Rethinking Management and Managerial Work: Capitalism, Control, and Subjectivity

Abstract

The paper presents an alternative understanding of managerial work based upon a reconstruction of labor process theory. Drawing upon contemporary studies of management practice, the paper explores the relevance of poststructuralism and an attentiveness to subjectivity to articulate a view of managerial work as the subject and object of the contradictory organization and control of capitalist labor processes. This understanding is illustrated by reference to empirical studies of ICI and is supplemented by interview material drawn from a study of changing management practices in the U.K.