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This is an outstanding, well-written article about how business management often falls victim to faddish theories. It is long, but enjoyable and well worth the
by dxjones 17y ago
This is an outstanding, well-written article about how business management often falls victim to faddish theories.
It is long, but enjoyable and well worth the read.
My favourite quote: "Knowledge, by its very nature, must be intelligible, not obscure."
It comes up in the context of management consultants using bafflegab and fancy-sounding jargon to mislead clients (and perhaps themselves). This quote is a reminder to have the courage, (as is needed in some contexts), to speak up when you don't understand something, ... since what seems like wisdom you are having difficulty grasping, may in fact be snake oil.
For a strangely related article, you might also like to read: "What you can't say" ( http://paulgraham.com/say.html http://paulgraham.com/say.html) which also talks about widely held beliefs that later turn out to be just a passing fashion. Although later seen clearly to be false, at the earlier time, the flaws are invisible.
- edw519 17y agoThe only thing I remember a professor saying in Business School: "A degree in business is a degree in nothing." Of course he said it after I paid my tuition :-) The MBA may have opened some doors for me, but after all these years, I'm starting to believe he was right.
- jpwagner 17y agoYou know how you can buy a bachelor's degree from "university of joe schmoe" or some such made up university? I'm sure that people have done that and it has helped them get 'some job.' If there exists an analogous scenario for an MBA, I doubt it would've helped anyone to get the job they want. That's the distinction in my mind.
- jimbokun 17y agoThe Seinfeld degree!
- gruseom 17y agoI read it, but apart from the excellent beginning I'm not sure it's well worth it. The author wants to have it both ways: he's an insider and also an ironic critic. But he never addresses his own years of involvement in the bullshit he exposes. As a result, the article becomes increasingly evasive and self-justifying, ending in a bunch of platitudes of his own. You can't just take a bucket of irony varnish and slather it over everything and act like that makes you different.
- dasil003 17y agoWhere did he claim he was different? Is it wrong for someone to criticize an industry they were a part of? Is the appearance of hypocrisy the foremost evil to be avoided at all costs?
- gruseom 17y agoWhere did he claim he was different? The whole point of the article is that his philosophy degree made him different. (Note that the sibling comment to yours takes this for granted.) Is it wrong for someone to criticize an industry they were a part of? No, but it's shallow not to address the incongruence. Is the appearance of hypocrisy the foremost evil to be avoided at all costs? One of them! Plus it makes for better writing.
- frossie 17y agoThe point that he is making is not that management consulting is useless, but the framework for teaching is ineffective. As he says, "What they don’t seem to teach you in business school is that “the five forces” and “the seven Cs” and every other generic framework for problem solving are heuristics: they can lead you to solutions, but they cannot make you think." The problem (and I see this in technical management as well as in the business world) is that a good manager can think themselves out of the situation without gimmicks or formal training; whereas a bad manager does not become a good one with all the MBAs and training courses in the world. The other great point he makes, that confirms my own impression, is: "If it’s reminiscent of the kind of toothless wisdom offered in self-help literature, that’s because management theory is mostly a subgenre of self-help. Which isn’t to say it’s completely useless." I think that is exactly right. Yes there are some people that will derive some benefit from reading a self-help book, but it rarely provides a lasting benefit and is no substitute for an intelligent and mature reflection on your problems.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- dasil003 17y agoMy favorite quote is: "In a sense, management theory is what happens to philosophers when you pay them too much."
- kubrick 17y agoI liked it -- heck, it sounds like me -- but I do wonder why the author only has criticisms. It's easy to criticize, but as a management guy himself, doesn't he have any idea how to do it better? "Don't be bullshitful" isn't enough.
- michaelneale 17y agoWas a great read. Also reinforces my interest in philosophy as a satisfying area to study one day in my retirement (if not before !).