Nottingham talk: Michel Foucault in the Business School

Today’s talk:

Monday 24th November 2008, 6 – 8 pm
Stranger in a Strange Land: Michel Foucault in the Business School
Ken Starkey

BioCity Lecture Theatre
BioCity Nottingham
Pennyfoot Street
Nottingham
NG1 1GF

Foucault is regularly cited in business management literature. At first sight, says Professor Ken Starkey, this might seem “strange”. However, his investigations included prisons, schools and hospitals, now seen by managers as potential business opportunities. However, the complicated workings of modern corporations shouldn’t be simply seen as replicating the all-controlling ‘panopticon’. In the current economic crisis we need to escape from our own intellectual prisons, drawing on Foucault’s thoughts to prise open possibilities.

Ken Starkey is professor of Management, Organisational Management and Organisational Learning at Nottingham University. He has published widely on management theory and co-edited Foucault, Management and Organisation Theory (1998) with Alan McKinlay.