The continuity of discontinuity: managerial rhetoric in turbulent times

Abstract

The need for a permanent revolution in organizational structures and use of human resources is legitimated by reference to the need to adapt to ever more turbulent times. This gives rise to and is sustained by a distinctive anti‐bureaucratic rhetoric based largely on over‐hyped, unrepresentative examples and misunderstood processes. However, though empirically unsustainable, the rhetoric survives, in part because this kind of managerial discourse is playing by different rules. Explores and challenges the internal dynamics of this discourse to show that the rhetoric of discontinuity has been a continuous feature. Uses case studies of privatized utilities and analysis of the literature to explore both the gap between rhetoric and reality, and how managers operate in that gap.

Citation

Thompson, P. and O′Connell Davidson, J. (1995), "The continuity of discontinuity: managerial rhetoric in turbulent times", Personnel Review, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 7-33. https://doi.org/10.1108/00483489510147286