Management by Deception (MBD): The Need for Designing a Viable Strategy

10 Pages Posted: 31 Aug 2012

See all articles by Qeis Kamran

Qeis Kamran

Augsburg University of Applied Sciences; ISM- International School of Management

Date Written: April 2011

Abstract

Calling organizational effectiveness a strategy is just as much a scientific flaw as navigating organizations in accordance with so called “strategies”, based solely on military minded-, shareholder oriented-, and financially reduced tactics and surgical measures. [21, p. 1] Dysfunctional organizations per se are not the only problem moreover; we severely violate our perception of organizational and environmental reality. In this state of chaos we not only do not understand what we are doing but most importantly why we are doing it. We ignore the “main duty of business”, namely “survival” [9, p. 46], and additionally we observe the reality of the world as we can see it, via „reduction ad absurdum“of mere tactics and measures. Additionally we violate our perception of reality by limiting our awareness of the problems to be defined and the action taken to solve them. These actions regarding the managerial problems we have observed are largely dependent on the view that we as individuals or as groups who have encountered them have of “the system and perception of reality” to which they refer. [27, p. 199] The doctrine of today’s management , its value and strategy is viciously directed towards the mass to underscore its effectiveness as the one and only embodiment of truth to be observed for the mass not by mass and not by its real meaning but by its deceptive certitude. [12, p. 83-84] This distorted perception of reality played a vital role in Orwellian Newspeak [19, p. 3], a ubiquitous application of indoctrinated managerial truth. Our Business Schools may not become “The Ministry of Truth” [19, p. 3], but as the reader might observe, this has already been successfully manifested by a discipline called business administration. We as management scientists must be aware of this and not violate the most fundamental principle of scientific discourse, which has always demanded the separation of the observer from the observed as the principle of objectivity required for a scientific discipline. [27, p. 4] Actions according to the principles or ethics cannot be articulated, as Wittgenstein rightfully observed as they always reside in the action itself. [28, p. 5-6] Then morals cannot be separated from facts [8, p. 1], since facts, truths and actions based upon the empirical perception of reality and the preconditions created by organizations in the interests of claiming organizational viability and achieving its objectives are the embodiment of viable strategic management. This paper intends to foster awareness of the points mentioned above via a cybernetics lens in its creative circularity.

Suggested Citation

Kamran, Qeis and Kamran, Qeis, Management by Deception (MBD): The Need for Designing a Viable Strategy (April 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2137880 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2137880

Qeis Kamran (Contact Author)

ISM- International School of Management ( email )

Otto-Hahn-Str. 19
Dortmund, 44227
Germany

Augsburg University of Applied Sciences ( email )

Campus am Roten Tor, Schülestraße 1
Augsburg
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.hs-augsburg.de

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