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Thomas Klikauer
The Language of
Managerialism
Organizational
Communication or an
Ideological Tool?
The Language of Managerialism
Thomas Klikauer
The Language of
Managerialism
Organizational Communication
or an Ideological Tool?
Thomas Klikauer
Sydney Graduate School of Management
Western Sydney University
Sydney, NSW, Australia
ISBN 978-3-031-16378-4 ISBN 978-3-031-16379-1 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16379-1
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2023
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This book is dedicated to
Alan Kurdi
Acknowledgement
I would like to acknowledge the proofreading and editorial assistance and

support of, firstly, my adored and trusted proofreading friend, Meg Vista
who hammered the book into shape in the first place. Based on weeks of
her hard work, a fine-tuned book reached a presentable level.
Thanks also goes to my good friend Ralf Itzwerth without whom this
book—written between 2019 and 2022—would not have been possible.
Ralf sold an old Apple desktop computer to me on which this book was
written. Ralf also provided an on-going IT support.
Another thank-you goes to the German Foundation (boeckler.de/en)
that generously supported my transition from being a German country-
side boy who trained as a tool-maker and as a union representative to
eventually becoming an academic. I also thank the Union of Automobile
Workers in Detroit (uaw.org) where I learned, during an internship, how
to type with ten fingers.
A final thanks and, nonetheless, an equal thank-you also goes to the
following people for valuable critique over the past years: Stephen
Ackroyd, Herman Schwind, Henry Grioux, Richard Hyman, John
Trumpbour and Noam Chomsky.
A thank-you also goes to the Western Sydney University’s School of
Business because my workload granted me time for writing this book.
This book received no internal and external support. There was also no
funding, no institutional and editorial assistance. Nonetheless, I am
vii
viii Acknowledgement
grateful for the assistance of WSU’s Library and in particular, WSU’s

Document Delivery Service. A substantial thank-you goes to those col-
leagues who shielded me from the worst excesses of university
Managerialism. This allowed me to concentrate on the book rather than
filling in forms and write reports for corporate apparatchiks.
Furnished with time to engage in critical scholarship, this book is not
about empirical presentations. It is about an abstraction, the abstractions
of The Language of Managerialism. It is written in the spirit of the philoso-
pher Alfred Whitehead who once said, you cannot think without abstrac-
tions. Foremost, this book is written for people with the ability to think
in abstractions.
Contents
1 Introducing the Language of Managerialism 1
2 M
odels of Managerialism 35
3 The Twelve Language Areas of Managerialism 65
4 The
Language of Managerialism and Its Infiltration of the
Lifeworld101
5 Business Schools and the Language of Managerialism131
6 L
anguage & Rationality161
7 Corporate Apparatchiks and Superlatives191
8 Conclusion: The Curse of the Language of Managerialism223
I ndex253
ix
List of Figures
Fig. 2.1 The Organisational Model of Managerialism (MA).

M Management, MA Managerialism 40
Fig. 2.2 The global model of Managerialism (MA). M Management,
MA Managerialism 48
Fig. 2.3 The trident model of Managerialism (MA). M Management,
MA Managerialism 50
Fig. 3.1 Neoliberalism’s and Managerialism’s language 67
Fig. 4.1 The language of management and Managerialism 102
Fig. 7.1 From Satanic Mills to ideology 205
Fig. 8.1 The structure of an ideal speech 243
xi
List of Tables
Table 1.1 The vocabulary of Managerialism 13

Table 3.1 Current fields with manifestations of Managerialism 68
Table 3.2 Comparing two approaches to Managerialism 69
Table 3.3 Different forms of Managerialism 69
Table 3.4 The twelve elements of the language of Managerialism 69
Table 5.1 The historical epochs of business organisations 138
Table 6.1 A classification of management journals 166
Table 7.1 Key actors and institutions of the interest symbiosis 192
Table 7.2 Some acronyms used by Managerialism 196
Table 7.3 QS world university rankings: global MBA rankings 2020 214
Table 8.1 A University’s mission statement, goals and values 232
Table 8.2 Three conditions for ideal speech 239
Table 8.3 Three forms of arguments 240
Table 8.4 Sentence formulation for discourses 241
Table 8.5 Four theories of truth 242
xiii
1
Introducing the Language
of Managerialism
In order to understand the language of Managerialism, a brief examina-

tion into Managerialism itself is needed. This introduction is designed to
be a clarifying contribution to current discussions on Managerialism and
will hopefully provide a single and satisfactory working definition of
Managerialism. From its immaculate conception, Managerialism origi-
nated in for-profit enterprises where it dispersed from until today, where
it is found in public and private organisations.
Like almost anything, Managerialism can be defined positively (by stat-
ing what it is) and negatively (by stating what it is not). Since this book is
about ‘Managerialism rather than management’1 and historically,
Managerialism came after management, or what this book calls ‘simple
management’, let’s start with the negatives, that is, what Managerialism is
not. Managerialism is not simply a modern management method or an
institutional model.2 Neither is it a hands-on method because it has
transformed the applied methods of management into an ideology. While
management carries ‘how to do’ methods and certain engineering-like
techniques, Managerialism is almost completely deprived of such
elements.
Secondly, Managerialism cannot be understood within the framework
of institutional theory which proposes that an organisational structure
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 1

T. Klikauer, The Language of Managerialism,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16379-1_1
2 T. Klikauer
defines organisational schemes, rules, norms and routines. Managerialism

is the exact opposite of what institutional theory proposes. This book
argues that it is the ideology, not the structure, that defines organisational
schemes, rules, norms and routines.3 Both—methodological and institu-
tional—approaches would cut too short in explaining Managerialism, yet
like these approaches, Managerialism too originates to a large degree in
business schools. In other words, modern business schools remain as the
most fertile breeding grounds for Managerialism.4
These business or management schools furnish managers with techni-
cal skills, but more importantly, they also breed the ideology of
Managerialism. Together with, perhaps, corporate public relations (PR)
departments,5 business schools remain the institutional centres for
Managerialism that provide the ideological means to establish their own
ends: the ideological managerialisation of society.6 Managerialism, like
any ideology, is defined by its ends and by the means used to achieve
those ends. Today, Managerialism’s primary means of managerial ideol-
ogy has reached its end, namely society.
Yet, the rise of Managerialism during the last two and a half decades
has not been paralleled by a satisfying theory development. There are rafts
of management textbooks, collections, books, academic and non-
academic journals, magazine articles and large numbers of academics
employed by management schools today, but despite all this, there are
very few theoretical elaborations on Managerialism. Nonetheless, there
are some noteworthy exceptions.7 These have discussed Managerialism
although none has delivered a comprehensive theory, let alone a satisfying
definition.
A first and general attempt to answer the question ‘What is
Managerialism?’ is defined as a belief that organisations have more simi-
larities than differences and, thus, the performance of all organisations
can be optimised by the application of generic management skills and
theory. To the managerialist practitioners, there is little difference in the
skills required to run an advertising agency, an oil rig or a university.
Experience and skills pertinent to an organisation’s core business are con-
sidered secondary. The term Managerialism has been used disparagingly
to describe organisations perceived to have a preponderance or excess of
managerial techniques, solutions, rules and personnel.
The MBA degree, for example, is intended to provide generic skills to

a new class of managers not wedded to a particular industry or a profes-
sional sector. Managerialism extends this to society in general. Proponents
of Managerialism like the Harvard Business Review’s former editor
Magretta8 once claimed, ‘we all learn to think like managers, even if that’s
not what we’re called’. Set against that, Grey9 highlights the oppressive
character of Managerialism’s project. But Managerialism’s universalisa-
tion remains not only oppressive, it also seeks to eliminate managerial
capitalism’s class character. Following from that, the term Managerialism
has been used pejoratively to define a managerialist class that converts
society in its totality.
American management expert Locke, 10 for example, sees Managerialism
as an expression of a special group—management—that entrenches itself
ruthlessly and systemically in an organisation. It deprives the owners of
decision-making power and the workers of their ability to resist
Managerialism. In fact, the rise of Managerialism may in itself be a
response to people’s resistance in society and more specifically, workers’
opposition against managerial regimes.11 In a Hegelian dialectic of
Managerialism-vs.-resistance, two key aspects emerge. Firstly, in manage-
rial regimes as well as externally, there is Managerialism’s inability to com-
pletely annihilate workers’ resistance against it. Secondly, there is also the
historic tradition of resistance against Managerialism’s global project that
finds its more recent expression in the anti-globalisation movement.12
In managerial regimes meanwhile, Managerialism justifies its takeover
on the grounds of the managing group’s superior education and their
exclusive status of ‘people in positions of institutional power’.13
Managerialists, corporate apparatchiks14 and those who represent a ‘trans-
lational managerial class’15 reach well beyond organisational knowledge
and know-how deemed necessary to the efficient running of an organisa-
tion. Today, these definitions have to be enhanced as Managerialism has
extended itself from the limitations of business organisations deep into
public institutions and society. Hence, a more appropriate approxima-
tion of a definition might be as follows:
Managerialism combines management’s generic tools and knowledge with

ideology to establish itself systemically in organisations, public institutions,
4 T. Klikauer
and society while depriving business owners (property), workers

