Management: Are we Free from it Ever?

Henri Fayol (1841-1925) is often one of the first few names we are exposed to as students and practitioners of management. He opined ‘To manage is to forecast, to organize, to command, and to control.’ 

What’s striking is that a closer scrutiny of our everyday lives reveals that this conception of management is not only limited to our working lives but actually extends to the fabric of our everyday life. The ‘hegemony of management’ overpowers almost everything that we do in our day to day lives.  Right from the time we wake up till the time we go to bed and for some of us even our sleep time and thoughts within are not our own but are governed by the ‘management speak’.   Following headings from some articles published in the Men’s Health magazine provide us some insight on what I am referring to here:

• How to have the Sexiest, Most Relaxing and Most Productive Hour of Your Life 
•  Trusted Advice On How to Secure Your Future and Avoid Costly Mistakes 
• How to Deliver in the bedroom 
• Life Management Principle: What Gets Measured gets Managed

The liberal splattering of management jargons signifies the widespread understanding of these ideas and the seepage of managerial discourse in our everyday life.

Furthermore, books like ‘The Checklist Manifesto- How to Get Things Right’ or ‘Who Moved My Cheese’ have made it to the best sellers list and have sold millions of copies underlining the supposed superiority and  popular uptake of managerial recipes to achieve success in everyday life.

In fact for most of us even the early decisions on what hobbies to pursue or what sports clubs to participate in are governed by the future jobs we seek to chase. So, mere participation is not adequate but we have to demonstrate leadership skills and strategizing ability to have adequate talking points in place for the job interviews we will face 5-10 years down the line.

The managerial pursuit of ‘excellence’ extends to our personal life where we are expected to establish our personal goals, create strategies for achieving them, put in place plans that will get us there, set up rigorous execution schedules and adequate review mechanisms to keep the achievements on track. So, right from weight loss to getting married anything and everything must be subjected to this managerial approach to achieving success.

Now, if there is this widespread seepage of managerial discourse and excellence is seen as an outcome of following a managerial approach to planning and achievement, then why is it that we often see management and by extension our working lives as constraining our ‘true’ selves? We have images of suit wearing corporate honchos staring forlornly at the sea wanting to break free from the monotony of their working life and seize the waves as a surfer or the successful lawyer who actually wanted to be a musician and still has guitars stacked somewhere in the closet. This dichotomy of ‘management’ as a constraint and a hegemonic force and at the same time a tool to achieve excellence in everyday life makes me wonder if we are caught in this web of our making where we are constituted by and are constitutive of ‘management’ as a way of thinking and being. What are your views- are we ‘free’ from management ever?