Abrahamson, E. (1996). Management Fashion. Academy of Management Review, 21, 1, 254-285
Management Fashion Author(s): Eric Abrahamson Source: The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Jan., 1996), pp. 254-285 Published by: Academy of Management Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/258636 . Accessed: 24/08/2013 23:34
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c Academy of Management Review 1996, Vol. 21, No. 1. 254-285.
MANAGEMENT FASHION
ERICABRAHAMSON Columbia University
Management fashion setters disseminate management fashions, transitory collective beliefs that certain management techniques are at the forefront of management progress. These fashion settersconsulting firms, management gurus, business mass-media publicanot simply force fashions onto gulltions, and business schools-do ible managers. To sustain their images as fashion setters, they must lead in a race (a) to sense the emergent collective preferences of managers for new management techniques, (b) to develop rhetorics that describe these techniques as the forefront of management progress, and (c) to disseminate these rhetorics back to managers and organizational stakeholders before other fashion setters. Fashion setters who fall behind in this race (e.g., business schools or certain scholarly professional societies) are condemned to be perceived as
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
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Academy of Management is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Academy of Management Review.
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This content downloaded from 149.171.67.164 on Sat, 24 Aug 2013 23:34:16 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
c Academy of Management Review 1996, Vol. 21, No. 1. 254-285.
MANAGEMENT FASHION
ERICABRAHAMSON Columbia University
Management fashion setters disseminate management fashions, transitory collective beliefs that certain management techniques are at the forefront of management progress. These fashion settersconsulting firms, management gurus, business mass-media publicanot simply force fashions onto gulltions, and business schools-do ible managers. To sustain their images as fashion setters, they must lead in a race (a) to sense the emergent collective preferences of managers for new management techniques, (b) to develop rhetorics that describe these techniques as the forefront of management progress, and (c) to disseminate these rhetorics back to managers and organizational stakeholders before other fashion setters. Fashion setters who fall behind in this race (e.g., business schools or certain scholarly professional societies) are condemned to be perceived as
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