(organisational-economical), and civil society (social-political) of all deci-
sion making powers. Managerialism justifies the application of its one-
dimensional managerial techniques to all areas of work, society, and
capitalism on the grounds of superior ideology, expert training, and the
exclusiveness of managerial knowledge necessary to run public institutions
and society, as corporations.
To achieve this, management had to mutate into Managerialism,

thereby transforming neoliberal capitalism into ‘Managerial Capitalism’.16
The transition from management to Managerialism has historic origins.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, simple factory adminis-
trations were running what Blake called Dark Satanic Mills.17 These were
small workshops administered by overseers. Their brutal regime was soon
symbolised by the whip.18 Eventually, and as workplaces grew even larger,
these early overseers mutated into managers.
Management installed itself as the sole institution with specialised
managerial knowledge to administer the rising factory system.19 Perhaps,
the most hyped-up turning point between simple factory administration
and Scientific Management was Taylor’s rather un-Scientific Management
for which not a single scientific experiment was conducted. Falsely claim-
ing to be a product of science, Scientific Management was giving a quasi-
scientific legitimacy to management. Simultaneously, these so-called
Scientific Management humiliated labour by setting it equal to farm ani-
mals, just as Frederic Taylor talked about ‘ox, gorilla, [and that] workers
are kept stupid’.20
During the twentieth century, factory management expanded its oper-
ations. By inventing and legitimising ideologies such as competition, effi-
ciency, free markets, greed is good, and so on, management mutated into
an ideological operation that has infected virtually all sections of human
society.21 Managerialism’s chronological trajectory could only ever be lin-
ear: management→Managerialism. Historically, management and
Managerialism were not parallel movements nor was Managerialism an
ideology that formed the practical expression of management. In short,
management entered the scene before Managerialism.
In terms of historical-geographical chronology, Managerialism’s mana-

gerial origins are genuinely American because the USA has been at the
forefront of management techniques and their accompanying ideolo-
gies—Taylor, Ford, Drucker, Porter, etc.22—with possible exceptions
being the French writer Henri Fayol (1916), and perhaps Max Weber
(1864–1920).23 Consequently, it was in the USA where management
first became Managerialism. ‘During Herbert Hoover’s years as Secretary
of Commerce and then as President, Managerialism was further honed
until it became the sword’s point of reform in the Roosevelt era.
Managerialism was credited with the prosperity of the Eisenhowers in the
1950s’.24 In short, management is an early twentieth century term signi-
fied through four names: Taylor, Fayol, Ford and Chandler, while
Managerialism is a late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries’ term signi-
fied through four different names: Enteman, Locke, Spender and
Klikauer.25
Managerialism merges ideology with management. This combination
assists the expansion of something rather simplistic and dull: administer-
ing a company. ‘Management, to put it plainly, is boring’.26 But, this has
become something that transcends management, mutating a full-fledged
ideology under the formula:
anagerialism = Management + Ideology +

M
Expansion
This formula (MA = MIE)27 signifies Managerialism’s origins to which it
added ideology as the second ingredient. Its third ingredient is its drive to
spread managerial techniques ‘across space and time’,28 far beyond the
realms of managerial organisations into the lifeworld.29 Managerialism
also claims that technology is value-neutral. Still, technology remains
deeply ideological.30
In other words, technology can be combined with, as Marx called it,
‘various processes’. In Karl Marx’s original concept, ‘capitalist produc-
tion … develops technology’ and combines these ‘into a social whole’.31
For Marx, this is the original source of all wealth. Managerialism extends
6 T. Klikauer
this process by adding ideology. Today, the ideology of Managerialism

affects almost all our social existence even more severely than Marx could
have ever imagined in the nineteenth century. This manifests the ideo-
logical power of technology when appropriated by Managerialism.
When management mutated into an -ism, it joined a family of -isms
that indicate an informal, often derogatory and unspecified doctrine, sys-
tem or practice. Such -isms are belief-systems with a cognitive content
that is held up as being true. The hidden companion of management—
Managerialism—represents such an -ism that is implicitly accepted as
authoritative by the managerial class, in management schools and by the
general public. In short, any –ism-like Managerialism represents a doc-
trine consisting of a shared set of common ideological beliefs and
practices.
To turn management into an ism, management needed to come up
with a proper ideology. It has become common to see an ideology as a set
of ideas that constitute goals, expectations and actions. An ideology can
be thought of as a comprehensive vision or as a one-dimensional way of
looking at things. What is important is that an ideology provides a world-
view phrased as a set of ideas proposed by a dominant class or group.
Today, virtually all members of the managerial domain, and even soci-
ety, receive the managerialist ideology that creates an alienated and ‘false
consciousness’. The ideology as false consciousness equation originates in
Marx’ ‘false consciousness, a pure ideology alienating people from them-
selves’ [Insofern sei sie ein falsches Bewusstsein, also reine Ideologie von sich
selbst entfremdeten Menschen] and in the Frankfurt School’s critical the-
ory—‘the distinction between true and false consciousness, real and
immediate interest still is meaningful’.32
Ideologies are used to engineer complacency and compliance so that
the victims of ideological socialisation do not rebel but support the given
ideology.33 But, ideology always seeks to masquerade uniformity and the
overall goal based on a set of easy to digest principles such as competition,
deregulation, efficiency, free markets and privatisation, to name a few.
These are presented as unquestioned truths, as neutral and natural.
Nevertheless, managerialist ideologies have to support capitalism and
competition.34 But they remain systems of abstract thought applied to
public matters, making ideology central to politics, economics and
society. Implicitly, a catch-all umbrella ideology, such as Managerialism’s

‘competitive advantage’, seeks to redirect thinking away from truth and
into a specific direction that is invented by a hegemonic power group.35
As with most -isms, Managerialism is more often used pejoratively
rather than favourably. Where Managerialism is dominant, its ideology is
made to appear as common sense requiring no further explanation (e.g.
competitive advantage). These assumptions are backed up through an
ideological legitimacy delivered by universities that house management
schools generating thousands of MBAs and other management graduates.
The university association seeks to elevate management to the realm of
science in an attempt to equalise management with science on par with
physics or at least with economics. With the rise of business schools inside
universities, management ‘science’—as a whole—serves as a PR-exercise
to legitimise the crypto-academic subject of management studies.36 It cre-
ated a mutually supportive arrangement between university Managerialism
and its university apparatchiks, on the one hand, and business school and
management studies, on the other hand. When the language of
Managerialism needs a name—free enterprise, business community,
etc.—the preferred PR choice is usually one that conceals the profit inter-
est—now framed as shareholder value.37 What new public management is
in the public sector, is shareholder value in the private sector.
Managerialism’s language of shareholder value comes along with syn-
onyms like organisational goals and outcomes, performance, organisa-
tional objectives, adding value, Triple Bottom Line (PPP, i.e. people,
planet, profit), the Real Bottom Line and the like. All of which conceal
the profit motive. As an ideological cloaking device, shareholder value is
of particular interest. It presents managers simply as mere agents of the
shareholders while simultaneously pretending that they are best suited to
run society. Managerialism is dangerous because of its ability to spread its
ideological doctrine.38
Hence, Managerialism’s perilous central doctrine is that the differences
between a university and a car company are less important than their
similarities, and that the performance of all organisations can be opti-
mised by the application of generic management skills and knowledge.
As a consequence, Managerialism relentlessly pushes institutional reform
also known as ‘organisational restructuring’. Indeed, restructuring has
8 T. Klikauer
become one of Managerialism’s most favourite buzzwords.39 Restructuring

gained high currency because of its ability to further remove obstacles
from management’s self-invented the right to manage. In short, restructur-
ing fosters authoritarian managerial regimes inside companies and corpo-
rations. Meanwhile, neoliberalism seeks to achieve the very thing in
society.
Managerialism and Neoliberalism

Historically, the rise of Managerialism has gone hand in hand with that
of reactionary programmers of market-oriented reforms, such as
Thatcherism, Reaganism, economic rationalism and neoliberalism.
Nonetheless, Managerialism and neoliberalism are not synonymous even
though they share certain affinities. Neoliberalism has a definite political
programme as outlined by Herr von Hayek in his Road to Serfdom40 which
consists of roughly seven policies:
1. Deregulation of markets,
2. Creation of new markets,
3. Deregulation of labour and industrial relations,
4. Reduction and destruction of social welfare,
5. The privatisation of everything,41
6. Reduction of state regulation, and
7. Anti-unionism.
By contrast, Managerialism is not primarily concerned with such

political issues. Managerialism’s prime concern is not politics but the
management of capitalism and society in its image with the ultimate goal
that both mirror the way corporations are managed. For Managerialism,
managerial techniques are the guiding principle; for neoliberalism, it is
the free market.42
Neoliberalism is about economics and politics, while Managerialism is
primarily about corporations, management and the function of both
inside ‘managerial capitalism’.43 Neoliberalism at least pretends to serve
the common good, whereas Managerialism has no common good. But
perhaps, the clearest point of difference between both remains democ-

racy.44 Managerialism has no democratic programme. It does not seek to
influence politics to get democratically elected representatives to further
any political ambitions. Managerialism is primarily about getting its
managerial-reactionary ideology carried over from companies into soci-
ety by colonising societal institutions and consequently, attacking what
Habermas calls the lifeworld.45
For Managerialism, politics and democracy are simply a hindrance on
the way to efficiency and competitive advantages. In sum, neoliberalism
is about democracy while for Managerialism, the extermination of
democracy is no more than an—albeit welcomed—side-effect. Inside the
neoliberalist project, democracy and politics remain important. Inside
Managerialism, no democracy and no politics exist, and there are no
democratic solutions to problems, only managerial ones. Equally,
Managerialism is not about Rousseau’s volonté générale of the people, but
about a managerial-engineering approach to societal problems that have
been converted into technicalities.
While neoliberalism’s background is economics, Managerialism
remains an outgrowth of management. At first glance, Managerialism
may even appear inconsistent with traditional free-market thinking with
ideals such as competitive markets supplied by firms. Neoliberalism’s
free-market ideology is merely an obstruction for Managerialism. This
has been perfectly expressed by one of Managerialism’s main ideological
flagships—Harvard Business Review—when its former editor Magretta
made the following stunning revelations46:
Business executives are society’s leading champions of free markets and

competition, words that, for them, evoke a world view and value system
that rewards good ideas and hard work, and that fosters innovation and
meritocracy. Truth be told, the competition every manager longs for is a lot
closer to Microsoft’s end of the spectrum than it is to the dairy farmers’. All
the talk about the virtues of competition notwithstanding, the aim of
business strategy is to move an enterprise away from perfect competition
and in the direction of monopoly.
10 T. Klikauer
Managerialism’s ideology, rhetoric and factual interests are worlds

