Management and Myths: Challenging Business Fads, Fallacies and Fashions

Citation

Roberts, J. (2005), "Management and Myths: Challenging Business Fads, Fallacies and Fashions", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 96-97. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513550510576170

Management ideas related to total quality management, the learning organisation, management by objectives, benchmarking and business process reengineering are all examples of fads that slip in and out of fashion within the business community. Management fads and fashion have attracted much attention in recent years, with a burgeoning body of literature devoted to investigating the causes and impact of such trends, inclusive of special issues on management fashion in the Journal of Management History (1999) and Organization (2001). In addition to this growing academic literature, there is a specific body of literature dedicated to managers and to which Adrian Furnham's Management and Myth contributes.

Furnham, a Professor of Psychology at University College London, presents a psychologist's perspective on the many management myths that populate the business world. Following his introductory chapter, in which he critically reviews management fads, fallacies and fashions, Furnham presents some 57 short essays before ending the book with a brief concluding chapter. The essays, which are organised in alphabetical order by their titles, begin with “Accidents and work”, whilst other pieces range from: “Business books and Stalinist Realism” to “Control freak”, “Emotional labour”, “Management apologetics”, “Psychologists in business”, “Strategic planning: who needs it?”, and “What makes a good business conference?”.

In his critique of management fashions in these short essays, Furnham discusses a range of issues of concern to contemporary managers. For example, in “Does coaching work?” Furnham questions the value of coaching and suggests ways of assessing the contribution of such activity to the improvement of staff performance. Knowledge management is explained and critically reviewed in “Knowledge college management”. While in “Telling clients what they want to hear”, Furnham considers the validity of the following five customer ideas: creativity can be taught; first impressions count most; non‐verbal information is more important/powerful than verbal information; emotional intelligence can be easily learnt; and, that we have multiple intelligences.

Yet the key problem with Furnham's discussion of all these various management fads, fallacies and fashions is that he fails to present any evidence to support his critiques. The book can then be criticised for demonstrating the same lack of rigour that Furnham argues characterises the writings of management gurus and consultants, which, according to him, propagate management myths.

Management and Myths is of value to management practitioners in as much as it is a resource that can be dipped into for a fresh perspective on a wide range of management issues. It is a light and mildly entertaining read which contributes to the contemporary popular business literature on management ideas. It will hopefully simulate the interest of readers and encouraging them to take a critical look at new management techniques. However, its true value may well be to encourage others to pursue a more detailed understanding of the development and dissemination of management knowledge than the one that Furnham offers in Management Myths.