Management Education and Humanities

Management Education and Humanities argues that management teachers and researchers seem to be increasingly dissatisfied with the way managers are usually educated in western countries. It claims that educational practices and methods would greatly benefit from reflection on the implicit assumptions and paradigms behind those practices, and debates the role that humanism and humanities might play in the formation of new managerial elites. The book examines three themes that have emerged as central to the contemporary debate on management education: the profession of management; humanism as a philosophy and worldview; and the humanities as an academic field where management schools could find new inspirations for curricula. All three themes are scrutinized in a frame of reference extended between two different points of view: the traditional view, with its tendency to idealize (and even sometimes romanticize) humanism, the humanities and management as a social function; and the 'past-modern' view, which is inclined to skepticism and to the deconstruction of social and cultural phenomena. Providing a lively account of this ongoing debate and exploring new trends and experiences in management education, this book will be invaluable reading for teachers, students and researchers of management, management strategy, and organizational behaviour.