The generation game: governing through bio-politics

Reed, Cara and Thomas, Robyn 2020. The generation game: governing through bio-politics. Management Learning 10.1177/1350507620938926

Preview

PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Download (273kB) | Preview

Abstract

An increasingly popular management tool is to stratify a workforce along generational lines, to distinguish its qualities and differentiate orientations to work. From this, a range of organisational practices, ranging from leadership styles to reward systems are tailored to fit specific generational characteristics. We term this practice ‘management-by-generation’ and examine how it has the potential to govern as a bio-political technology. The article develops nascent work within organisation studies on governmentality and bio-politics to demonstrate the powerful potential of management-by-generation to govern in contemporary organisations. In line with other Foucauldian studies on ageing, it also contributes to the research on generations in demonstrating how a bio-political construction of generation allows management-by-generation to govern effectively, while more sociologically informed conceptualisations of generation could be a source of contestation to this emerging technology.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Publisher:	SAGE
ISSN:	1350-5076
Funders:	None
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 July 2020
Date of Acceptance:	10 June 2020
Last Modified:	26 Nov 2020 10:54
URI:	http://orca.cf.ac.uk/id/eprint/133527

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item