THE APPROPRIATION OF IDEAS, THEORIES, CONCEPTS AND

364 Pages·2010·1.34 MB·English

THE APPROPRIATION OF IDEAS, THEORIES, CONCEPTS AND
MODELS BY MANAGEMENT PRACTITIONERS.

Laurence Robinson

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment
of the University’s requirements for the
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

May 2010

Coventry University in collaboration with the
University of Worcester
Abstract

During the second half of the 20th century there has been both a burgeoning intellectual interest
in business and management as a topic and an exponential growth in the formal study of
business and management as an academic subject. Indeed by the end of the century it was
estimated that worldwide there were 8,000 business schools and more than 13 million students
of business and management. In addition, it was estimated that worldwide annual expenditure
on university level business and management education had reached US $15 billion (The
Global Foundation for Management Education, 2008).

However, despite this there is a lack of clarity regarding both the scale and the nature of the
influence that academic scholarship exerts over managers. Accordingly this research study has
sought to investigate the appropriation of ideas, theories, concepts and models by management
practitioners.

The thesis has reviewed and evaluated the two most obvious, most established and most
influential potential explanations. These were diffusion of innovations (Rogers, 1962) and
fashion theory (Abrahamson, 1991 & 1996; Abrahamson & Fairchild, 1999). It has been
concluded that whilst both these potential explanations provided important insights, neither was
able to provide a comprehensive theoretical foundation for this research study. Accordingly, a
much broader range of pertinent scholarship was reviewed and evaluated. This included, but is
not limited to, the scholarship that is associated with learning by adults (Dewey, 1933; Bartlett,
1967; Schank & Abelson, 1976; Mezirow, 1977).

Although this additional scholarship provided a further range of potential explanations, the
extent to which any of these would be found within the particular setting of management
practitioners remained unclear. In addition, the literature review highlighted a number of
unresolved debates regarding issues such as (i) whether management was a science or an
applied science; (ii) whether it was a craft or a profession; (iii) whether in reality there were
fashionable trends in management practice or whether in fact such practices were remarkably
stable; and (iv) whether management theoreticians, gurus and consultants actually exerted
significant influence over management practitioners. The literature review also highlighted
methodological concerns relating to the use of citation analysis as a proxy for primary
information regarding managerial practice.

Hence, this research is situated in a gap which is delineated by the unresolved issues that are
associated with both diffusion theory and fashion theory; the applicability of the broader range of
scholarship to a management setting; the unresolved debates within this field of interest and the
need to obtain primary information relating to management practice, rather than being
dependant upon citation analysis.
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The research study has utilised qualitative data and inductive reasoning to examine these
matters and the overarching research philosophy has been that of realism (Ritchie & Lewis,
2003). Ultimately, 39 semi-structured, recorded interviews were undertaken using the critical
incident technique (Flanagan, 1954). Collectively these interviews lasted for 35 hours and
obtained information relating to 160 critical incidents. The verbatim transcripts of the interviews
totalled 350,000 words.

A case study analysis of this data was undertaken to examine the decision making of the
interviewees in relation to some of their most challenging managerial situations. This analysis
concluded that for the ‘generality’ of these interviewees; theory played little, or no, overt part in
their decision making. The data was also subjected to a content analysis using a bespoke
compendium of 450 ‘terms’ that represented the development of theorising about management
over the whole of the 20th century. This analysis concluded that the influence of the 20th
century’s management theoreticians over these interviewees was weak. Finally, the possibility
that any such influence might be a covert, rather than an overt; phenomenon was examined
using both the insights of intertextuality (Allen, 2000; Bazerman, 2004) and the framework
analysis technique (Ritchie, Spencer & O’Connor, 2003). This analysis demonstrated that the
discourse, dialogue and language of these interviewees could be indexed to four domains; (i)
the theoretical; (ii) the conceptual; (iii) the tactical; and (iv) the practical.

