Speaking about management education: Some history of the search for academic legitimacy and the ownership and control of management knowledge

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the notion of management as a regulated profession and provide a critique of some of the recent critiques of the profession, noting from whence the profession has come and offering a number of alternative ways forward.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper explores the notions of ownership and control of professional knowledge, at least as it relates to management, and considers how the profession might fare if it is seen in the light of metaphors other than the rational, scientific approaches.

Findings

The paper finds that management education has become professionalised around quasi‐scientific research methods and a regulated body of knowledge which is visibly distant from what managers use

Practical implications

The future shape of management education and the place of B‐schools in that process hang on the decisions made about the ideas presented here.

Originality/value

This paper provides some interesting insights into the development of management as a regulated profession.

Citation

Spender, J.‐. (2005), "Speaking about management education: Some history of the search for academic legitimacy and the ownership and control of management knowledge", Management Decision, Vol. 43 No. 10, pp. 1282-1292. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251740510634868