Managerial work is intrinsically political as it is a work of governance that requires the melding of interests and perpectives in the pursuit of a collective purpose.
The Mindful Manager must have ‘street smarts’ – if a Phronimos you are to become, ‘Clever’ you must be – ‘Metis’ you must have!
Below is a selection of readings – several are purpose written for users of the website/online courses.
If readings are part of a group/numbered you should read them in numerical order.
Peter’s Theory Of Managerial Work
International Journal of Business and Social Science, Vol. 12 No. 2 January 2021
Promises – Commissions and Commissioning
Conference Presentation
Process Organisation Studies Symposium – Rhodes
An excellent article by Butcher & Clarke [2003] on the political essence of managerial work. This is a must read – powerful insights, learnings and guidance.
A very useful excerpt on Organisational Politics from the book
Strategy Theory & Practice by Clegg et al
A copy of the infamous book The Prince by Nicollo Machiavelli
Chapters 15-26 should be your focus of attention: they are all short and powerful
So Many Machiavellis – Bernard Crick’s wonderful introduction to Machiavelli’s book The Discourses – the book that frames and elaborates his political thinking