Anarchism, Organization and Management

You might think that anarchism and management are opposed, but this book shows how engaging with the long history of anarchist ideas allows us to understand the problems of contemporary organizing much more clearly. Anarchism is a theory of organizing, and in times when global capitalism is in question, we need new ideas more than ever. The reader of this book will learn how anarchist ideas are relevant to today's management problems. In a series of student-friendly short chapters on contemporary topics, the authors challenge the common sense that has allowed particular forms of organization and market to become globally dominant. Do we always need leaders? Is technological change always a good thing? Are markets the best way to arrange forms of exchange? This challenging book is essential for anyone who wants to understand what is wrong with business school theory and what we might do about it. For students and teachers of management, the standard textbook reproduces the dominant ideas about the way that business should be done. This book turns those ideas on their head, asking awkward questions about authority, technology and markets and demanding that its readers think hard about whether they want to reproduce those ideas too. Students of management, like everyone else, know that the current global system is broken but they don't know what they can do about it. This unique book uses 200 years of anarchist ideas to give readers a clear guide for building the organizations and businesses of the future and places choice and responsibility at the centre of making a new world for people and the planet.

Martin Parker is a professor in the School of Management, University of Bristol, and author of Shut Down the Business School (2018). Konstantin Stoborod is an independent scholar based in Moscow. Thomas Swann is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in Politics and International Studies at Loughborough University. His book Anarchist Cybernetics will be published in 2020.

1. Introduction. Management and Anarchism, and Organization - Martin Parker, Thomas Swann and Konstantin Stoborod PART I: Managers and Management: History and Present 2. An anarchist prehistory of management - Nidhi Srinivas 3. Anarchy in Management Today - Brian Wierman, Edward Granter, and Leo McCann PART II: People and Organizations 4. Difference and Diversity in Organizations - Claire Jin Deschner 5. Managing the Self - Peter Bloom 6. Business Ethics - David Bevan PART III: Structure and Culture 7. Decision Making and Power - Maarit Laihonon 8. Organizational Culture - Elen Riot and Martin Parker 9. Leadership and Authority - Lucas Casagrande and Guillermo Rivera PART IV: Markets, Finance and Accounting 10. Finance and Value - Kenneth Weir and Christopher Land 11. Accounting in organizations and society - Anders Sandstrom PART V: New Technology and New Economy 12. The Collaborative and Sharing Economy - Ozan Aglargöz and Feyza Aglargöz 13. Crowdsourcing and Digital Platforms - Andreas Kamstrup and Emil Husted 14. Trust, Finance and Cryptocurrencies - Enrico Beltramini PART VI: Markets and Exchange 15. Marketing, advertising and persuasion - Amanda Earley 16. Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Alf Rehn 17. Exchange beyond the market - Richard J. White and Colin C. Williams 18. Conclusion: What to do with this book - Martin Parker, Thomas Swann and Konstantin Stoborod