Introduction to managing and organising
1. Managing and organizations – part 1
LESSON 1
Managing People in Organizations
Lecture 1, Reading (Clegg et al., 2021), Chapter 1
Title of the lecture: Managing and Organizations – Opening, Thinking,
Contextualizing, Part 1
What will we do today?
- We will start to thinking about management in the organizations in a
contemporary (digitalized) world
managing, rationality, global shifts and link to the digital world
Managing & Managerialism
Making sense of managing as a coherent set of assumptions, concepts,
values, and practices that constitute a way of viewing reality
Managing entails sensemaking and framing
Managerialism justifies the application of its one-dimensional managerial
techniques to all areas of work, society, and capitalism on the grounds of
superior ideology, expert training, and the exclusiveness of managerial
knowledge necessary to run public institutions and society as corporations.
concept: how the US administration works; you think that you as a powerful
manager have the power to end a war
but is that how it works? no, but that’s the idea behind it
Making sense of Managing (p. 6 ff)
We can differentiate managing as a practice, as something that we do,
from organizations as goal-oriented collectives, entities in which we are
organized
Management is the process of communicating, coordinating and
accomplishing action in the pursuit of organizational objectives
Managing collaborative relationships with stakeholders, technologies and
other artefacts, both within as well as between organizations and
managing more or less considerate relationships with those employed as
well as with those encountered as suppliers, customers, communities, and
so on
Management is not a neutral activity !
Management cannot simply be considered in terms of its capacity to
deliver objective gains in productivity/efficiency
1
, It is also a socio-political activity, which implies the need to adhere to
societal, political and ethical responsibilities
aspect of managing = manage relationships
different kinds of relationships: people close within the organization vs people
outside the organization that you need to influence
a manager is not a robot (not neutral): you cannot react to every situation in the
same way
- a lot of underlying aspects; not only leading in a rational way
- important criteria: are stakeholders happy, is my business plan
sustainable, … not only about rationality and making much money
This is called sensemaking
For the past 40 years, the predominant sense of what an organization
should be has been modelled on lean and efficient private sector
organizations that are profit oriented
In such organizations, top management teams strive to set a common
frame so that organizational members, customers, suppliers, investors,
and so on, can make common sense of the organization – what it is and
what it does
sensemaking: not a neutral activity
- now: important to understand how to frame information and how to sell
your plans
- critically reflect the framing
Sense-making
Sensemaking is the process through which individuals and groups give
meaning to something, especially to explain novel, unexpected or
confusing events
connect to what is going on in the outside world; doing good for society
make profit
e.g.: Patagonia framing their goal: goal is not to make money but to make the
better place + not doing it for profit but for sustainability and saving the
environment
Sense-making in a capitalist system
Making sense of profit orientation?
Does it make sense to you?
The art of making sense of your work (proud to working for Apple, Google
or another ‘hip’ company
Dare to challenge the narrative of selling company! (Projection of an image
that may not be reality)
Dare to challenge the narrative of your manager!
dare to ask some critical questions!!
2
,Sense-making
We are constantly making sense, revising past rationalizations in the light
of new information, knowledge and events not previously available
Meaning is constructed in an ongoing process in which past experience
informs the present (Maitlis and Christianson, 2014).
use background, use all the information available
need to be able to explain what’s your perspective to the world, but also to your
team they need to understand your perspective as well (because they could
have completely other ideas about the company)
Sense-making – be critical
Stuff happens: George W. Bush & Donald Rumsfeld and the Iraq War
“We know where they are [Iraq's weapons of mass destruction]. They're in the
area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat”
(Donald Rumsfeld, 2011)
Constructivism & the Iraq War (based on reading & case study)
• Shift in Risk Perception: After 9/11, Bush reinterpreted Saddam Hussein as
a greater threat, even without direct ties to the attacks.
• Narratives Constructed:
- Axis of Evil speech framed Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as existential
threats.
- Bush administration emphasized preemption: acting before threats
materialize.
- Cheney: 'There is no doubt Saddam has WMDs' (2002 speech).
