Management Fashion Adoption

Contemporary management is marked by fads and fashions. While the production and diffusion of popular management concepts have over the last years received considerable attention in academic and applied research, the adoption side of management fashions remains largely unexplored.

Charles-Clemens Rüling looks at the driving forces behind the adoption of management fashions in organizations. On the basis of a broad literature review and an empirical exploration of individual managers' adoption accounts he shows how managers tie themselves and their careers to popular concepts such as Total Quality Management, Business Process Reengineering, or Knowledge Management. Particular emphasis is put on the impact of these concepts and their rhetoric on individual managers' sensemaking activities and the construction of their professional identities.