apart when it comes to advocating ‘free markets’ while simultaneously
seeking to establish monopolies. Managerialism may be consistent with
neoliberalism’s ideology of ‘advocating’ free markets. But neoliberalism
neglects to mention that this inevitably leads to economic monopolisa-
tion with a handful of corporations occupying a domineering position.
Managerialism actively seeks to establish this. Similarly, when
Managerialism engineers takeovers of public entities, it takes corpora-
tions as the model.
But the relentless application of managerial techniques to public
administration paralleled by an expansion of Managerialism into public
policy areas also brought the previously relatively unknown idea of
Managerialism into the public mind. ‘The managerial revolution attracted
very little public attention because Managerialism did not call attention
to itself; it was a dull affair that appealed to the mentality of the accoun-
tant, not the charismatic’.47 Lacking charisma, management was in dire
need for ideology.
Managerialism’s Ideology
The main features of Managerialism at the level of managerial regimes,
for example, are unremitting organisational restructuring, sharpening of
incentives, and expansion in number, power and remuneration of senior
managers, with a corresponding downgrading of the role of skilled work-
ers.48 This is accompanied by the managerialist trilogy of ‘downsizing-
rightsizing-suicizing’. It extends to outsourcing, reducing employees to a
material inventory framed as human resources and human capital, lower-
ing their income and downgrading their working conditions.49 All these
management measures are supported by the managerialist ideology.
Despite Managerialism’s pretension that there is some kind of manage-
ment philosophy, Managerialism remains an ideology, not a
philosophy.50
Ideology may be seen as knowledge in the service of power. This sharply
distinguishes ideology from philosophy. For the former, knowledge serves
power while for the latter, it is philo-sophia φιλοσοφία—the love of
wisdom. Unlike ideology that creates and even invents knowledge for a
specific purpose, philosophy carries connotations to studying fundamen-
tal problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge,
values, reason, mind and language. In Hegelian philosophy, for example,
philosophy is seen as serving nobody apart from itself. It seeks to under-
stand the world by examining its opposites through analysing two sides
of an argument—thesis and anti-thesis. Examining these relationships
creates philosophical knowledge.
Being a rather one-dimensional affair, ideology, on the other hand, is
not geared towards examining positives and negatives. Nor does it exist
‘in-itself ’ (Kant) or ‘for-itself ’ (Hegel) but for a purpose: serving power.
Its task is not understanding and wisdom but covering up, eclipsing, col-
onising and distorting. Its ‘telos’ is that of Hegel’s master-slave relation-
ship in which ideological knowledge serves a master. Philosophy, by
contrast, is to a large extent defined by epistemology—Greek ἐπιστήμη
epistēmē—meaning knowledge, understanding and λόγος logos as ‘study
of ’. By contrast, an ideology can be seen as a set of ideas constituting
goals for action. The main purpose behind an ideology is to make indi-
viduals adhere to certain ideals cementing ‘the given’ as a ‘factum brutum’
or status quo.
As a consequence, Managerialism remains an ideology that does not
serve the truth but invents ideas in the service of power for one of the
foremost powerful institutions in today’s society: management. When
management metamorphosed into an ideology, it expanded not only
ideologically but also institutionally, with setups like Managerialism’s
main broadcasting system of corporate mass media. But many more
deeply ideological institutions were to come in the shape of business-
lobbying organisations, think tanks and institutions like the OECD,
GATT, IMF, World Bank and the Davos World Managerial Forum.51
Not surprisingly, the institutional and relentless ideological expansion of
the language of Managerialism extended from corporate public relations
deep into the lifeworld. The advancement of the language of Managerialism
can be described in the following way52:
The language of Managerialism originating as a linguistic doctrine of busi-

ness organisations has its own terminology and jargon. The language of
12 T. Klikauer
Managerialism came to the lifeworld as the German army came to Poland.

In public schools, colleges, and universities, for example, they talk about
achieved learning outcomes, quality assurance mechanisms, and international
benchmarking. Throw triple bottom line, customer satisfaction, and world
class around and the language of Managerialism determines your thinking.
There are many more examples of the language of Managerialism. Just

like any other form of language—the language spoken by medical peo-
ple, the language the military speaks, the language of mathematicians, to
name but a few—the world of management speaks its own language. In
all these cases, specific fields of endeavours have created specific languages
as a structured system that communicates issues internally
(doctors⇔doctors) as well as to the external world (doctors⇔patients).
The language of factory administration and later management was, to a
large extent, designed to communicate managerial issues internally—
inside business organisations. By contrast, the new language of
Managerialism is largely designed to communicate the ideology of
Managerialism to the external world. As a consequence, Managerialism
has created not just its own language but also plenty of jargons. Apart
from classics like www.bullshitgenerator.com,53 a number of generators
can be used to increase the managerialist’s vocabularies54:
Even more disturbing than these (Table 1.1) are the many managerial-
ist buzzword generators available on the internet. The Corporate
B.S. Generator,55 for example, allows the creation of the language of
Managerialism by randomly linking adverbs, verbs, adjectives and nouns.
The use of the language of Managerialism and its spread into the life-
world provides Managerialism with a transmission system that also relies
on the assistance of corporate mass media. Together, these have infiltrated
substantial sections of the lifeworld and almost every eventuality of
human existence. By stealth, the language of Managerialism has aided the
creation of a managerialist society based on a managerialist ideology.
The language of Managerialism, management, managerial capitalism
and Managerialism itself has managed to penetrate the lifeworld so effec-
tively that it warrants the term managerialist society. The language of
Managerialism has aided the creation of a one-dimensional managerialist
society without any serious opposition. But each of the language of
Table 1.1 The vocabulary of Managerialism

Bucketise—This is the act of putting things into buckets or, as a normal person
would say, groups. The extra few syllables of saying put things into groups
are well worth the extra effort.
Calendarise—If you calendarise something, you schedule something. Let’s put
something in the calendar is also an acceptable alternative.
From the cradle to the grave—This means from start to finish, which is much
better to say, unless you are feeling particularly morbid.
Cross-pollinate—Some scientists are now saying that human beings are not the
same as bees. So, instead of cross-pollinating, try working with your
colleagues and sharing ideas.
Deep-dive—In the management sense, this means to explore something
extensively. It’s a nice way of saying research something until you can take no
more.
High-level learnings—These are lessons that have been learned at the top level
of your organisation. Instead of sharing them with you, this phrase is often
used as the speaker doesn’t understand the lessons themselves and wants to
skip onto their next point. We’re on to you!
Ideation—Simply another word for thinking. This is a word typically used by an
English student who gets over-excited by their thesaurus, wanting to impress
their teacher.
Lay the foundations—A round-about way of saying prepare. It is also
cringeworthily referred to as doing the groundwork.
Reach out—This is one that I have been guilty of using myself, but our reader
Jeanette assures me that it should only be said if you’re a member of the Four
Tops. As I am not, I will now use the phrase go and speak to instead.
Robust—When you could easily use simple alternatives like strong and
powerful, you must start to wonder what’s going through someone’s mind
when they use the word robust.
Don’t reinvent the wheel—Don’t try to be innovative, just keep things simple.
Advice does not get much more vague.
Get down in the weeds—This means to go into detail, to discuss the
complexities of the issues. It’s quite a tricky one to understand how it
originated—garden weeds are not the most complex plant. Sorry, garden
weed fans!
I hear what you are saying—Everyone cringes when they hear this because the
literal translation is: I’m going to carry on with my point and ignore yours.
Keeping this show on the road—This means to keep something going
successfully, which isn’t too cringey until someone abbreviates it to KSOR in
an email and you stare at it for five minutes to figure out what that actually
means. The pessimists’ alternative is keeping the boat afloat.
(continued)
14 T. Klikauer
Table 1.1 (continued)
Let’s touch base offline—The more jazzy way of saying let’s meet in person,
which you may want to think carefully about if you hear someone use this
phrase.
Push and pull strategy—A push strategy is when you push a product towards a
customer and a pull strategy is when you pull a customer towards a product.
It’s a phrase that’s too often directed at us non-marketing muggles.
Sharpen the point of this pencil—Well done for not gagging when you read
this one. It means to go further into detail about what you are saying to
leave a more refined mark on the listener—although it could be interpreted
differently.
Sing from the same hymn-sheet—This is another way of saying let’s all work in
unison, unless your church is running out of lyric-sheets for its hymns.
This is mission-critical—If something is mission-critical it is very important to
the success of the venture. I imagine sci-fi fans like to say this in a dramatic
voice.
When was the last time you did something for the first time?!—The ultimate
cliché, but at least a manager who says this cares about your personal
development. I’m desperately looking for the positives now.
Seamless, holistic and leverage will likely be favourite terms of your technology
suppliers.
Adoption process—This is the practice of introducing a new process, procedure
or technology onto the contact centre floor. Don’t worry, your manager isn’t
asking you to prepare to raise a child from the workplace.
Best of breed/New breed—If a technology is best of breed, it is another way of
saying it’s better than all of its competitors. New breed means that it’s better
than what came before. But all this talk of breeding over a Monday-morning
coffee may be a little much.
Holistic—If you have a holistic view of something, you take a look at its
entirety and not its component parts. The phrase a holistic view of the
customer journey is a particular favourite of technology providers which
leaves many of us scratching our heads.
Leverage—To leverage something means to make better use of it or bring it to
the forefront of your operations. It’s something easy for a manager to say but
difficult to figure out how to do.
Low-hanging fruit—While it may conjure the image of a discreet part of the
male anatomy, in the contact centre it means to focus on the most easily
achievable task.
Operationalise—This means to put something into operation. Another
example of how adding -ise onto the end of an ordinary word can prove
needlessly irritating.
(continued)
Table 1.1 (continued)
Onboarding—The process of introducing new recruits to the contact centre.

