This thesis sought to place the development of managers, management theory, practice and discourse within its general historical context. The emergence and growth of a body of managers in Australia was examined utilising Historical Sociology, Survey, Content Analysis and Theory of Practices methods. Australian managers, management practice and discourse were influenced by British, American and, more recently, Japanese management theories and practices. Theories and practices from Classical Management and subsequent theories were evidenced as trends which dominated for periods, changing the practices and discourses of managers. Based on a survey of Australian managers, the interaction between management theories and practices was examined and interpreted. Counter trends existed in periods that were dominated by particular theoretical models. These counter trends provided the links to newer practices and theories. The results indicated the continued importance of all theoretical models and the practices they describe. In Australia, the theoretical perspectives did not fit the trends of broad cycles of economic activity but overlapped, having been introduced in differing time frames. Management discourse was evaluated through content analysis of the editorials of Rydge's (a local management magazine) from 1945 to 1987 to ascertain any changes in management discourse as the result of the introduction of new management theories. Other themes and trends were identified and examined to provide insights into managers' values. The production and reproduction of practices were considered utilising a Theory of Practice. In the field of management, practices are produced and reproduced by managers influenced by their habitus, the division of labour and the exercise of power. The survey and content analysis results were examined to profile the habitus through the impact of managers' backgrounds on their behaviour, practice and discourse. These constituted forms of cultural capital which mediated managers' beliefs through symbolic instruments embedded in its structuring structures. Overall, the research highlighted relationships between typologies of management theories, discourses and practices and provided a profile of the production and reproduction of practices in a contemporary Australian setting.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/187751 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Mitchell, James Ian, School of Sociology, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Sociology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright James Ian Mitchell, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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