researchers to look for evidence of systematic order and impersonal forces, and to view rationality as a formal and instrumental process. This contrasts with alternative paradigms which view management as a political process. These different viewpoints will be examined and their implications for rationality and legitimacy considered.

Assessment: Written assignment (2500 words): 50% + Examination (1.5 hours): 50%