• Constructivist Insight:
- War was not inevitable from material facts alone
- It became plausible through shared narratives of danger, identity (“war
on terror”), and moral duty.
• Outcome: U.S. leaders constructed a story in which invading Iraq was the
logical and necessary response.
on how the Bush administration decided to attack Iraq driven by fear and
doubt
+ the administration wasn’t sure of the attack to start a war; they didn’t have
evidence
BUT they framed to the world that they were sure/convinced that Iraq had
weapons of mass-attack + they could bring democracy in the middle east with
this war
because you need a good reason/explaining to start a war
framing a message of peace and security
actually Bush and his team were actually just afraid of an attack from Iraq
Managing in a complex world
3
, A ‘one size fits all’ management approach will not work
Contemporary managers can no longer rely on hierarchy and nominal roles
to manage people
Managing has become an increasingly difficult, political, and challenging
endeavour
People work in complex organizations that are embedded in contexts
inscribed by complex networks
Managers should have an understanding of (human) complexity
managing style is connect to your personality there are managing styles, but
it’s not that you as a manager just adopt only one exact style
not a modern approach: top-down and telling people what to do
Sense-making and framing
Managers manage through processes of:
o Sense making
o Sense giving
o Sense breaking
A key part of the managers’ role is to ‘frame’ the sense that others have of
the roles that they play in the organization
As social realities of business and organizations change, the different sense
and framing is required
Much of managing is discursive: issuing orders, making suggestions,
framing actions in order to accomplish objectives
managers try to make sense of what’s going on and give this to the people as an
explanation
sense breaking: challenge what is going on
the three ° concepts are overlapping; you don’t need to give a definition of one
concept
Managing & framing
While the sense you make is always your sense it is never made in
isolation. Not only is sense made through the language and concepts you
use but also through the many cues that prompt you to make sense:
experience, what others say they think is happening, likely stories that you
are familiar with that seem to fit the pattern that appears to be forming
People will not use these cues in a uniform way, because they are
individuals and, as a result, people can make wildly different sense of the
same set of cues
Framing
Framing is a term that comes from film making: a director frames a shot by
including some detail and omitting other elements
4
1. Managing and organizations – part 1
LESSON 1
Managing People in Organizations
Lecture 1, Reading (Clegg et al., 2021), Chapter 1
Title of the lecture: Managing and Organizations – Opening, Thinking,
Contextualizing, Part 1
What will we do today?
- We will start to thinking about management in the organizations in a
contemporary (digitalized) world
managing, rationality, global shifts and link to the digital world
Managing & Managerialism
Making sense of managing as a coherent set of assumptions, concepts,
values, and practices that constitute a way of viewing reality
Managing entails sensemaking and framing
Managerialism justifies the application of its one-dimensional managerial
techniques to all areas of work, society, and capitalism on the grounds of
superior ideology, expert training, and the exclusiveness of managerial
knowledge necessary to run public institutions and society as corporations.
concept: how the US administration works; you think that you as a powerful
manager have the power to end a war
but is that how it works? no, but that’s the idea behind it
Making sense of Managing (p. 6 ff)
We can differentiate managing as a practice, as something that we do,
from organizations as goal-oriented collectives, entities in which we are
organized
Management is the process of communicating, coordinating and
accomplishing action in the pursuit of organizational objectives
Managing collaborative relationships with stakeholders, technologies and
other artefacts, both within as well as between organizations and
managing more or less considerate relationships with those employed as
well as with those encountered as suppliers, customers, communities, and
so on
Management is not a neutral activity !
