Understanding the Critical Perspective of Civic Leadership Theory (CLT) for Dr. Rocal

You begin your first 2 weeks of this seminar by closely examining both critical management theory and stakeholder theory in order to understand the challenges to the conventional wisdom of management and organizations. As you prepare to begin, consider this quote:

The common core [of critical management studies or CMS] is deep skepticism regarding the moral defensibility and the social and ecological sustainability of prevailing conceptions and forms of management and organization. CMS's motivating concern is neither the personal failures of individual managers nor the poor management of specific firms, but the social injustice and environmental destructiveness of the broader social and economic systems that these managers and firms serve and reproduce. (Adler, Forbes, & Willmott, 2007, p. 119).

Harvey and Buckley (2002) introduce the need for challenging the conventional wisdom of management. To them, it is a matter of adjusting managerial practice to changing realities: globalization, the new virtual, or Internet-based, work world, information overload, asynchronous working conditions and a general speedup of time requiring faster response to various demands. The authors, however, see the conventional system remaining substantially the same, but with some modifications. Consider whether or not their recommendations go far enough and what else might be required to lead to positive social change and increased competitiveness. Harvey and Buckley present a strong case for rethinking the status quo while representing the mildest perspective on the need to change.

Parmar et al. (2010) examine theory that explicitly changes the way managers think about business. Primarily, the authors present the concept that business organizations serve other purposes than stockholder profits–an idea that challenges a fundamental assumption of neoliberal economics. Once this is acknowledged, the definition of the manager's role dramatically shifts away from the values espoused and toward the substance of relationships. This new role includes the individual's practice of ethical behavior, the consideration of the public's interest, and the implicit implications of economic systems on individuals' ways of life.

Finally, critical management studies (Adler, et al., 2007) provide a deeper analysis of the system and challenge leaders to question the impact of virtually all major components of the neoliberal economic model.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this week, you will be able to:

· Describe the domain of critical management studies

· Summarize the major aspects of stakeholder theory

· Describe the relationship between the principles of neoliberal economics and organizational/leadership behavior

· Describe new leadership behaviors required to accommodate critical management studies and stakeholder theory