Management fashion as image-spectacle: The production of best-selling management books

Drawing on the work of Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle and Daniel Boorstin's The Image, this article argues that aesthetic and management fashions are not separate forms, as both represent the preeminence of the image spectacle. Central to this is the increasing emergence of pseudoev...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: CLARK, Timothy Adrian Robert, GREATBATCH, David
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2004
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6289
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/7288/viewcontent/Mgt_fashion_image_spectacle_2003_av.pdf
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Institution: Singapore Management University
Language: English
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Summary:Drawing on the work of Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle and Daniel Boorstin's The Image, this article argues that aesthetic and management fashions are not separate forms, as both represent the preeminence of the image spectacle. Central to this is the increasing emergence of pseudoevents and synthetic products. Using empirical findings from a study of the production of six best-selling management books, it shows that they are manufactured coproductions that result from an intricate editorial process in which the original ideas are moulded in order for them to have a positive impact on the intended audience. Central to this is a set of conventions that stress the vivification of ideas. The editorial process thus seeks to enhance the aesthetic attractiveness of the ideas. The implications of the conceptual approach and empirical findings are considered with respect to current understandings of management fashion.