Hypocritical Management Studies

Authors

Khang Lê, RMIT University, VietnamFollow

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5849-6307

Keywords

critical management studies, organized hypocrisy, knowledge production

Document Type

Commentary

Abstract

The assertion “critical management studies is dead. It died a long time ago” (O’Doherty and Jones, 2005, p. 6) has aged poorly. Critical Management Studies lives on, stronger than ever. The term itself even gets title case capitalization. Responding to the call to “investigate the production of theories that pose as radical without challenging the status quo”, I offer my critique of Critical Management Studies. Critical Management Studies provides critical perspectives on established management theories and practices. It aims to encourage micro-emancipations and propose radical alternatives for organizational life. However, I argue that, in the current backdrop of neoliberal academia, Critical Management Studies finds itself entangled in the web of capitalist knowledge production systems that it criticizes. Critical scholars, instead of fearlessly challenging power structures, seem to cling to the status quo knowledge production—a bitter irony not lost on observers. I dub this ironic situation as Hypocritical Management Studies.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Lê, Khang (2024) "Hypocritical Management Studies," Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/emancipations/vol3/iss1/5