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The Dark Side of Organisations - MAN00025H

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  • Department: The York Management School
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: H
  • Academic year of delivery: 2023-24

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 1 2023-24

Module aims

  • Sustained engagement with a wide range of advanced, contemporary and international business and management research that resonate with the business mood and cultural awareness of late capitalism.
  • Draw on contributions from and stimulate inter-disciplinary thinking between a broad range of fields: management, organisation theory, psychology, gender studies, cultural theory, sociology and philosophy.
  • Extend current understanding of key business and management themes and broader societal and cultural trends by critically examining emergent theories and new ideas.

Module learning outcomes

  • Develop students abilities to critique and evaluate particular forms or processes of research adopting different theoretical lenses, using innovative research methods and posing important challenges to current business and management concerns.
  • Equip students with a comprehensive understanding of the operational challenges faced when combining theory with practice in a pluralistic and multi-perspectival global environment.
  • Students will be able to critically evaluate CMS research methods and theory.

Module content

  1. Philosophy of management – Postmodernism and post-structuralism
  2. Visual research methods – Exploring innovative approaches to qualitative research
  3. Critical reflections on leadership – Narratives and leadership
  4. Social issues in management – Social and societal impact of new technologies, information and movements of workers, globalisation, anticipated resistances
  5. Organisation and management theory – Difference and identity in the workplace, culture management and the impact upon identity

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Module feedback

Feedback will be given in accordance with the University Policy on feedback in the Guide to Assessment as well as in line with the School policy.

Indicative reading

Introductory reading (indicative only)

De Botton, A. (2009) The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. London: Hamish Hamilton.

Grey, C. (2009) A very short, fairly interesting and reasonably cheap book about studying organizations. 2nd Edition. London: Sage Publications Ltd.

Linstead, S. A., Marechal, G. and Griffin, R. (2014) Theorising and Researching the Dark Side of Organization Organization Studies 35, 2 165–188

Linstead, S. A., Fulop, L. and Lilley, S. (2009) Management and Organisation: A Critical Text. 2nd ed. Basingstoke, Palgrave

Sorry We Missed You (2019) film dir. Ken Loach, Sixteen Films.

Sennett, R. (1998) The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

  • Talking About Organization Podcast University of Sussex https://www.talkingaboutorganizations.com


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.