Management cannot simply be considered in terms of its capacity to
deliver objective gains in productivity/efficiency
1
, It is also a socio-political activity, which implies the need to adhere to
societal, political and ethical responsibilities
aspect of managing = manage relationships
different kinds of relationships: people close within the organization vs people
outside the organization that you need to influence
a manager is not a robot (not neutral): you cannot react to every situation in the
same way
- a lot of underlying aspects; not only leading in a rational way
- important criteria: are stakeholders happy, is my business plan
sustainable, … not only about rationality and making much money
This is called sensemaking
For the past 40 years, the predominant sense of what an organization
should be has been modelled on lean and efficient private sector
organizations that are profit oriented
In such organizations, top management teams strive to set a common
frame so that organizational members, customers, suppliers, investors,
and so on, can make common sense of the organization – what it is and
what it does
sensemaking: not a neutral activity
- now: important to understand how to frame information and how to sell
your plans
- critically reflect the framing
Sense-making
Sensemaking is the process through which individuals and groups give
meaning to something, especially to explain novel, unexpected or
confusing events
connect to what is going on in the outside world; doing good for society
make profit
e.g.: Patagonia framing their goal: goal is not to make money but to make the
better place + not doing it for profit but for sustainability and saving the
environment
Sense-making in a capitalist system
Making sense of profit orientation?
Does it make sense to you?
The art of making sense of your work (proud to working for Apple, Google
or another ‘hip’ company
Dare to challenge the narrative of selling company! (Projection of an image
that may not be reality)
Dare to challenge the narrative of your manager!
dare to ask some critical questions!!
2
,Sense-making
We are constantly making sense, revising past rationalizations in the light
of new information, knowledge and events not previously available
Meaning is constructed in an ongoing process in which past experience
informs the present (Maitlis and Christianson, 2014).
use background, use all the information available
need to be able to explain what’s your perspective to the world, but also to your
team they need to understand your perspective as well (because they could
have completely other ideas about the company)
Sense-making – be critical
Stuff happens: George W. Bush & Donald Rumsfeld and the Iraq War
“We know where they are [Iraq's weapons of mass destruction]. They're in the
area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat”
(Donald Rumsfeld, 2011)
Constructivism & the Iraq War (based on reading & case study)
• Shift in Risk Perception: After 9/11, Bush reinterpreted Saddam Hussein as
a greater threat, even without direct ties to the attacks.
• Narratives Constructed:
- Axis of Evil speech framed Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as existential
threats.
- Bush administration emphasized preemption: acting before threats
materialize.
- Cheney: 'There is no doubt Saddam has WMDs' (2002 speech).
• Constructivist Insight:
- War was not inevitable from material facts alone
- It became plausible through shared narratives of danger, identity (“war
on terror”), and moral duty.
• Outcome: U.S. leaders constructed a story in which invading Iraq was the
logical and necessary response.
on how the Bush administration decided to attack Iraq driven by fear and
doubt
+ the administration wasn’t sure of the attack to start a war; they didn’t have
evidence
BUT they framed to the world that they were sure/convinced that Iraq had
weapons of mass-attack + they could bring democracy in the middle east with
this war
because you need a good reason/explaining to start a war
framing a message of peace and security
actually Bush and his team were actually just afraid of an attack from Iraq
Managing in a complex world
3
, A ‘one size fits all’ management approach will not work
Contemporary managers can no longer rely on hierarchy and nominal roles
to manage people
Managing has become an increasingly difficult, political, and challenging
endeavour
People work in complex organizations that are embedded in contexts
inscribed by complex networks
Managers should have an understanding of (human) complexity
managing style is connect to your personality there are managing styles, but
it’s not that you as a manager just adopt only one exact style
not a modern approach: top-down and telling people what to do
Sense-making and framing
Managers manage through processes of:
o Sense making
o Sense giving
o Sense breaking
A key part of the managers’ role is to ‘frame’ the sense that others have of
the roles that they play in the organization
As social realities of business and organizations change, the different sense
and framing is required
Much of managing is discursive: issuing orders, making suggestions,
framing actions in order to accomplish objectives
managers try to make sense of what’s going on and give this to the people as an
explanation
sense breaking: challenge what is going on
the three ° concepts are overlapping; you don’t need to give a definition of one
concept
Managing & framing
While the sense you make is always your sense it is never made in
isolation. Not only is sense made through the language and concepts you
use but also through the many cues that prompt you to make sense:
experience, what others say they think is happening, likely stories that you
are familiar with that seem to fit the pattern that appears to be forming
People will not use these cues in a uniform way, because they are
individuals and, as a result, people can make wildly different sense of the
same set of cues
Framing
Framing is a term that comes from film making: a director frames a shot by
including some detail and omitting other elements
4
