Enron shows us dramaturgy gone amuck. In this article, critical theory and postmodern theory are crossed to form a critical dramaturgy resulting in two main contributions. First, critical dramaturgy is differentiated from other forms of dramaturgy, showing how 'spectacle' is accomplished through a theatrical performance that legitimates and rationalizes, and casts the public in the role of passive spectators. Second, critical dramaturgy has important connections with public relations theory. While contemporary public relations is concerned with the building of relationships, critical dramaturgy looks at how corporate theatrical image management inhibits relationships by erecting the barrier of the metaphorical proscenium. The Enron scandal is viewed as the collapse of a corporate spectacle illusion into megaspectacle fragments. These fragments include the naming of Enron, the Valhalla Rogue Traders scandal, the Gas Bank, Greenmail, Cowboy Capitalism, the Skilling-Mark rivalry, and the Masters of the Universe theme. Intertextual analysis demonstrates how these fragments contribute to the 'Greek Mega-tragedy' of the Enron megaspectacle. The article integrates several corporate theatre processes relevant to understanding four types of spectacle: concentrated, diffused, integrated, and megaspectacle. The value of the critical dramaturgy conceptual work is to lift the romantic veil of spectacle theatrics to reveal the antenarrative fragments of stories marginalized and backgrounded.

The assignment for the students was to write honestly about how they felt regarding specific current events dealing with diversity. However, what resulted was a kairos moment for the professor—an instance that called for her best response even when she did not know what that was—when a student crossed the line in terms of respectful communication. Our story picks up there and follows us through our own emotions and dialogues as we worked to make sense as to why the student responded as he did and how the emotionally charged issue could be turned into a teachable moment around language, boundaries, understanding, and acceptance.

This article describes the results of the "Efficiency Challenge," a 10-week, Principles of Management course activity that uses reflection and goal setting to help students understand the concept of operational efficiency. With transformative learning theory as a lens, we base our report on 4 years' worth of student reflections regarding their experiences and the evolution of the activity. The students report identifying explicit behaviors and uncovering implicit, unconscious aspects of those behaviors that they then have the opportunity to evaluate and change, if desired. We have also learned that a traditionally mechanistic, linear, causal, and rational approach can be transformed into a more holistic one by systematically introducing new experiences into the learning cycle, especially the link between studentlearning-through-experience and empowerment. The goal of this article is twofold: explore the application of transformative learning activities in the This article is part of the Special Issue "Introduction to Management Courses"

The authors ground the discussion of theory in the analysis of narratives written by subordinates to recount incidents in which they felt angry with their manager. Based on these narratives, propositions about the relationship between a manager's acknowledgement or violation of rapport management norms and employee perceptions of (in)justice are developed. Thus, the authors demonstrate the value of rapport management theory for explicating the relationship maintenance behaviors that are crucial in the effective performance of necessary evils by organizational leaders.

Synchronicity was coined by Jung in 1955 to refer to the meaningful and acausal, or chance, correlation between an inner and outer event. Insofar as creativity is dependent upon chance for novelty, then creativity and synchronicity may have a supportive relationship. This paper uses narrative to explore the role of paradox in meaning, in chance, and in creativity. The nature of synchronicity, the relationship between synchronicity and creativity, and the implications of this relationship for management are discussed. Such implications include encouraging multiple points of view, understanding the role of emotion in creativity, allowing for movement across metaphorical and physical boundaries, honoring the body, and maintaining a lightness (with humor zand joy) with which to adapt to inevitable``accidents''.