A Stupidity-Based Theory of Organizations

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

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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.

Alvesson, M. and Spicer, A. (2012) 'A stupidity-based theory of organizations', Journal of Management Studies, 49(7), pp. 1194–1220.

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