Seems harmless, yet many find that this phrase is only acceptable if your
contact centre is situated on a boat.
Seamless—Can you feel your eyes rolling back into your skull when somebody
says this? Phrases like seamless transition simply mean a pain-free transition
or better still an easy transition.
Team diagnostic survey—A team survey looks to get to the bottom of a contact
centre problem. It was a term devised by a manager who hadn’t gotten over
a career failure in the medical world—probably.
Vendor/Technology Agnostic—If someone is agnostic it means that they believe
that humans cannot know if there is or isn’t a God, right? So, how does this
relate to technology? To be honest, your guess is as good as mine on this one.
Decompose to a lower level of granulation—This must mean to look into
something in more detail. But what level of granulation does it need to be
decomposed to? One of life’s big questions.
Herding the cats—When you try to herd cats you attempt to control something
that’s uncontrollable. This phrase is usually paired with a smug grin.
Irrational exuberance—How rationally do you exuberate? Another of life’s big
questions.
Let’s circle the wagons—If you circle the wagons, you team up to defend
against an impending attack. Apparently, this is a common phrase in the
USA, which is strange. But they are the country that brought us cheese in a
spray can, so what can we expect?
OOO—This means that the person is currently Out of Office; they have not
experienced a sudden realisation or an ooo moment.
Run it up the flagpole—If you run something up the flagpole, you open an
idea up to the room and test it by peoples’ reactions to it. Unfortunately, no
flags are involved.
Secret sauce—When something is your key business differentiator, it’s your
secret sauce. This phrase is a worse use of sauce than mayonnaise on chips.
Thought-shower—A complicated term for brainstorming. It has nothing to do
with reflecting upon your life while in the shower, which I personally think is
a much better definition.
The sharing economy—This is the economy of either renting or borrowing. A
phrase more pointless than cheese in a jar. Seriously, what’s wrong with a
simple block of cheese?!
Managerialism has also extended from managerial regimes deep into the
crypto-academic subject of management studies as organised by business
schools.56 Management studies which can be seen as the purest form of
the application of the language of Managerialism have relinquished
16 T. Klikauer
nearly all forms of critical scholarship in order to be a functional and

ideological auxiliary.57
The exclusion of an opposition under Managerialism’s TINA—there is
no alternative—operates not only in management studies but also in
society, and eventually in the lifeworld as a whole. One of today’s prob-
lems is the role of the language of Managerialism in, for example, global
warming, corporate environmental vandalism, resource depletion, and
the passing of peak oil and peak soil.58 What the lifeworld might call global
warming is belittled by the language of Managerialism as a little ‘climate
change’.59
The language of Managerialism assists Managerialism’s effort to eclipse
the global catastrophe by overshadowing the search for potential causes.
The case of global warming demonstrates the degree to which the lan-
guage of Managerialism has anaesthetised society. The causes remain
unidentified, unexposed and unattacked because they have receded before
the all-too-obvious ideological makeovers framed by the language of
Managerialism. Guided by this language, we continue to submit to the
commercial production of the means of global destruction and yet fail to
stop perfecting wasteful goods and services.
We can relate the causes of the danger of global warming to the way in
which the language of Managerialism has organised and continues to
organise the thoughts of individuals.60 By linguistically integrating peo-
ple into the orbit of Managerialism, individuals are immediately con-
fronted with the fact that managerialist societies have become richer and
perhaps even better as they perpetuate environmental devastation.
Managerial capitalism makes life easier for a greater number of people by
extending the mastery of nature. Under the language of Managerialism,
corporate mass media have little difficulty in selling particular interests as
the interests of all.
The language of Managerialism has been successful in giving particular
managerial interests the aura of being universal, attaching corporate
interests to the truly universal interests of humanity by presenting specific
needs as universal needs and aspirations. Their satisfaction promotes
business and a commonwealth deprived of common-wealth in favour of
corporate wealth, as the wealth of the commons is vacuumed upwards,
camouflaged through the ideology of the rising tide lifts all boats that is
broadcasted by using the language of Managerialism.
It embodies this kind of reasoning rather than Enlightenment’s critical
reasoning, as envisioned by Immanuel Kant.61 To some extent, the ideol-
ogy of Managerialism follows what German philosopher Kant once iden-
tified as ‘instrumental reason’.62 As Managerialism concentrates on
something that might be called ‘business rationalities’ like cost-benefit-
analysis, etc., it is—unlike Kant—mostly cleansed of any sort of critique.
Yet, this remains a crucial—if not inherent—component of Kant’s origi-
nal concept.63
And, yet, societies and economies under Managerialism represent ‘the
rationality of irrationality’.64 Their irrational quest for perpetual produc-
tivity and growth remains destructive for the development of free human
faculties.65 It squanders human progress by maintaining the violence of
constant competition in a Hobbesian business war of bellum omnium
contra omnes. This creates not only social pathologies but also ‘civilian
human casualties’, as Magretta notes.66
The language of Managerialism thrives on the repression of all options
directed towards a humanised society. Some of these repressions have
even arrived in less-developed society known as the Washington
Consensus.67 It no longer operates from a position of ethical and social
immaturity but from a position of ideological strength. The ideological
capabilities of the language of Managerialism are immeasurably greater
than ever before. Hence, the power of the language of Managerialism
over individuals is also massively greater than ever before.
The language of Managerialism and the Managerialist society itself dis-
tinguish themselves through conquering centrifugal social forces through
language, consumerism and ideology—rather than terror and surveil-
lance—and on a duality of overwhelming efficiency and the promise of
ever-increasing growth in living standards. The language of Managerialism
is there to service these false promises.
This linguistic containment of social change is one of the most impor-
tant achievements of the language of Managerialism.68 The general accep-
tance of Managerialism has been combined with the decline of pluralism
and the creation of what philosopher Herbert Marcuse (1966) called
‘one-dimensionality’. Managerialism’s one-dimensionality was, for
18 T. Klikauer
example, shown in the initial collusion of big businesses and weakened

labour with the subsequent exclusion of organised labour eliminating one
of Managerialism’s most dangerous opponents.69 The language of
Managerialism has eliminated an alternative voice in economic and man-
agerial affairs leaving one-dimensionality behind. This has also occurred
within deregulated state authorities testifying to the integration of oppo-
sites and is one of the crowning achievements of the language of
Managerialism.
The language of Managerialism has been able to alter the awareness of
the two classes—bourgeoisie and proletariat—in such a way that they no
longer appear to be agents of historical transformation.70 As far as still
relevant, an overriding interest in preserving the institutional status quo
still unites former antagonists. To the degree to which the language of
Managerialism assures the consumptive growth and ideological cohesion
of managerialist societies, the very idea of qualitative change recedes. In
the absence of demonstrable agents of qualitative social change, any cri-
tique of Managerialism is thus thrown back. The language of
Managerialism has the capability to reframe how we understand the
world. It can make any commitment by social actors directed towards
positive social change appear simply as a matter of personal preference
and youthful foolishness.71 This almost annihilated positive social change.
The fact that the language of Managerialism has been able to make the
vast majority of the population accept corporate capitalism does not ren-
der it less irrational and less reprehensible. Despite the stunning achieve-
ments of the language of Managerialism, the distinction between true
and false consciousness, real and fake interests remain meaningful. But
this distinction itself must be validated. Human beings can find their way
from false to true consciousness, from managerially induced to real inter-
est. But, they will only do so once they live in need of changing the pres-
ent destructive way of life and of denying the counterfeit positives offered
by Managerialism.
It is precisely this need which Managerialism manages to repress and
by what the language of Managerialism calls delivering the goods.
Managerialism and its entourage of crypto-scholarly management aca-
demics have been able to use the scientific conquest of nature for the
scientific conquest of human beings, incorporating them into the orbit of
Managerialism. Perhaps orbit best describes Managerialism’s asphyxiation

of individuals that signifies planetary movements guided by the invisible
forces of the language of Managerialism. This ideological asphyxiation of
people is achieved by the use of the language of Managerialism. With the
ever-growing system-integrative powers of the language of Managerialism,
contradictory categories no longer expose a real danger to corporate capi-
talism.72 Under the influence of the language of Managerialism, they
tend to become descriptive, deceptive and ideological.
But, the puzzlingly moving target of the language of Managerialism
involves one more ambiguity. The chimera of Managerialism fluctuates
between two contradictory premises:
1. Managerialism’s ideological hegemony remains capable of containing

qualitative change for the foreseeable future.
2. There are, nevertheless, forces and tendencies in existence that may
break this containment, expose and resist Managerialism, and eventu-
ally shift managerialist societies towards post-managerial living.
The hegemonic ideological domination of the language of

Managerialism has made it next to impossible to give a clear answer on
these two options.73 Both tendencies are there, side by side, but with the
first tendency remaining dominant. Whatever preconditions for a rever-
sal may exist, they are being used by Managerialism to prevent it. Perhaps
total environmental destruction, a sudden awareness of the seriousness of
natural resources depletion, a rapidly deteriorating environmental and
human condition, a more severe global financial crisis, conceivably, a
global weather disaster stopping harvests around the world or another
Covid-19 pandemic killing all human beings may end Managerialism’s
domineering position.74 But, unless the recognition of what is being done
and what is being prevented no longer cloaks present-day consciousness
and the behaviour of individuals, not even an environmental catastrophe
will lead to a qualitative change towards post-managerial living.
To raise awareness of these contradictions and impending problems,
any analysis today is forced to focus on Managerialism. It is Managerialism
that underwrites the global apparatus of production, its distributive func-
tions and ideological hegemony. But, Managerialism is more than just
20 T. Klikauer
the sum-total of ideological instruments invented by management, per-

