critical performativity
You can do things with words: Considering the performativity of performativity of economics
‘And then I discovered, you can do things with words!’ This enthusiastic exclamation marked the turning point of an academic career as it was once narrated to me at a conference dinner. The narrator had been trained in mainstream economics, but as he moved on from his PhD (a very complex, very sophisticated piece of quantitative research, I was given to understand) a certain uneasiness with the dogmas of the dismal science began to trouble our protagonist. Accordingly, he went on a quest to broaden his disciplinary horizons and had his eureka moment when stumbling upon J. L.
Managing the human
HRM research has historically either been focused on the way HRM directly contributes to company profit and short-term organizational goal achievement (so-called Hard HRM), or on how HRM could contribute to creating long-term collaborative regimes (so-called Soft HRM) that develop the quality of working life and the long-term viability of the organization. In other words, HRM practices have traditionally departed from a managerial perspective, which leaves out other stakeholder interests than the management or owners.
Undisclosed off-list reference checks: Violating the human to manage the resource
Introduction
Undisclosed ‘backdoor’ or off-reference-list reference checks, hereafter termed ‘undisclosed off-list reference checks’, inflict unnecessary harm on the human as a means to manage the resource. While public university faculty searches are the focus in this note, many of the concerns raised also apply outside of academia.
'Managing the human' in 21st century organizations: Developing a critical and performative research agenda for HRM-studies
Introduction
In Alvin Gouldner’s Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy (Gouldner, 1954) the interaction between workers and management in a gypsum mine is studied following what he saw as an attempt to introduce an efficiency and accountability oriented bureaucratic management. The reason why this classic study is relevant to frame a 21st century special issue on managing the human is the lucid way that Gouldner shows, inspired by Weber and Marx, how the relations between workers and managers develop in unpredictable ways.
