Management Tools
A Social Sciences Perspective

A comprehensive study of research into management tools and the far-reaching influence they have in organizations and society.

Ève Chiapello (Author), Patrick Gilbert (Author)

9781108451727, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 March 2022

311 pages
22.8 x 15 x 1.5 cm, 0.46 kg

'Organised along the distinction between different paradigms and based on illuminating empirical examples, this unique book comprehensively restores the theoretical, epistemological and methodological foundations of the diverse ways of knowing and inquiring on management tools and on tools of government. This brilliant tour de force is a must-read for all students and academics in the field of management, sociology, organisation theory and public policy and for all those fascinated by the power of instruments at the heart of capitalism, science and politics.' Philippe Bezes, Centre national de la recherche scientifique and Sciences Po

No organization is immune from the influence of management tools. Such tools as norms, indicators, ranking, evaluation grids and management control systems have moved outside the managerial and consultancy realm within which they were first developed to reach public administrations and policy-makers, as well as a range of other governmental and non-governmental organizations. Taking management tools out of the practical and utilitarian contexts to which they are often consigned and approaching them from a social analytical perspective, this book gives primacy to these everyday objects that constitute the background of organizational life and remain too often unquestioned. Bringing together developing streams of research from anthropology, political science, social psychology, sociology, accounting, organisation theory and management, Ève Chiapello and Patrick Gilbert offer an unprecedented theoretical synthesis that will help managers, scholars and policy-makers to unpack the functional and dysfunctional roles and effects of management tools within and across organizations.

Introduction
Part I. Theoretical Foundations for Thinking about Management Instrumentation: 1. Theoretical foundations: from the study of technique to the analysis of management tools
2. Traditional approaches: management tools in the history of organisation theory
Part II. Three Major Types of Social Science Approaches: 3. Critical perspectives on management tools
4. Institutionalist perspectives on management tools
5. Interactional perspectives on management tools
Part III. Synthesis: 6. The agency of management tools
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Management & management techniques [KJM], Business & management [KJ], Society & social sciences [J]