A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Management

Ann Cunliffe is Professor of Organization Studies at the Escola de Administraçâo da Fundaçâo Getulio Vargas, Brazil and Visiting Professor at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy; Aalborg University, Denmark; and the University of Bath, UK. She previously held positions as 50th Anniversary Chair at Bradford University, UK, as Professor at the University of Leeds, UK, the University of New Mexico, USA, and California State University, USA. Her current research interests include ethical leadership, embodied sensemaking, non-traditional qualitative research methods, and reflexive approaches to research, practice and learning. In particular, she is interested in exploring how we can engage in collaborative, responsive and ethical ways of managing organizations. Ann’s recent publications include co-editor of the Sage Handbook of Qualitative Business and Management Research Methods (2018), and articles in Organizational Research Methods, the British Journal of Management, Human Relations, and the Journal of Business Ethics. She received the 2016 Lasting Impact Award from Sage Publications for her 2004 article in the Journal of Management Education and was the 2017 CMS Division Distinguished Keynote Speaker at the Academy of Management. Ann organizes the biennial Qualitative Research in Management and Organization Conference.

Ann’s book is everything a good textbook about leadership and management should be: It is thought-provoking, challenging, reflexive, packed with knowledge, and mostly, a fresh read in a jungle of boring, slight-variations-over-the-same, management books. Also, Ann is doing an important job in advocating for much-needed critical thinking within the field by challenging conventional assumptions and mainstream literature, and the book reflects this ambition in a good way.

• Chapter 1 Management, Management Studies and ManagerialismChapter 2 Communication, Language and Relational ManagersChapter 3 Who are Managers? Discourses of Identity-WorkChapter 4 Managing Culture – Managing Hearts, Minds, Bodies and SoulsChapter 5 Managing Relational, Ethical and ‘Just’ Organizations