The aim of this course is to introduce students to the fascinating world of management and organisation(s) via a series of lectures and seminars and reading groups.
Over a period of ten weeks, we will attempt to familiarise ourselves with some of the main themes and issues that make up our ‘organised’ world. Our main objective will be to map out the ways in which we understand ourselves in relation to work, management and organisations. In order to so, we will attempt to trace how the meaning we give to these important themes has developed historically. To do so, we will analyse the thought of some of their main critics and contributors.
The course begins by providing a perspective on capitalism (as the social order in which the forms of managing and organising we are interested in takes place), before moving on to look at management more concretely and ends with a focus on people (both managers and workers) in contemporary organisations and society.