Using Narrative Fiction within Management Education

Abstract

The use of fiction in management education, as described in recent management publications, implies the employment of a `common-sense' model of reading and interpretation. If fiction is not to be employed merely as the expression of what can be perceived as an outmoded desire for certainties and consistency and rules, management education needs to reject this model and seek how individual expression and interpretation may be accommodated within a flexible and open teaching framework. The analysis of fiction within management education offers the possibility of exploring a form of literary criticism that may support a management education that (among other attributes) questions its own content and context. In this paper the author describes some of her own uses of fiction within the management classroom and concludes that the management educator needs to employ a bold and imaginative approach to `literary criticism' with students, if the use of fiction is to be fully exploited.

Professional blinders? The novel as an eye-opener in organizational analysis

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Sleeping with the enemy? Exploiting the textual turn in management research

“…In much the same vein Rhodes (2000) has argued that the future of management enquiry outside of the managerialist paradigm lies in 'reading' rather than 'researching' organisations (Rhodes 2000: 7). Similar moves are also afoot Cohen 1998 andWillmott andKnights 1999). These are promising signs of management being more open to the inclusion of reflexive challenges to the dominant paradigm.…”

Razão e sensibilidade no ensino de administração: a literatura como recurso estético

“…Quer entendida como literatura por Gailey (1993) e por Shaw (1992), por narrativa (Hatch, 1996;CzarniawskaJoerges, 1999) ou como ficção narrativa (Phillips, 1995;Cohen, 1998), o uso de diversos tipos de leituras expressas em gêneros tais como romances, contos e peças teatrais têm sido objeto de experiências e reflexões, independentemente das divergências semânticas sobre o tema.…”