The Triumph of Emptiness

Mats Alvesson is Professor of Business Administration at the University of Lund, Sweden and at University of Queensland Business School, Australia. Recent books include Qualitative Research and Theory Development (Sage 2011, with Dan Kärreman), Interpreting Interviews (Sage 2011), Metaphor we Lead By: Understanding Leadership in the Real World (Routledge 2011, ed with Andre Spicer), The Oxford Handbook of Critical Management Studies (Oxford University Press, edited with Todd Bridgman and Hugh Willmott), Understanding Gender and Organizations (Sage, 2009, 2nd ed, with Yvonne Billing), Reflexive Methodology (Sage, 2009, 2nd ed, with Kaj Skoldberg), Changing Organizational Culture (Routledge 2008, with Stefan Sveningsson), Knowledge Work and Knowledge-Intensive Firms (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Alvesson finds grandiosity at work behind an array of disconcerting phenomena, from a narcissistic socialmedia culture, to a hyper-adrenalised yet helplessly inane 24-hour news media cycle, to the explosion of public-relations firms and branding efforts.

• 1. Introduction - Zero-Sum Games, Grandiosity, and Illusion Tricks ; 2. Consumption - the Shortcomings of Affluence ; 3. Explaining the Consumption Paradox: Why aren't People (More) Satisfied? ; 4. Higher Education - Triumph of the Knowledge Intensive Society or a Statistical Cosmetics Project? ; 5. Higher Education - an Image-Boosting Business? ; 6. Modern Working Life and Organizations - Change, Dynamism, and Post-Bureaucracy? ; 7. Organizational Structures on the Beauty Parade: Imitation and Shop-Window Dressing ; 8. A Place in the Sun - Occupational Groups' Professionalization Projects and Other Status and Influence Ambitions ; 9. Leadership - A Driving Force or Empty Talk ; 10. The Triumph of Imagology - A Paradise for Tricksters? ; 11. The Costs of Grandiosity