Barbara Townley
Biographic Data
| ID | 96961 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Barbara Townley |
| GIVEN NAMES | Barbara |
| FAMILY NAME | Townley |
| SIGNATURE | TOWNLEY B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of St Andrews |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 85 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
What Lies Beneath: Organisational Responses to Powerful Stakeholders
This article takes recourse to a particular branch of French Pragmatic Sociology, namely, Boltanski and Thévenot’s ‘orders of worth’ paradigm, as a lens through which to both explore the misalignment between espoused values and retrospective discourses and illustrate the underlying motivations behind decision making in an organisation within the creative industries sector. By virtue of its contributions at the organisational, social and sectorial…
Misfits, Mavericks and Mainstreams: Drivers of Innovation in the Creative Industries
Creative industries are among the fastest-growing and most important sectors of European and North American economies. Their growth depends on continuous innovation, which is important in many industries and also challenging to manage because of inherent tensions. Creative industries, similar to many industries, depend not only on novelty to attract consumers, but also on familiarity to aid comprehension and stabilize demand for cultural products…
Unsettling issues: Valuing Public Goods and the Production of Matters of Concern
What are public goods – of any kind – worth? How are they valued, and made valuable? What expertise is involved in their production? Questions over the value of public goods – a sporting championship, the arts, scientific advances or quality of life – figure prominently in our public and political discourse, as politicians and administrators struggle to manage the often competing claims of instrumental, economic reason and intangible, cultural ev…
Economizing Habitus: Material calculation and ‘the rules of the game’ in the publishing industry
Pierre Bourdieu's classical sociology and the actor network-based 'economization' literature are often considered contradictory, despite some agreement on the constructed nature of economic man. Through an examination of the publishing industry, we argue that Bourdieu's concept of habitus may offer a useful contribution to the literature on economization. We examine how those new to a field come to understand their position and the role of materi…
Pot Noodles, Placements and Peer Regard: Creative Career Trajectories and Communities of Practice in the British Advertising Industry: Pot Noodles, Placements and Peer Regard
The increasingly unpredictable, individualized and short-term nature of the labour market is evident in the careers of advertising creatives. We explore the career trajectories of 48 creative professionals in the British advertising industry, using theories of situated learning and communities of practice to illustrate how the collective remains important to individuals' career prospects. Creatives learn their craft by becoming immersed in the mu…
Managing in the creative industries: Managing the motley crew
This article introduces its subject with a brief overview of some of the contention concerning the creative industries, in terms of their purview, their significance within political economy, and the extent to which, and how, they may differ from other sectors. Arguing that the `motley crew' is a very broad church, and management must not confine itself solely to the management of production but should also consider the role of consumption, the a…
The elephant in the room? Class and creative careers in British advertising agencies
Advertising in Britain has traditionally been the preserve of a middle-class, public school and Oxbridge-educated workforce. Although this narrow recruitment base is recognized as problematic, the influence of social class on advertising careers remains largely unexplored. This article explores the career trajectories of British advertising creatives from different social class backgrounds and the forms of capital at their disposal. Drawing on li…
Performance Measurement
Performance measurement encompasses the role of performance indicators, measures, and targets within a performance management system and is designed to improve organizational functioning. Indicators, or key performance indicators, identify key areas of strategic and operational performance in organizations. Measures seek to give a numerical evaluation of their achievement, while targets are designed as aspirational statements of intended future p…
Discussion of Roberts: Controlling Foucault
Managing with Modernity
This article critiques an increasingly abstract management that is being advocated in organizations. It locates the foundations of an abstract management in what Foucault and others have identified as the epistemic foundations of modernity. Using the example of a strategic performance management system it shows how these systems have such epistemic assumptions as their foundations. The article concludes by considering the role of practical reason…
Nietzsche, Competencies and Ubermensch: Reflections on Human and Inhuman Resource Management
Beyond Good and Evil: Depth and Division in the Management of Human Resources
Business Planning as Pedagogy: Language and Control in a Changing Institutional Field
Leslie S. Oakes, Barbara Townley, David J. Cooper, Business Planning as Pedagogy: Language and Control in a Changing Institutional Field, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 2, Special Issue: Critical Perspectives on Organizational Control (Jun., 1998), pp. 257-292