fected by management schools and broadcasted by corporate mass media.
Like Managerialism, the language of Managerialism can never be isolated
from its environmental, social, economic and political effects.
Instead, it has successfully built a system which justifies production,
consumption, reproduction and the rejuvenation of its ideological appa-
ratus and its own ideological operations that service managerial capital-
ism. Besides, the language of Managerialism is continuously expanding.
In this, it tends to carry totalitarian features by virtually colonising all
socially needed occupations, professions, skills and attitudes. The lan-
guage of Managerialism also justifies individual needs and aspirations as
shaped by marketing. Simultaneously, it sidelines democracy, degrading
it to the occasional ritual and media spectacle of competition for leader-
ship that is reduced to ticking-a-box under the annihilation of delibera-
tive democracy.
The language of Managerialism has assisted a process that obliterated
the classical liberal opposition between private and public existence, and
between real and managerially invented needs. It lends its services to new,
more effective and less democratic institutions for the achievement of
ever more pleasant forms of social control and cohesion.75 The prime
objective of the language of Managerialism goes beyond reproducing
itself. It seeks to achieve total linguistic control—not only—of workers
inside managerial regimes but of the lifeworld as such.
The language of Managerialism represents a linguistic-totalitarian
form of control.76 The totalitarian tendency of managerial control seems
to assert itself in yet another sense. The language of Managerialism has
already infected less-developed and pre-managerial regions, communities
and societies. It spreads an image of a world created from the global
assimilation to worldwide managerial capitalism under the banner of
globalisation.
In the face of the totalitarian features of the language of Managerialism,
the traditional notion of neutrality can no longer be maintained; it
sounds simply obscene. The way in which the language of Managerialism
assists the conversion of people into consumers and human resources
involves linguistic manipulations and an ideology that can be presented
as a choice between corporate capitalism and non-development. It
anticipates specific modes of utilising human beings while simultane-

ously rejecting alternative modes and cultures. Once the language of
Managerialism has become operative in the lifeworld’s basic institutions
and relations, it tends to become exclusive. The language of Managerialism
has the ideological capability to determine the development of society as
a whole. The latest stage in the realisation of Managerialism’s specific
historical project is the linguistic system integration of human existence
and the natural environment as elements of domination.
As the language of Managerialism unfolds, it shapes the entire universe
of discourse and action, intellectual and social culture. Technology, ideol-
ogy, culture, politics and the economy are merged into an omnipresent
system that swallows and rebuffs all alternatives. Productivity and growth
potential are being used to stabilise the managerialist society and contain
progress within the framework of ideological domination. The ever-
expanding orbit of the language of Managerialism touches all significant
areas that have come under its sphere of influence. This is what Habermas
has described as a ‘colonisation of the lifeworld’.77
What is significant here is the critical assessment of the language of
Managerialism, not a discussion of the institutional layouts of managerial
and societal organisations that are governed, influenced, organised and
dominated by the ideology of Managerialism. Yet, there are institutions
that have only been partially infiltrated by the language of Managerialism
while others have completely been colonised. Recent advancements of
the language of Managerialism make it nearly impossible to select societal
organisations that have not come under the influence of or are outright
governed by the language of Managerialism.
The language of Managerialism spreads ideology that provides the glue
to link all areas of influence and spheres that are organised under its prin-
ciples. It is essentially the belief in an overall mission to spread the mana-
gerialist idée fixe and knowledge from management into every sphere of
the lifeworld that is deemed relevant to be colonised. Hence, the lan-
guage of Managerialism remains missionary in its two main expressions
of old (e.g. simple management) versus new (Managerialism). Whether
new or old, the language of Managerialism has no central planning
authority. There is no smoke-filled dark backroom in which evil capital-
ists meet, there is no grand master-plan and there is no headquarter
22 T. Klikauer
issuing linguistic guidelines for the use of the language of Managerialism.

Yet, the process of managerialisation moves on.
The language of Managerialism has aided this process by moving from
management onto the lifeworld in a process that can be described as
managerialisation—making something managerialist. One indication
that shows such a movement is the use of the language of Managerialism,
which signifies how changes in management and at work have engineered
changes in the lifeworld. At the gateway between the simple management
of a business organisation and the lifeworld resides the language of
Managerialism. At this gateway, the language of Managerialism seeks to
trap the human mind. Ideologically, it asphyxiates the human mind and
by doing so, affects the lifeworld. Hence, the ideological character of the
language of Managerialism needs to be contrasted to pre-managerial cul-
tures. Early factory regimes remained deeply authoritarian (e.g. nine-
teenth century). This continued in managerial regimes (twentieth
century).
Managerialism, as well as the language of Managerialism, is also inher-
ently authoritarian ideologies. At this point, the language of Managerialism
falls on fruitful grounds because its authoritarianism links to an already
established authoritarian elements anchored in society. But authoritari-
anism pushed by the language of Managerialism also creates distance
inside the management-employee relationship and it increases the poten-
tial for corporate immoralities and criminalities.78 This model of immo-
rality, misery, criminality and unhappiness is then transported into the
lifeworld and onto the global arena by Managerialism’s use of language.
In the area of education, for example, the language of Managerialism
has the ability to reshape schools, universities, business schools, etc.,
while destroying non-essential subjects like philosophy, critical sociology,
labour studies and industrial relations. It places management studies at
the very heart of the university as business schools and university’s man-
agement speak the same language: the language of Managerialism. This
has affected the 13,000 business schools globally, as well as the subject of
management studies and conformist academics. The new system favours
research output and career prospects rather than quality. Simultaneously,
the language of Managerialism has led to intellectual and scientific limi-
tations that mirror corporate limitations when the focus on numbers and
mathematical equations eliminates dialectical thinking in favour of one-

dimensional thinking.
The three key ideologies that drive the so-called scientific method in
management schools remain positivism, objectivism and empiricism. To
make them appear value-neutral, the language of Managerialism has cut
off any elaboration on their historical origins. The language of
Managerialism almost never explains their limitations in academic
research, critical thinking and imagination.
One of the latest fashions in the portfolio of the language of
Managerialism has been critical management studies (CMS).79 CMS pro-
vides an interpretive framework for management studies that remains
locked inside the hegemonic paradigm of management studies.80 While
not too obviously applying the language of Managerialism, CMS still
operates within the orbit of Managerialism. It is valued by Managerialism
because it provides system-correctives in support of Managerialism. The
system-integrative function of CMS continues to be a management-
supportive critique from within the managerialist paradigm. CMS
staunchly avoids questions about management and Managerialism. It
never seeks to end domination, and never enhances the cause of
emancipation.
The goal of the language of Managerialism is never to move beyond
the domination of Managerialism as established in its present form.
Cleverly, the language of Managerialism seeks to draw on the role of envi-
ronmental sustainability. It uses several buzzwords that help to achieve
this: business ethics, corporate social responsibility, corporate sustainabil-
ity, stewardship, etc.81 The language of Managerialism also works against
resistance that seeks the removal of Managerialism. It prevents human
imagination seeking to free itself from managerialist ideologies and sus-
tains corporate exploitation that is feeding on the environmentally unsus-
tainable use of natural resources. Managerialism’s use of language entices
us to believe that there can be no planned use of earthly resources. It seeks
to eliminate a move from corporate to democratically controlled uses of
environmental resources.82 There is an apparent triumph on the language
of Managerialism. It is inside but also and, perhaps more importantly,
outside of the confining frontiers of Managerialism.
24 T. Klikauer
The Structure of the Book

The Language of Managerialism is about two things—language and
Managerialism—and outlines in particular what both create when they
merge into the language of Managerialism. This introduction links the
book to an established body of knowledge. In the case of Managerialism,
there are two sets of literature. Firstly, three key books written on the
subject of Managerialism: (a) Enteman’s Managerialism (1993)83; (b)
Locke and Spender’s Confronting Managerialism (2011)84; and finally,
Klikauer’s Managerialism (2013).85 And secondly, roughly only a handful
of academic journal articles have been written on the subject of
Managerialism. The following also briefly outlines the contents of Chaps.
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
Chapter 2: Models of Managerialism
Chapter 2 provides a short history of what might be called ‘simple’ man-

agement that came before management, that is, the administration of
factories, was established. Unlike Managerialism’s more ideological tone,
factory administration and simple management were mostly concerned
with the internal affairs of business organisations. The chapter also
explains a formula that defines Managerialism and its spread into previ-
ously unrelated areas. The core of chapter is formed by three models that
explain the ‘modus operandi’ of Managerialism: the ‘organisational model’
of Managerialism (Fig. 2.1), a construction of what might be called a
‘global model’ of Managerialism (Fig. 2.2) and the ‘trident model’
(Fig. 2.3).
Chapter 3: The Twelve Language Areas

of Managerialism
Chapter 3 is about the twelve language areas in which Managerialism

plays a significant role and for which have developed strong forms of
language use that justifies a closer observation. The chapter also
highlights the difference between the macro-economic language of neo-

liberalism and the micro-economic language of Managerialism. Since
companies and corporations continue to be profit-making entities and
the term ‘profit’ has received negative connotations in the last few years,
the language of Managerialism is dedicated to give ‘profit’ a positive
appearance of which une idée fixe of ‘shareholder value’ is all, but one.
This is followed by the specifics of a thoroughly ideological language
arguing that the language of Managerialism is ideological. This part
focuses on areas where the language of Managerialism is not linked to a
specific managerial area, but uses language for purely ideological pur-
poses. Going forward, the chapter discusses the use of language in the
areas of growth, competition, ethics and morality, participation and
democracy, quantification and numbers, humanising and dehumanising,
exploitation, long-termism versus short-termism, sustainability and envi-
ronmentalism, and finally, the use of language to create the homogenisa-
tion of society.
Chapter 4: The Language of Managerialism and its

Infiltration of the Lifeworld
After briefly examining the use of language in the public as well as in the
corporate domain, as seen during a shift of language from simple man-
agement to Managerialism, the chapter outlines the philosophical origins
of the concept of the lifeworld as developed by Husserl and Habermas.
The philosophical concept of the lifeworld is then used to examine the
language of Managerialism. In a final step, the chapter describes how the
language of Managerialism seeks to infiltrate and attack the lifeworld.
Chapter 5: Business Schools and the Language

of Managerialism
The key theme of Chap. 5 is to highlight the role of business schools as

one of the key transmission institutions that drive the language of
Managerialism. Together with the business press, business schools play an
26 T. Klikauer
essential role in spreading managerial language and its infiltration, and

eventually colonisation of the lifeworld. The case of Enron (2004) is used
to show how business schools and the business press rely on the language
of Managerialism to advance the course of Managerialism. The chapter
also includes a discussion on the role of business schools in developing
business jargons, abbreviations, acronyms, circular reasoning, opposite
qualifiers and anecdotal evidences.
Chapter 6: Language and Rationality
This chapter is about the assumed rationality of the language of

