The Field Guide › Paper

A Stupidity-Based Theory of Organizations

Alvesson · Critique & Boundary, Culture & Context · Journal of Management Studies · 2012 · Open access

Proposes 'functional stupidity' — organisationally-supported absence of reflexivity, substantive reasoning, and justification — as an underrecognised feature of organisational life. Argues that stupidity management (repressing doubt, blocking communicative action, enforcing positive narratives) can produce short-term certainty and smooth functioning while generating long-term dissonance and fragility. A direct challenge to knowledge-management orthodoxy and a sociological complement to the PS literature's account of silence.

Explore this node in the interactive map → View the source paper →

Connected concepts (8)