Abstract
Since the first Industrial Revolution, which began in the eighteenth century, but which spread mainly in the nineteenth century, the methods of management have changed. Nowadays, the main target for firms is profit. To achieve this goal, companies do everything they can to be the
most competitive, or just to survive their competitors. To fulfill these objectives, among all the methods of management, a new method appeared; we can name it "Managing Utopia". Utopia has an increasing place not only in firms, but in the entire society as well.
However utopia are not a recent phenomenon; in 1516, Thomas More referred to this subject but Plato had already mentioned it before, without naming it "utopia". This proves the fact that we would like to live in a better place, society, with a better justice, is not a new desire at all. It has always been an omnipresent concern. What is new is that utopias appeared in firms. The question which can be raised is, whether or not, utopias are a danger for companies?
In the first section of this document, I am going to define utopias and utopianism, by giving some definitions. In this same part, we will see how utopias appeared in organizations. Then, I will deal with utopias inorganizations. We will see to what extent actual management can be a form of utopianism. It will be illustrated with some examples. In the last part, we will answer the issues facing us.
Extract
[...] That is why I am going to explain what could be the benefits and the disadvantages of managing utopias. I will also confront utopias and ethics. Jack Carroll6 said one day that “Perhaps the greatest utopia would be if we could all realize that no utopia is possible”. Mr Carroll considers that utopias are dangerous and the best way to treat them is to eliminate them. First, utopias never represent the truth. Applied to a company, it is really difficult for employees to believe in something which is not feasible. [...]
[...] However utopias are not a recent thing; in 1516, Thomas More told us about this topic, but Plato already mentioned that before, without naming it “utopia”. This proves that the fact that we would like to live in a better place, society, or with a better justice, is not something new. It has always been a concern. What is new is that utopias appeared in firms. The question which be raised is, whether or not, utopias are a danger for companies? In a first part, I am going to define utopias and utopianism, by giving some definitions. [...]
[...] But with another point of view, managing utopias could be beneficial. First of all, when you use such theories (which have been described above), employees can be more motivated, because they always want to surpass in order to reach the objectives, even if they are unattainable. They know that the more effectively they work, the more they are paid. Utopias could be a source of motivations for people. Applied to organizations, managing utopias could be used as a marketing tool, so that the image given to the other people (which is false) could increase the confidence that people have towards such or such company. [...]
[...] 233-259 5 Utopia and Organization, Martin Parker, Oxford : Blackwell Pub., 2002 What we saw here is that these methods are utopian because they are always denigrating what has been done up to now, and always need to find new methods of management. The targets which have been set will probably never been reached, but companies want to go as closer as possible of these goals, even if they are unattainable. But can utopias be dangerous, and what are their dangers? [...]
[...] In a sense, new managers just apply theories without knowing their real impact. All what we saw here could be some reasons why utopianism appeared in organizations. Now that we know that utopianism effectively is part of companies, we are going to see how firms and utopias live together. In this part, I am going to explain to what extent actual management can be considered as a form of utopianism, and then I will give some examples to illustrate. Nowadays, as I said above, managers tend to set surrealistic targets. [...]
