This paper reports an empirical study in which 22 managers were interviewed
regarding how they prefer to learn about popular management ideas. The man
agers indicated a clear preference for obtaining such information through seminar
attendance rather than the reading of books. Through an analysis of the interview
transcripts informed by socio-semiotic theory, the authors identify the semiotic code
shaping this preference, chart its regularities and inconsistencies, and uncover sev
eral ironies in how this code is used and understood. These ironies reflect and
give rise to contradictory responses on the part of managers which enable them to
negotiate the conflicting demands placed upon them by the various competing
value systems which govern and complicate their working and private lives.
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