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Debating the Ambiguous Enterprise of Management

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Cynthia Hardy
Affiliation:
Department of Management, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Tel: 61 3 9344 5344, Fax: 61 3 9349 4292, Email: Hardy@ecomfac.uni.melb.edu.au
Gill Palmer
Affiliation:
Faculty of Commerce, University of Wollongong, NSW 2500, Tel: 61 2 4221 3665, Fax: 61 2 4221 4157 Email: gill-palmer@uow.eu.au

Abstract

There are significant ambiguities surrounding the academic discipline of management, which can be analysed in terms of three major debates. First the professional status of management brings with it questions about restriction or access to management education, the control of curricular and the relative importance of basic, applied and consultancy-driven research. Second, there are debates about the changing nature of management research, which require the accomodation of increasing diversity within management theory. Finally, the ambiguities associated with these debates can be seen to have impacted on the development of management education, its accessibility and diversity. The ambiguities associated with these debates must be carefully managed if the discipline is to prosper. New organisational forms are needed to embed management teaching and research within the complex collaborative relationships of the many stakeholders involved.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 1999

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