Managerialism. It discusses this rationality behind the managerialist con-
cept of leadership, an idée fixe that is powerfully supported by academics.
As a consequence, this chapter highlights the role of the language of
rationality in fostering the language of Managerialism. It also shows how
the use of the language of Managerialism inside universities can eliminate
most remnants of critical thinking and philosophy in the Aristotelian,
Kantian and Hegelian understandings.
Chapter 7: Corporate Apparatchiks and Superlatives
The final chapter before the conclusion explains the link between
Managerialism’s formula (MA = MEI86) and the language of Managerialism.
It also clarifies why neither Managerialism nor the language of
Managerialism are conspiracies. To highlight this, the World Economic
Forum (Davos) is examined in more detail. It shows how the language of
Managerialism works its way through such semi-official meetings of the
self-appointed economy elites. At a corporate level, the chapter explains
how the language of Managerialism works between those deemed to be
subordinates and the upper ranks of corporate apparatchiks. The chapter
ends by illuminating the use of the language of Managerialism in what
might be termed ‘corporate superlatives’.
Chapter 8: The Curse of the Language

of Managerialism
The concluding chapter highlights what we can learn from what has been
outlined in the previous chapters (Chaps. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7). It dem-
onstrates the impact of the language of Managerialism on the lifeworld.
The core of this chapter is dedicated to the delivery of a possible solution
to the problem of the language of Managerialism that is infiltrating the
lifeworld. Part of the solution is resistance that might begin by developing
something that could best be called intellectual self-defence against the
ever-encroaching language of Managerialism. In the philosophy of
Normand Baillargeon, this might be called, find your inner Chomsky.87
The chapter also includes methods to eliminate the language of
Managerialism. The book ends by proposing the application of Habermas’
theory of communicative action and ideal speech88—to eliminate the lan-
guage of Managerialism.
Notes
1. Eagleton-Pierce, M. & Knafo, S. 2020. Introduction: The political econ-
omy of Managerialism, Review of International Political Economy,
27(4):767.
2. Chauvière, M. & Mick, S. S. 2013. The French sociological critique of
managerialism: Themes and frameworks, Critical Sociology,
39(1):135–143.
3. Jensen, T. B., Kjærgaard, A. & Svejvig, P. 2009. Using institutional the-
ory with sensemaking theory: a case study of information system imple-
mentation in healthcare, Journal of Information Technology,
24(4):343–353.
4. Locke, R. R. & Spender, J. 2011. Confronting Managerialism: how the
business elite and their schools threw our lives out of balance, London:
Zed Books.
5. Klikauer, T. & Campbell, N. 2020. Propaganda beyond Trump,
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2
Models of Managerialism
Managerialism which has created its own language is the latest develop-
ment in the history of management. This history began in factory admin-
istrations during the rise of industrial capitalism. With the move from
feudalism to capitalism, manufacturing workshops and early factories
had to administer a growing number of workers. Throughout the eigh-
teenth and nineteenth centuries, workers have found industrial employ-
ment commonly under rather horrific conditions1 and in what William
Blake called as Dark Satanic Mills.2 By the early twentieth century,
Frederic Taylor (1911),3 Henri Fayol (1916) and Henry Ford (1920) have
changed capitalism and its factories.4 Simultaneously, Fayol and Ford had
legitimised what is known today as management. Fayol’s fourteen basic
principles of management are a possible way to distinguish between man-
agement and Managerialism. These are5: (1) division of work; (2) mana-
gerial authority; (3) discipline; (4) unity of command; (5) unity of
direction; (6) subordination of individual interest; (7) fair remuneration;
(8) centralisation and decentralisation; (9) line of authority from top-
management to the lowest ranks; (10) organisational order; (11) equity;
(12) stability of tenure; (13) initiative; and (14) esprit de corps.
Most of Fayol’s principles are recognised today—even though manage-
ment has changed significantly over time.6 For example, towards the
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 35

T. Klikauer, The Language of Managerialism,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16379-1_2
36 T. Klikauer
second half of the twentieth century, the management of workers—that

was originally known as personnel management—became human resource
management (HRM).7 Over time, not just personnel management
changed but management itself also changed. While still applying many
of Fayol’s principles, management also began to add new functions such
as marketing, accounting, operations management, corporate gover-
nance, strategy, corporate social responsibility, and so on.8 By the late
twentieth century, a new term started to emerge—Managerialism, and
with this came the language of Managerialism.
The language of Managerialism is understood as a structured system
designed to communicate ideas.9 In general terms, a language is the
method of communication that involves the use of—particularly
human—languages. The science of language has been labelled as linguis-
tics. In the philosophy of language, words can represent experience. This
has been debated at least since Plato. Other philosophers who wrote on
language, such as Rousseau, thought that language originated from emo-
tions. German philosopher Kant emphasised that language originated
from rational and logical thoughts—the language of Managerialism falls
into this category.
Perhaps one of the most known—but not necessarily the best—phi-
losopher on language has been Wittgenstein. Still, the two key philoso-
phers on linguistics remain Ferdinand de Saussure10 and Noam Chomsky11
with his ground-breaking work on Syntactic Structures.12 While syntax is
the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in
a language, the language of Managerialism is more concerned with semi-
otics—which is any form of activity, conduct or process that involves
signs, words and sentences that produce meanings. Words and sentences
communicate a meaning. Such a meaning is intentional. This is the case
for the language of Managerialism. Of course, the language of
Managerialism also includes unintentional meanings.
To a lesser extent, all this is also about linguistics which is the scientific
study of language. The language that is studied here is the language of
Managerialism. Necessarily, this involves the analysis of language, its
meaning and the context in which the language of Managerialism appears.
But the language of Managerialism also reaches beyond that into societies
and into its non-commercial area. The term ‘lifeworld’ is used to describe
Another random document with
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THE BOY AND THE LARK.
music composed for merry’s museum; by
g. j. webb.
“Who taught you to sing, my pretty, sweet birds?

Who tuned your melodious throats?
You make all the woods and the vallies to ring,
You bring the first news of the earliest spring,
With your loud and your silvery notes.
“Who painted your wings, my pretty, sweet birds,

And taught you to soar in the air?
You rise and you dart through the region of light,
You look down on man from your loftiest height,
And your hearts know no troublesome care.
“And where are your fields, my beautiful birds?

And where are your houses and barns?
You sow not the ground, and you reap not the corn,
You spring from your nests at the earliest morn,
But you care not about the wide farms.”
“’Tis God,” said a lark, that rose from the turf,

“Who gives us the good we enjoy;
He painted our wings, and he gave us our voice,
He finds us our food, and he bids us rejoice;—
We’re his creatures, my beautiful boy.”
MERRY’S MUSEUM.
VOLUME II.—No. 2.
The Siberian Sable-Hunter.
CHAPTER II.
It is the character of young people to engage in new enterprises