The Institutional Logic of Performance Appraisal
The focus of this paper is to examine the responses to institutional isomorph ism in one area of the public sector — universities. As an example, one particu lar organizational practice is examined — performance appraisal — and its implications for one group of professionals — academics. In doing so, some of the sources of variation in responses to institutional pressures are illustrated and the strategies of resistance actors engage in to resist…
Contours of Change
Know Thyself: Self-Awareness, Self-Formation and Managing
In this paper, I argue that self-knowledge is an important dimension of our understanding of management as a practice. Using the work of Foucault, I trace a distinction between self-awareness and self-formation. I argue that contemporary mechanisms of self-knowledge available in management education and development are premised on self-awareness and that this sustains a broader discourse of management as the interpretation and satisfaction of nee…
Writing in Friendship
Foucault, Power/Knowledge, and Its Relevance for Human Resource Management
Managing in the creative industries: Managing the motley crew
This article introduces its subject with a brief overview of some of the contention concerning the creative industries, in terms of their purview, their significance within political economy, and the extent to which, and how, they may differ from other sectors. Arguing that the `motley crew' is a very broad church, and management must not confine itself solely to the management of production but should also consider the role of consumption, the a…
The elephant in the room? Class and creative careers in British advertising agencies
Advertising in Britain has traditionally been the preserve of a middle-class, public school and Oxbridge-educated workforce. Although this narrow recruitment base is recognized as problematic, the influence of social class on advertising careers remains largely unexplored. This article explores the career trajectories of British advertising creatives from different social class backgrounds and the forms of capital at their disposal. Drawing on li…
Misfits, Mavericks and Mainstreams: Drivers of Innovation in the Creative Industries
Creative industries are among the fastest-growing and most important sectors of European and North American economies. Their growth depends on continuous innovation, which is important in many industries and also challenging to manage because of inherent tensions. Creative industries, similar to many industries, depend not only on novelty to attract consumers, but also on familiarity to aid comprehension and stabilize demand for cultural products…
Writing in Friendship
What Lies Beneath: Organisational Responses to Powerful Stakeholders
This article takes recourse to a particular branch of French Pragmatic Sociology, namely, Boltanski and Thévenot’s ‘orders of worth’ paradigm, as a lens through which to both explore the misalignment between espoused values and retrospective discourses and illustrate the underlying motivations behind decision making in an organisation within the creative industries sector. By virtue of its contributions at the organisational, social and sectorial…
Unsettling issues: Valuing Public Goods and the Production of Matters of Concern
What are public goods – of any kind – worth? How are they valued, and made valuable? What expertise is involved in their production? Questions over the value of public goods – a sporting championship, the arts, scientific advances or quality of life – figure prominently in our public and political discourse, as politicians and administrators struggle to manage the often competing claims of instrumental, economic reason and intangible, cultural ev…
Economizing Habitus: Material calculation and ‘the rules of the game’ in the publishing industry
Pierre Bourdieu's classical sociology and the actor network-based 'economization' literature are often considered contradictory, despite some agreement on the constructed nature of economic man. Through an examination of the publishing industry, we argue that Bourdieu's concept of habitus may offer a useful contribution to the literature on economization. We examine how those new to a field come to understand their position and the role of materi…
Foucault, Power/Knowledge, and Its Relevance for Human Resource Management
Writing in Friendship
Know Thyself: Self-Awareness, Self-Formation and Managing
In this paper, I argue that self-knowledge is an important dimension of our understanding of management as a practice. Using the work of Foucault, I trace a distinction between self-awareness and self-formation. I argue that contemporary mechanisms of self-knowledge available in management education and development are premised on self-awareness and that this sustains a broader discourse of management as the interpretation and satisfaction of nee…
The Institutional Logic of Performance Appraisal
The focus of this paper is to examine the responses to institutional isomorph ism in one area of the public sector — universities. As an example, one particu lar organizational practice is examined — performance appraisal — and its implications for one group of professionals — academics. In doing so, some of the sources of variation in responses to institutional pressures are illustrated and the strategies of resistance actors engage in to resist…
Contours of Change
Beyond Good and Evil: Depth and Division in the Management of Human Resources
