Reason's Neglect: Rationality and Organizing

by Barbara Townley

Overview

Reason, and the need to Be Rational, are essential dimensions of society and the organizations we live and work in. Yet the 'rationalization' of working and administrative processes, or the 'rationality' studied in social sciences, is all too often, used, understood, and interpreted in an extremely narrow sense. Reason's Neglect does three things. Firstly, it argues that rationality is a leitmotif of organization studies, but one that has often been neglected. Secondly, it deploys Foucault's work to recover the neglected dimensions of rationality. In doing this, it allows for a revisionary exploration of key subjects in organization studies: organization theory, bureaucracy, technology, culture, practice, etc. Finally, the book presents the case of new rational management techniques being introduced in an organization, allowing individuals to 'speak for themselves', and examining how they respond to these innovations, and how they make sense of them. Arguing that rationality should be seen as disembedded, embedded, or embodied, each chapter goes on to explore a different aspect of reason, such as economic, bureaucratic, technocratic, institutional, or contextual. Clearly written and structured, yet an engaged and challenging approach to the study of organizations in society, Reason's Neglect is an iconoclastic book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191559426
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	07/24/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	721 KB

About the Author

Professor Barbara Townley was awarded her PhD from the London School of Economics. She taught at Lancaster, Warwick, and Edinburgh universities in the UK, and at the University of Alberta, Canada, before taking up her present position at the University of St. Andrews. Her work has been published in leading North American and European journals including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, Organization Studies, Human Relations, Organization, and Accounting, Organization, and Society. She is the author of the widely cited Reframing Human Resource Management (Sage, 1994) which offered a Foucauldian critique of HRM. She has been Associate Editor of Human Relations, and serves on the editorial boards of Human Relations, Journal of Management Studies, Organization, and Strategic Organization.

Table of Contents

Figure xii List of Boxes xiii
1 Foucault and rationality 1 Why rationality? 3 Whose reason? 6 Why Foucault? 9 Foucault...how? 13 The importance of analysing practice 15 The argument: A pictorial representation 19 Part I Disembedded Rationality Introduction 22
2 Economic rationality 27 Purposeful individuals 27 The anthropomorphization of organizations 31 Bounded rationality 34 Decision-making 36 The new rationality 39 Conclusions 44
3 Bureaucratic rationality 46 Bureaucracy 46 Bureaucracy and rationality 49 The response to uncertainty: Domination through knowledge 52 Conclusions 65
4 Technocratic rationality 66 Technology and organization 66 Technology as technique 68 Management as science 72 Technocratic administration? 78 Which science? 84 Management as practice 86 Conclusions 87 Part II Embedded Rationality Introduction 90
5 Institutional rationality 95 The rationalization of value spheres 95 The institution of reason 97 Institutional theory and rationalized myths 101 Institutional logics 107 Rationality institutionalized? 109 Institutional 'rationality'? 110 Conclusions 112
6 Contextual rationality 113 Hidden from reason: A Romantic legacy 113 Rationality versus community 119 Culture as competence: Rendering rational 125 Rationality as thick description? A narrative rationality 128 Conclusion: Rational Communities? 130
7 Situational rationality 132 A presumption of logic 132 The rationality of situated action 134 Situated knowledge 138 Situated studies 142 Conclusions 152 Part III The 'Other' of Reason Introduction 154
8 Embodied rationality 159 The body 159 Embodied thinking and knowledge 162 The emotions 168 Emotions in organizations 170Rational emotions? 177 The 'irrational' unconscious 179 Conclusions 185 Part IV Conclusions
9 Collective rationality 189 Collective action 190 Collective action and the 'collective good' 193 Collective reasoning 194 Collective reasoning and the 'collective good' 197 The collective within organization studies 200 Collective reasoning and practice 201 Conclusions 205
10 Practical reason 206 Practical concerns 207 Practical rationalities 210 Practical reason 213 Conclusion 218 Appendix 220 Notes 222 References 251 Glossary 274 Index 276