with ardor: it was so with Alexis, in his fur-hunting expedition. For a
time, indeed, after parting with his father and sister, his heart was
heavy, and tears more than once dimmed his eyes. He expected to
be absent for a year at least, and who could tell what might befall
him or them, during that space of time? Such thoughts came again
and again into his mind, and as fancy is apt to conjure up fears for
those we love, he pictured to himself many possible evils that might
beset his friends at Tobolsk.
But these images gradually faded away, and the young hunter
began to be occupied with the scenes around him, and with the
conversation of his companions. These consisted of two young men
of nearly his own age, and their father, an experienced and skilful
hunter. They were all equipped with rifles, and each had a long knife
like a dagger in his belt. Their design was to travel on foot to the
eastward, a distance of more than two thousand miles, and then
proceed northward into the cold and woody regions which border the
banks of the great river Lena, as it approaches the Arctic Ocean.
Hitherto Alexis had seen little of Siberia; his curiosity was
therefore alive, and he noticed attentively everything he met. Soon
after leaving Tobolsk, the party entered upon the vast plain of
Baraba, which spreads out to an extent of several hundred miles. It
is almost as level as the sea, with slight swells, resembling waves.
Such plains are called steppes in Siberia, and they are like the
prairies of our western country, being generally destitute of trees,
except low willows, and large portions having a marshy soil. Upon
this plain the travellers met with no towns, but miserable villages of
people, their huts half sunk in the mud. They also sometimes
encountered small bands of people called Ostiacks. These seemed
to be roving people, and in a state of barbarism. The old hunter of
the party, whose name was Linsk, seemed to be well acquainted
with the habits of these people, and as the four hunters were
trudging along, he gave the following account of them, taking care to
say something of himself in the course of his story.
“The Ostiacks are one of the most numerous of the tribes of
Tartars that inhabit Siberia. They spread over the country to the north
of Tobolsk, along the banks of the Obi, and the various streams that
flow into it. They do not like to dig the soil, so they live on fish, and
by hunting wild animals. Some of them eat so much fish, that they
smell like whale oil. I have been in their tents often, and one of these
fisheating families have a flavor as strong as a cask of herrings. Bah!
how well I remember them! It seems as if I could smell them now! I
shall never get them out of my head.
“You must know that I have been a hunter for twenty-five years,
and I have made several expeditions into the north country, where
the Ostiacks chiefly dwell. It is a cold and desolate region; no trees
but pines and willows grow there; there is no grass, and very few
shrubs. Still, it was once a good country for furs; but they are nearly
gone now, and I don’t wonder at it, for these Ostiacks are such
heathens. They are not Christians, but believe in little wooden
images, which they will place on their tables, and lay around them
snuff, willow bark, fish oil, and other things which they deem
valuable. Having done this, they call upon these images, which are
their gods, to make them lucky in fishing and hunting. If the gods
don’t send them good luck, then these foolish people do give them
such a banging! They cuff their heads, and knock them off the
tables, and switch them as if they were so many naughty school-
boys.
“Now, for my part, I wonder that fish, or sables, or bears, or any
other creatures that are useful, will stay in a country where such
stupid people live. And then you must know that the Ostiacks almost
worship a bear. They think that this creature is a kind of a witch or
wicked god, and such horrid notions of it have they, that, when they
take the oath of allegiance to the Russian government, they say, to
make it very strong—‘We hope we may be devoured by bears, if we
do not keep this oath.’
“Beside all this, the Ostiacks, as you see by those whom we have
met, are little short people, not more than five feet high. A great
many of the women are fat, and such little round dumplings I never
beheld! The hair of these people is of a reddish color, and floats
down their shoulders. Their faces are flat, and altogether they look
like animals, rather than human creatures. Their houses are made of
poles, set up in a circle, and thatched with bark. In winter, the
windows are covered with expanded bladders. The fire is made on
one side of the room, and the smoke circulates above, finding its
way out as it can. Generally, there is but one room in a hut, and all
the family are tumbled into it, by night and by day.
“Now all this shows what stupid people these Ostiacks are; but
there is one thing I have to say in their praise. They understand
fishing and hunting. In chasing the bears, they show courage and
skill, and in taking the sable so as not to break his skin, they display
true genius. I once knew an old Ostiack that was nearly equal to
myself in hunting. He could see the track of an ermine, marten, or
sable, upon the snow-crust, when nobody else could; he would
follow one of these creatures for a whole day, pretending he could
see the foot-prints; but I believe the old fellow could smell like a dog.
What beautiful sables and grey foxes he did get! He once got two
sable skins which were sent to St. Petersburgh, and sold for three
hundred dollars. The emperor bought them himself, and sent the old
fellow a knife ornamented with a silver plate, and the word “Nicholas”
engraved upon it. This the emperor said was to encourage the
hunter to get fine furs. But the old hunter died soon after, and the
people said it was from mere pride, because the emperor had paid
him so much honor. He never hunted any more, but strutted about,
brandishing his knife in the air, and saying, ‘Behold! this is what
Nicholas, the Czar of all the Russias, has sent to Dwaff Khizan, the
greatest hunter of Siberia!’”
Alexis listened with interest to this long account of the Ostiacks by
old Linsk: but his heart really palpitated when the hunter told of the
rich sable furs sent to St. Petersburgh by Dwaff Khizan, and which
not only brought a great price, but won the favor of the emperor. He
immediately remembered the injunction of his sister Kathinka, to be
particular and get rich sable furs; and he also remembered that she
had spoken of sending them to the princess Lodoiska. “After all my
thinking that the girl was romantic and conceited, to fancy that she
could send furs to a princess, and attract her attention, now that we
are poor exiles in Siberia, perhaps she is right, and has more sense
then I have. At all events, I will exert myself to procure some sable
furs finer than were ever seen before. We are going to the coldest
portions of Siberia, and there it is said are the most splendid furs in
the world. It will be something to please Kathinka, and to relieve my
father from his poverty; and, beside, I should like to beat old Linsk,
vain and boastful as he is!”
With this ambitious conclusion, Alexis stepped quicker and
prouder over the level road, and, without thinking of it, had soon
advanced considerably before his party. Coming to a place where
the road divided, he took that which led to the right, as it seemed the
best. He had not gone far, however, before he heard the loud call of
Linsk. Stopping till the party came up, Alexis found that he had taken
the wrong path. “That road,” said Linsk, “leads to the great town of
Tomsk; a place which has ten thousand people in it, and I may add
that one half of them are drunkards. This is the more wonderful, for
the people have enough to do; because the country in that quarter
abounds in valuable mines. All around Tomsk there are salt lakes,
and the waters are so impregnated with minerals, that the bottoms
are covered with a coat as white as snow.
“To the south of Tomsk, a great many miles, are some mountains,
called the Altai range. In these mountains there are mines of gold
and silver, and of platina, a metal more costly than gold. The mines
are wrought by exiles; and, master Alexis, some of your countrymen
are there, as they ought to be. You ought to thank the clemency and
mercy of the emperor, for not sending you and your father there!”
“Stop! stop! old man!” said Alexis; “say no more of that! say no
more of that! My father ought to be sent to the mines! for what? For
risking his life to save his country? For giving his wealth to Poland?
For shedding his blood for liberty? Is patriotism then a crime? Shame
on the emperor who makes it so!”
“Tut, tut, tut, tut!” said Linsk, with an air of authority; “why, you talk
rebellion, as if you had drank it in with your mother’s milk. Oh dear!
oh dear! what are we all coming to, when youngsters talk such
pestilent stuff about liberty and patriotism? Why, what have we to do
with liberty and patriotism? Let us take care to obey the emperor,
and his officers, and those who are in authority, and do as the priests
tell us: that’s all we have to do. But never mind, boy; I didn’t mean to
hurt your feelings. So don’t think any more of what I said about your
father and the mines. I believe he’s an honest and noble gentleman,
though I am sorry he’s so much misled. Liberty and patriotism—
indeed! Bah! When I hear about liberty and patriotism, I always look
well to my pockets, for they sound to my ear very much like roguery
and mischief. Liberty and patriotism, forsooth! as if we common men
were like wild animals, and, as soon as we are of age, had a right to
set up for ourselves! No! no! we are Christians, and it is our duty to
honor the emperor; we are his subjects, and he may do as he
pleases with us. God bless him.”
“I suppose it would be glory enough,” said Alexis, having
recovered his good humor, “to have our heads cut off, provided it
was done by command of the emperor.”
“Certainly,” said Linsk, not discovering the irony; and here the
conversation took another turn.
“You were speaking of the mines,” said Alexis. “Do they produce
great quantities of the precious metals?”
“Yes,” said the old hunter, in reply. “The mines produce the value
of more than ten millions of dollars a year. Not only do they yield
gold, and silver, and platina, but a great deal of copper. Beside
these, many precious stones are found, such as the topaz, beryl,
onyx, garnets, diamonds, and green crystals as beautiful as
emeralds. All these mines and all the minerals belong to the Czar,
and they are wrought by his serfs and slaves, and by such exiles as
are very bad and troublesome!”
“Those who talk about liberty and patriotism, I suppose,” said
Alexis.
“Yes,” said Linsk, snappishly.
“Well,” said Alexis, “I should like to go to that country, where there
are such rich minerals and precious stones. I think I could pick up
enough to make myself rich.”
“And get your head taken off besides,” said Linsk. “Let me tell
you, my young master, the metals and minerals belong to the
emperor, and it’s stealing for anybody to take them, and whoever
does so is sure to get punished. I know a story about that—”
“Tell it, I beg you,” said Alexis. So the hunter proceeded.
“There was once a young nobleman of Russia exiled to Siberia for
some offence to the Czar. This happened in the time of Paul, near
forty years ago. Well, when he came to Tobolsk, he was very poor,
so he thought how he might get money and become rich. At last he
heard of the mines of the mountains, and thither he went. He was
careful, however, not to let anybody know his plan. He proceeded
first to the Kolyvan mountains, but, as there were a great many
people at work there, he was afraid of being detected in his scheme;
so he proceeded farther east, until he came to a tall mountain called
the Schlangenberg, which is the loftiest of the Altai range.
“When he had got up to the very top of the mountain, being weary,
he laid himself down to get some rest, and here he fell asleep. While
in this state, a man, in the dress of a Tartar, seemed to stand before
him, and, making a low bow in the Eastern fashion, said, ‘What
would’st thou, son of a noble house?’ To this the young Russian
replied—‘Wealth—give me wealth: with this I can purchase my
liberty and return to Moscow, and live again in happiness. Give me
riches: with these I could buy the very soul of the emperor, for all he
desires is money.’
“When the young man said this, the image smiled on one side of
his face, and frowned on the other; but he answered fairly,—‘Your
wish shall be granted: follow me!’ Upon this the Russian arose and
followed the mysterious stranger. They descended to the foot of the
mountain, and entered a cave which was formed by nature in the
rocks. It was at first a dark and gloomy room, with grizzly images
around, and a fearful roar as of mighty waterfalls, tumbling amid the
gashes and ravines of the mountain. But as they advanced farther,
the scene gradually changed. The darkness disappeared, and at last
they came to a vast chamber, which seemed glittering with
thousands of lamps. The room appeared indeed like a forest turned
to crystal, the branches above uniting and forming a lofty roof, in the
gothic form. Nothing could exceed the splendor of the scene. The
floor was strewn with precious stones of every hue, and diamonds of
immense size and beauty glistened around. As the adventurer trod
among them, they clashed against his feet as if he was marching
amid heaps of pebbles. There were thousands of lofty columns, of a
pearly transparency, which seemed to send forth an illumination like
that of the moon; and these were studded with garnets, and
emeralds, and rubies.
“The Russian was delighted—nay, entranced. He walked along for
more than an hour, and still the vast room seemed to expand and
grow more gorgeous as he proceeded. The diamonds were larger,
and the light more lovely, and by-and-by there came a sound of
music. It was faint, but delicious; and our hero looked around for the
cause of it. At last he saw what seemed a river, and on going to the
border of it, he discovered that it was a stream of precious stones,
where garnets, and beryls, and diamonds, and emeralds, and rubies,
flowed like drops of water, in one gushing, flashing current; and as
they swept along, a sort of gentle but entrancing melody stole out
from them, and seemed to melt the heart with their tones.
“‘This is indeed most lovely—most enchanting!’ said the youth to
himself. ‘Well and truly has my guide performed his promise.’ Saying
this, he looked around for his guide, but he had disappeared. The
young man waited for a time, but his guide did not return. At last he
began to feel weary, and cast about for a place to lie down; but no
such place appeared. The floor of the mighty hall was covered with
precious stones, but they were so sharp and angular that they would
have cut his flesh, if he had attempted to lie upon them. Pretty soon,
hunger was added to the young man’s wants. But how could he
satisfy it? There were emeralds, and rubies, and sapphires, and
diamonds, but neither meat nor bread. At last he turned around, and
began to search for the way out of the grotto; first filling his pockets
with the richest and rarest gems he could find. But the more he
sought for the passage, the more remote he seemed to be from it.
He, however, continued to wander on, but all in vain. At last he
became frantic; he threw up his hands, and tore his hair, and ran
fiercely from place to place, making the arches ring with his frightful
screams. ‘Take your gold, take your jewels!’ said he; ‘and give me
rest, give me bread!’ And, repeating this by night and by day, the
young man continued to run wildly from place to place; and though
forty years have rolled away since he entered the enchanted cave,
he is still there, and is still unable to obtain rest or appease his
hunger!”
“Is that all?” said Alexis, as the hunter paused in his narration.
“Yes,” said Linsk; “and let it warn you and all others not to go into the
mountain, to steal the gems and the gold that belong to the
emperor.”
“The story is a good one,” said Alexis, “and no doubt it has been
used to frighten people from interfering with the emperor’s mines; but
it is an allegory, which bears a deeper meaning to my mind. It
teaches us that riches cannot bring rest or health, and that a person
surrounded with gold and gems may still be a most wretched being.
Those very gems, indeed, may be the cause of his distress, as they
may have been obtained by crime, or avarice, or other unlawful
means.”
(To be continued.)
The Lion and the Mouse;
a fable.
A lion was once going to war; he had buckled on his sword, and
gathered his forces, and, with the monkey and the bear supporting
his long robe behind, he was proudly marching over the plain at the
head of his army. As he was proceeding, it chanced that his majesty
encountered a mouse, dancing merrily over the ground. The king
paused, and observed the little dancer with a grim smile of
satisfaction. At this the bear grumbled, and the monkey sneered, for
his majesty being in a warlike humor, they thought it meet that
everybody else should be so too; but they were both speedily
silenced by the lion, who spoke as follows:
“Why do you grumble at this pretty little fellow? See how graceful
his movements are, and how cheerful is his countenance!
Remember that everything has its use, and nothing is more useful
than that which makes us cheerful, provided it is innocent. Even we
warriors have need of cheerful excitement, for by this means we are
better fitted to discharge our solemn duties. Let us not despise, then,
even such sports, and amusements, and trifles, as come in our way,
provided always that they are as harmless as the frisks and frolics of
this little dancing-master of the meadow; and provided, too, that we
never neglect business for pleasure.”
Merry’s Life and Adventures.
CHAPTER X.
A conversation about wealth and poverty.—People to be respected
according to their character, not according to their
circumstances.
As Paul Raymond was one of the best friends I ever had, it is my

