Management and Theories of Organizations in the 1990s: Toward a Critical Radical Humanism?

The author argues that the present mainstream writings on, and debates about “new” ideas of management and theories of organization, lack adequate theoretical assumptions and background. He proposes that those who question the future and efficiency of Western organizations need to rely more on a radical-humanistic and neo-Marxist conceptualization than on the functionalistic tradition. Therefore, management theorists and practitioners should integrate such a concept in order to better understand how to transform the passive-obedient Taylorist employee into an active-cooperative one. To achieve a truly renewed form of management, researchers must adopt a global view of humankind, in order to give workers a significant measure of control over their own environments and working conditions.