This paper seeks to use C.P. Snow's Strangers and Brothers novel sequence as a resource to demonstrate aspects of organizational life and, in particular, the social practices of managers. The paper begins with a discussion of the case for using fiction in organizational analysis. Then, Snow's novels, following an overview, are explored in two major ways. First, Snow's account of decision-making in organizations is shown to be a subtle and incisive account of group processes, which is sensitive to the dialectic of structure and agency. Second, the development of the novel sequence is shown to indicate something of the dissolution of the modernist scientific rationality which has dominated management and organization theory and practice. Thus the paper aspires to persuade that there is an interest in Snow's fiction for organizational analysis and, more generally, that it is desirable to use fictional representations within the academic study of management and organizations.
References
1.
Berman, M. (1983) All that is Solid Melts into Air. London: Verso.
2.
Bernstein, B. (1972) `Language and Social Context', in P. Giglioli (ed.) Language and Social Context, pp. 1-24. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
3.
Brewis, J. and Grey, C. (1994) `Re-eroticizing the Organisation: An Exegesis and Critique', Gender, Work and Organisations1(2): 67-82.
4.
Burrell, G. (1988) `Modernism, Postmodernism and Organisational Analysis 2: The Contribution of Michel Foucault', Organisation Studies9(2): 221-235.
5.
Burrell, G. (1992) `The Organization of Pleasure', in M. Alvesson and H. Willmott (eds) Critical Management Studies, pp. 66-89. London: Sage.
6.
Carey, J. (1992) The Intellectuals and the Masses. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
7.
Clegg, S. (1990) Modern Organizations in a Postmodern World. London: Sage.
8.
Cohen, C. (1995) `What Can the Study of Literature Teach the Managers of Tomorrow?', paper presented at New Perspectives on Management Education Conference, Leeds University, January.
9.
Conger, J. (1989) The Charismatic Leader. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
10.
Cooper, R. and Burrell, G. (1988) `Modernism, Postmodernism and Organisational Analysis: An Introduction', Organisation Studies9(1): 91-112.
11.
Cooper, W. (1959) C.P. Snow. London: Longmans/British Council.
12.
Czarniawska-Joerges, B. (1994) `Epilogue: Realism in the Novel, Social Sciences and Organization Theory', in B. Czarniawska-Joerges and P. Guillet de Monthoux (eds) Good Novels, Better Management: Reading Organizational Realities in Fiction, pp. 304-325. Chur (Switzerland): Harwood Academic Press.
13.
Czarniawska-Joerges, B. (1995) `Narration or Science? Collapsing the Division in Organization Studies', Organization2(1): 11-33.
14.
Czarniawska-Joerges, B. and Guillet de Monthoux, P., eds (1994) Good Novels, Better Management: Reading Organizational Realities in Fiction. Chur (Switzerland): Harwood Academic Press.
15.
Drucker, P. (1955) The Practice of Management. London: Heinemann.
16.
Enteman, W. (1993) Managerialism: The Emergence of a New Ideology. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
17.
Greacen, R. (1962) The World of C.P. Snow. Lowestoft: Scorpion Press.
18.
Harvie, C. (1991) The Centre of Things: Political Fiction in Britain from Disraeli to the Present. London: Unwin Hyman.
19.
Hassard, J. (1993) Sociology and Organisation Theory: Positivism, Paradigms and Postmodernity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
20.
Kanter, R.M. (1977) Men and Women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Books.
21.
Knights, D. (1992) `Changing Spaces: The Disruptive Impact of a New Epistemological Location for the Study of Management', Academy of Management Review17(3): 514-536.
22.
Knights, D. and Willmott, H. (1995) `Management as Lived Reality, Management as Text', paper presented at the New Perspectives on Management Education Conference, Leeds University, January.
23.
Kunda, G. (1992) Engineering Culture. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
24.
Lascelles, M. (1980) The Story-teller Retrieves the Past. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
25.
Latham, E. (1959) `The Managerialization of the Campus', Public Administration Review19(1): 48-57.
26.
Leavis, F.R. (1962) `The Significance of C.P. Snow', The Spectator9 March 1962: 3-12 (text of the Richmond Lecture, Downing College, Cambridge, 1962).
27.
MacIntyre, A. (1985) After Virtue, 2nd edn.London: Duckworth.
28.
Mandel, E. (1962) `C.P. Snow's Fantasy of Politics', Queen's Quarterly69(1): 24-37.
29.
Marriott, J. (1940) English History in English Fiction. Glasgow: Blackie & Son.
30.
Mills, C.W. (1959) The Sociological Imagination. London: Oxford University Press.
31.
Ong, W. (1982) Orality and Literacy. London: Methuen.
32.
Peters, T. and Waterman, R. (1982) In Search of Excellence. New York: Harper and Row.
33.
Pinck, D. (1961) `Friends and Sisters', First Person1(3): 60-63.
34.
Ramanathan, S. (1978) The Novels of C.P. Snow: A Critical Introduction. London: Macmillan.
35.
Reed, M. (1989) The Sociology of Management. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
36.
Snow, C.P. (1932) Death under Sail. London: Heinemann.
37.
Snow, C.P. (1959) The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
38.
Snow, C.P. (1962) `Interview with C.P. Snow', Review of English Literature3(3): 91-108.
39.
Snow, C.P. (1979) A Coat of Varnish. London: Macmillan.
40.
Snow, C.P. (1984) Strangers and Brothers, 3 vols. Harmondsworth: Penguin. [See note 3 for full bibliographical details of the series.]
41.
Thale, J. (1964) C.P. Snow. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.
42.
Thompson, J. and McGivern, J. (1996) `Parody, Process and Practice/Perspectives for Management Education', Management Learning27(1) (in press).
43.
Wagner, P. (1993) The Sociology of Modernity: Liberty and Discipline. London: Routledge.
44.
Weber, M. (1968) Economy and Society, 3 vols. New York: Bedminster Press.
45.
Willmott, H. (1993) `Strength is Ignorance; Slavery is Freedom: Managing Culture in Modern Organizations', Journal of Management Studies30(4): 515-552.
46.
Wright, A. (1987) Fictional Discourse and Historical Space. London: Macmillan.