Business Planning as Pedagogy: Language and Control in a Changing Institutional Field
Leslie S. Oakes, Barbara Townley, David J. Cooper, Business Planning as Pedagogy: Language and Control in a Changing Institutional Field, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 2, Special Issue: Critical Perspectives on Organizational Control (Jun., 1998), pp. 257-292
Nietzsche, Competencies and Ubermensch: Reflections on Human and Inhuman Resource Management
Managing with Modernity
This article critiques an increasingly abstract management that is being advocated in organizations. It locates the foundations of an abstract management in what Foucault and others have identified as the epistemic foundations of modernity. Using the example of a strategic performance management system it shows how these systems have such epistemic assumptions as their foundations. The article concludes by considering the role of practical reason…
Discussion of Roberts: Controlling Foucault
Performance Measurement
Performance measurement encompasses the role of performance indicators, measures, and targets within a performance management system and is designed to improve organizational functioning. Indicators, or key performance indicators, identify key areas of strategic and operational performance in organizations. Measures seek to give a numerical evaluation of their achievement, while targets are designed as aspirational statements of intended future p…
Managing in the creative industries: Managing the motley crew
This article introduces its subject with a brief overview of some of the contention concerning the creative industries, in terms of their purview, their significance within political economy, and the extent to which, and how, they may differ from other sectors. Arguing that the `motley crew' is a very broad church, and management must not confine itself solely to the management of production but should also consider the role of consumption, the a…
The elephant in the room? Class and creative careers in British advertising agencies
Advertising in Britain has traditionally been the preserve of a middle-class, public school and Oxbridge-educated workforce. Although this narrow recruitment base is recognized as problematic, the influence of social class on advertising careers remains largely unexplored. This article explores the career trajectories of British advertising creatives from different social class backgrounds and the forms of capital at their disposal. Drawing on li…
Pot Noodles, Placements and Peer Regard: Creative Career Trajectories and Communities of Practice in the British Advertising Industry: Pot Noodles, Placements and Peer Regard
The increasingly unpredictable, individualized and short-term nature of the labour market is evident in the careers of advertising creatives. We explore the career trajectories of 48 creative professionals in the British advertising industry, using theories of situated learning and communities of practice to illustrate how the collective remains important to individuals' career prospects. Creatives learn their craft by becoming immersed in the mu…
Economizing Habitus: Material calculation and ‘the rules of the game’ in the publishing industry
Pierre Bourdieu's classical sociology and the actor network-based 'economization' literature are often considered contradictory, despite some agreement on the constructed nature of economic man. Through an examination of the publishing industry, we argue that Bourdieu's concept of habitus may offer a useful contribution to the literature on economization. We examine how those new to a field come to understand their position and the role of materi…
Misfits, Mavericks and Mainstreams: Drivers of Innovation in the Creative Industries
Creative industries are among the fastest-growing and most important sectors of European and North American economies. Their growth depends on continuous innovation, which is important in many industries and also challenging to manage because of inherent tensions. Creative industries, similar to many industries, depend not only on novelty to attract consumers, but also on familiarity to aid comprehension and stabilize demand for cultural products…
Unsettling issues: Valuing Public Goods and the Production of Matters of Concern
What are public goods – of any kind – worth? How are they valued, and made valuable? What expertise is involved in their production? Questions over the value of public goods – a sporting championship, the arts, scientific advances or quality of life – figure prominently in our public and political discourse, as politicians and administrators struggle to manage the often competing claims of instrumental, economic reason and intangible, cultural ev…
What Lies Beneath: Organisational Responses to Powerful Stakeholders
This article takes recourse to a particular branch of French Pragmatic Sociology, namely, Boltanski and Thévenot’s ‘orders of worth’ paradigm, as a lens through which to both explore the misalignment between espoused values and retrospective discourses and illustrate the underlying motivations behind decision making in an organisation within the creative industries sector. By virtue of its contributions at the organisational, social and sectorial…
Sociology (14 works) · Management and Organizational Studies (11 works) · Political science (9 works) · Social science (9 works) · Economics (8 works) · Business (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Cultural Industries and Urban Development (6 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Philosophy (5 works)