New Foundations of Management Research

Management research has now been developed worldwide in a variety of teaching
and research institutions. But what is its purpose? Is management science a
social science or an engineering science? Could it be new basic field? How can
management models be considered as models of collective action, beyond the
frontiers of the world of business? What is a managerial situation? What is
involved in inventing, testing, implementing a management theory?

This book is the translation of a French book about the foundations of
management research and science. When first published in 2001, it was well
received and generated unexpected interest from the French Management
community. And likewise when it was reprinted in 2008. Few books in the recent
history of French management thinking have had a similar impact. The event was
hardly predictable, as the book aimed at critically rethinking the nature and
epistemology of the field, claiming that management should be seen neither as
applied economics, nor as applied social science but as a basic science in
itself. The contributions in this book refer to the foundations of management
and include the most recent epistemological and institutional debates: the
theory of collective action, the institutions of management, the relation
between decision and action, management as modern rhetoric, the place of
intervention in the practical and theoretical invention of management; they
compose a renewed conceptual framework for management research.

This book has been written for management researchers and PhD students. But
more than management books that promise success, this book will take managers
and consultants back to the essence of their role: designing and implementing
efficient systems of collective action.