The intertextual indexing outcomes were corroborated both by substantial extracts from the
verbatim interview transcripts and by three unrelated strands of scholarship. These were (i)
adaptive memory systems (Schacter, 2001); (ii) the realities of management (Carlson, 1954;
Stewart, 1983; Mintzberg, 1989) and (iii) the role of concepts and conceptual thinking in nursing
(McFarlane, 1977; Gordon, 1998; Orem, 2001).

On this basis it has been concluded that management can be characterised as a conceptual
discipline; that in its essential nature management is at least as conceptual as it is either
theoretical or practical; and that managers appropriate concepts and ideas, rather than theories
and models per se.

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Acknowledgements

Many people have been instrumental in the long journey of personal discovery that has resulted
in the production of this thesis.

My Director of Studies, Dr Catharine Ross and my internal supervisor, Dr Jan Francis-Smythe
have been consistently supportive, thought-provoking and wise. They have also worked hard to
discourage my natural instinct to explore the many tangential interests that have cropped up
along the way. I am particularly grateful for their patience, persistence and good humour. My
external supervisor, Professor Jacky Swan has been intellectually stimulating and challenging.
The clarity of her thinking and the directness of her communication have both been greatly
appreciated.

However, I am particularly grateful to each of the interviewees who despite the magnitude of
their professional responsibilities; their hectic work schedules and the pressures of their
personal lives, made the time to participate in an interview and who subsequently made such
interesting observations. In addition, I should like to thank the five individuals who facilitated
access to some of their organisation’s most senior managers.

I am also grateful to Dr Michael J. Mol and Professor Julian Birkinshaw for their willingness to
share with me the unpublished list of 175 management innovations that was compiled by them
for consideration for inclusion in their book, “Giant steps in management: Innovations that
change the way we work”.

Equally, I should like to thank Dr Claes Janssen and Marvin Weisbord for their personal
communications regarding both ‘the change house’ model and the related theory, ‘the four
rooms of change’.

Finally, I should like to acknowledge the support and encouragement that I have received from
my peer group in the Centre for People @ Work at the University of Worcester.

I sincerely hope that this research study is an appropriate response to the generosity that I have
received from each of you.

