Sverre Spoelstra
Senior lecturer
The Regime of Excellence and the Erosion of Ethos in Critical Management Studies
Author
Summary, in English
The regime of excellence - manifested in journal rankings and research assessments is coming to increasing prominence in the contemporary university. Critical scholars have responded to the encroaching ideology of excellence in various ways: while some seek to defend such measures of academic performance on the grounds that they provide accountability and transparency in place of elitism and privilege, others have criticized their impact on scholarship. The present paper contributes to the debate by exploring the relationship between the regime of excellence and critical management studies (CMS). Drawing on extensive interviews with CMS professors, we show how the regime of excellence is eroding the ethos of critical scholars. As a result, decisions about what to research and where to publish are increasingly being made according to the diktats of research assessments, journal rankings and managing editors of premier outlets. This suggests that CMS researchers may find themselves inadvertently aiding and abetting the rise of managerialism in the university sector, which raises troubling questions about the future of critical scholarship in the business school.
Department/s
- Department of Business Administration
Publishing year
2014
Language
English
Pages
538-550
Publication/Series
British Journal of Management
Volume
25
Issue
3
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Business Administration
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1467-8551