Volume 10 Issue 4 1 2 / 2 0 1 2 tamarajournal.com Managerialism and Nihilism • DAVID CURRIE, GERARD M CELWEE, PETER SOMERVILLE David Currie University of Lincoln, UK
[email protected] Gerard McElwee Sheffield Hallam Business School, UK
[email protected] Peter Somerville University of Lincoln, UK
[email protected] Keywords Abstract Managerialism This reflection adopts a critical approach to critique the ‗Excellence Literature‘ in Nietzsche management, taking a Nietzschean perspective on nihilism Nihilism is often seen as a Organisational Culture negative state, and the work of White (1990) suggests that there are different forms of nihilism which we argue have consequences for the nature of management. Two case studies and an illustration of issues encountered in the authors‘ direct experience serve to illustrate these forms.We are also concerned in our roles as ‗management educators‘ as to the implications for our classroom practice, where we seek to engage in what has been described as ‗critical management development‘. Thus, the paper concludes by questioning why approaches such as the ‗Excellence‘ literature are still so prominent in MBA programmes. Introduction Our shared interest in Nietzsche led us to connect the loss of higher/transcendental values he associated with the ‗death of God‘ to the invocation of super-ordinate goals or ‗higher values‘ within the ‗Excellence‘ literature and in management development. In this literature, the individual is transcended by these super-ordinate goals as defined by management; the higher values are managerially defined through the management of ‗the culture‘; beliefs are similarly controlled by the leaders of the organisation.