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Table of Contents

Contents Page
Abstract ii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of Contents v
List of Figures ix
List of Tables x
List of Appendices xi
Chapter 1 : Research Overview 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 A summary of existing scholarship 4
1.3 Some key definitions 8
1.4 Overall aim and specific objectives 10
1.5 Methodology and methods 11
1.6 The research gap 12
1.7 The structure of this thesis 13
1.8 Conclusions 14
Chapter 2 : Literature Review 15
2.1 Introduction 15
2.2 The realities of management practice 15
2.3 Diffusion of innovations 21
2.4 Managerial ‘fashion – setting’ 32
2.5 Learning by adults 41
2.5.1 Learning triggers 43
2.5.2 Scripts, schemes, frames, traces and schema 45
2.5.3 Memory systems 48
2.5.4 Memory system adaptations 50
2.5.5 Tacit knowledge 53
2.5.6 Metaphor and analogy 55
2.6 Sense – making, decision – making and intuition 58
2.6.1 Managerial sense – making 58
2.6.2 Managerial decision – making 63
2.6.3 Intuition 66
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2.7 Management as a profession 70
2.7.1 Management research 72
2.7.2 Management education 75
2.8 The role of concepts and conceptual thinking 79
2.8.1 The role of concepts and conceptual thinking in nursing 80
2.9 Conclusions 82
Chapter 3 : Methodology and methods 85
3.1 Introduction 85
3.2 Methodology 85
3.2.1 Research philosophy 86
3.2.2 Qualitative data 88
3.2.3 Inductive reasoning 90
3.3 Methods 91
3.3.1 Sampling 91
3.3.2 Sampling criteria 93
3.3.3 Semi-structured interviews 96
3.3.4 The critical incident technique 98
3.3.5 The interview template 100
3.3.6 Data analysis 102
3.3.7 Content analysis 105
3.3.8 Intertextuality 109
3.3.9 Indexing definitions 119
3.4 Validity & Reliability / Trustworthiness & Authenticity 122
3.5 Ethical considerations 124
3.6 Limitations 126
3.7 Conclusions 128
Chapter 4 : Overt appropriation 130
4.1 Introduction 130
4.2 The cross case analysis 130
4.2.1 Recognition based decision - taking 132
4.2.2 Emergent decision – building 133
4.2.3 Extensive personal reflection 134
4.2.4 Influence of personal values 137
4.2.5 Hedge trimming 138
4.2.6 Hard and soft indicators 139
4.2.7 Management as a ‘craft’ 140
4.2.8 The confirmatory role of ideas, theories, concepts and models 144
4.2.9 The indirect, subconscious and even subliminal influence of ideas,
145
theories, concepts and models
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4.2.10 Transformational adult learning 145
4.3 The within case analysis 150
4.3.1 HealthTrustOrg 151
4.3.2 CharityOrg 153
4.3.3 CouncilOrgOne 159
4.3.4 ManuCo 161
4.3.5 CouncilOrgTwo 164
4.3.6 The MBA cohort 165
4.4 The MBA rationale 171
4.5 Conclusions 173
Chapter 5 : Covert appropriation 174
5.1 Introduction 174
5.2 The content analysis 174
5.2.1 Content analysis of the verbatim interview extracts 175
5.2.2 Content analysis of company documentation 179
5.3 The intertextual analysis 185
5.3.1 The framework analysis 186
5.3.2 The comparison of the ‘theoretical domain’ 188
5.4 Management as a conceptual discipline 189
5.5 Conclusions 195
Chapter 6 : Discussion 197
6.1 Introduction 197
6.2 Key discoveries 197
6.3 The overarching model 200
6.4 Linkages to scholarship 202
6.5 Final reflections upon methodology and methods 205
6.6 Implications for professional practice 208
6.7 Further work 209
6.8 Conclusions 211
Chapter 7 : Conclusions 212
7.1 Introduction 212
7.2 Progress against aims and objectives 212
7.3 Originality in research and contribution to knowledge 214
7.4 Concluding reflections 215
References 218
Appendices 236
Appendix 1 : Case study qualitative data tables 236
vii
Appendix 2 : Bespoke compendium of managerial ‘terms’ 282
Appendix 3 : Complete compendium of interview extracts 286
Appendix 4 : Intertextual decision rules / indexing rationale 299
Appendix 5 : Intertextual interview extracts in context 305
Appendix 6 : Complete compendium of interview extracts indexed to the
311
‘theoretical domain’
Appendix 7 : Theoretical domain decision rules / indexing rationale 313
Appendix 8 : ‘Pen portraits’ of the five participating organisations 321
Appendix 9 : Sources of indexing definitions 325
Appendix 10 : Conference paper submitted to the British Acadmeny of
328
Management
Appendix 11 : Magazine article submitted to the Chartered Management
351
Institute

viii
List of Figures

Figures Page
Figure 1 : The adopter S - curve 22
Figure 2 : The adopter categories 23

ix
List of Tables

Tables Page
Table 1 : Interview transcripts : Managerial ‘terms’ with a usage of more than 1
177
per 1,000 words
Table 2 : Interview transcripts : Managerial ‘terms’ with a usage of less than 1 per
177
1,000 words and more than 1 per 10,000 words
Table 3 : Interview transcripts : Managerial ‘terms’ with a usage of less than 1 per
178
10,000 words
Table 4 : Organisational documents : Managerial ‘terms’ with a usage of more
182
than 1 per 1,000 words
Table 5 : Organisational documents : Managerial ‘terms’ with a usage of less
182
than 1 per 1,000 words and more than 1 per 10,000 words
Table 6 : Organisational documents : Managerial ‘terms’ with a usage of less
183
than 1 per 10,000 words
Table 7 : Intertextual analysis 186

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