desire to make my reader well acquainted with him. He was tall, thin,
and bent over, his figure seeming to indicate great humility; his face
was meagre and exceedingly pale; his hair black as jet, and hanging
in long, thin curls down his neck. His eye was very large, and of a
deep blue.
The whole aspect of my friend was marked with a childlike
gentleness and timidity, though his high forehead and prominent
Roman nose bespoke a manly intellect. A worldly person, judging
only by outward form and a first sight, had passed him by with
indifference; but one who looks upon mankind as beings of soul and
mind, would have been attracted by his appearance. It was so in
some degree with myself, for when I first saw poor Paul, as he was
called in the village, I scarcely noticed him. And for years after, I saw
nothing of particular interest in his person: but now that I was on a
sick bed, and had opportunity, as well as occasion, to observe him
closer, he seemed to me very interesting, both in looks and manner.
It was one morning after he had been putting my room in order,
and, taking his book, had sat down by my bedside, that I mentioned
to Paul the change of feeling I had undergone in respect to himself.
“I cannot but wonder,” said I, “how different you seem to me now,
from what you used to do, Mr. Raymond.”
Raymond. Call me Paul, boy, call me Paul! said he. We are
friends now, and mister is always a mischief-maker between friends.
You say I seem different now from what I once did. The change is in
you, not in me. I am the same poor Paul Raymond, as before. You
are something better than before this accident happened.
Merry. How am I better? I think I am worse: I have been guilty of
folly, and, though thoughtlessly, of crime; I have been disgraced
before the whole village; my poor arm broken; I am sick and
emaciated; and after all this, you tell me that I am better than before.
R. And I tell you the truth, boy. You have suffered, it is certain; but
that suffering has been like medicine to your mind and heart. You
were well in body, you were full of health and spirits, but there was
disease within. Your heart was full of selfishness and pride; you felt
that you could take care of yourself, and you cared not for the
sympathy of others. You have now learnt a good lesson; that pride
has been humbled, and you see your dependence upon others. You
see how poor and paltry pride is; and how vain is that independence,
which leads us to think only of self, and to be regardless of the
feelings of our fellow-men. You are more humble than before, and
therefore I say you are better than before.
M. Then you think humility is a good thing?
R. Certainly, and pride a bad thing. God looks down upon the
humble man with approbation and favor, and he sends to the humble
man peace and consolation which the world cannot give or take
away. God looks down upon the proud man as a fool, a creature as
silly as the moth that buzzes in the flame of the lamp, only to perish
in his folly.
M. But this is very different from the view generally taken by
mankind. The rich, the haughty, those who are successful in life, who
know no sickness or misfortune, and who are seldom or never
visited by sorrow—these are those who are esteemed happy by the
world at large. The proud are envied and the humble are despised.
You would reverse this, and regard the humble as the happy, and the
high and haughty as the miserable.
R. Yes, and this is nearly the truth. Health is given us for good;
but, strange to say, men seem to turn it to bad account. A person
who has always good health, is usually unfeeling: he sneers at those
who are feeble, and laughs those to scorn who cannot eat and drink
and work as well as he does. He is therefore deficient in one of the
greatest of blessings, a kind and tender heart, a heart that feels for
the misfortunes and sorrows of others, and that always is seeking to
soften them.
Riches are given for good, but these too are abused. The rich
man is likely to have very little regard for the poor; he is apt almost to
feel that the poor are not human: at all events, he knows and cares
little about them. He estimates men by their wealth: if a man is rich,
he respects him; if poor, he despises him. Thus wealth begets in its
possessor a gross stupidity of mind; it blinds a man to the most
useful pleasures and important truths. It makes a man ignorant of his
real duty and his true happiness.
M. You think then that health and wealth are misfortunes.
R. Certainly not, if rightly used: they are blessings in the hands of
the virtuous, and some such there are. But in too many cases,
mankind abuse them. The fortunate are very apt to be vicious; those
who go on in an unchanging tide of success, at last fancy that they
may indulge their pride and their passions with impunity. Such
persons have hard hearts; and though the world, judging of the
outside only, call them fortunate, and envy them—still, if we look
within and see their real character, we shall pity them, as in fact poor,
and destitute, and miserable in all that constitutes real goodness,
real wealth—a good heart.
It is for this reason that the Bible—a book more full of virtue than
mankind generally think—tells us that “whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth.” In other words, God sends sorrow and misfortune upon
men in real kindness. He takes away health, but he gives gentleness
and humility of soul, as a compensation; he takes away worldly
wealth—houses, lands, and merchandises—but he gives charity,
good will, kindness, and sympathy, in their stead. He takes away
external and earthly riches, and gives in exchange spiritual riches, of
infinitely greater price. He takes away dollars and cents, which only
pass in this world, and are wholly uncurrent in another, and gives
coin that bears upon it an image and superscription, which not only
makes it available in time, but in eternity.
M. Most people think very differently from you, on these matters:
they seem to imagine that the rich are not only the happiest, but the
wisest and best part of mankind.
R. Shallow people may think so, but wise men do not. Our Savior
appealed to the poor, not to the rich. Poverty, not wealth, was the soil
in which he sowed the seeds of truth; and he knew all things. History
justifies Christ’s judgment of human life, for all, or nearly all great
improvements in society have been begun and carried on by the
poor. For almost all useful inventions; for almost all that is beautiful in
poetry, and music, and painting, and sculpture, and architecture; for
almost all that has contributed to diffuse truth and knowledge and
liberty among mankind—we are indebted to those who have been
born and nursed in poverty. If you were to strike out of existence all
that the poor have created, and leave only what the rich have
created, you would make this world one vast scene of desolation,
vice, and tyranny.
Look around, and remark, who are the people that are tilling the
soil and producing the comforts and luxuries of life? The poor, and
not the rich. Who are paying the taxes and supporting the
government? The poor, for they pay, in proportion to their property,
much more than the rich. Who are the supporters of religion? The
poor, for it is by their prayers, and sacrifices, and efforts, that it is
propagated, not only at home, but in foreign lands. No Christian
Mission, no Bible Society, no Society for the distribution of Tracts,
was ever begun and carried on and supported by the rich.
The simple truth is, that, as the poor are the producers of all the
substantial comforts of life, of food, raiment, houses, furniture, roads,
vehicles, ships, and merchandises, so are they the cultivators of
those spiritual staples which make up the social wealth of the world
—religion, knowledge, charity, sympathy, virtue, patriotism, liberty,
and truth. Destroy the poor, and you destroy not only the source of
worldly wealth, but of that mental, spiritual, and social wealth, which
are far higher and better.
M. You think, then, that the poor are not only the wisest, but the
best part of mankind.
R. Certainly; but do not misunderstand me. I do not say all rich
men are bad, or that all poor ones are good. There are rich men who
are good, wise, kind, and virtuous—and those who are so, deserve
great praise, for, as a class, the rich are otherwise; and the reasons
are plain. In the first place, most men who become rich, do so by
being supremely selfish. They keep what they get, and get what they
can. A man who has no generosity, who seldom or never gives away
anything, who is greedily seeking all the time to increase his
possessions, is almost sure, in a few years, to accumulate large
stores. Such a man may be very stupid in intellect, and yet
successful in getting rich. Riches are no proof of wisdom, but they
are generally evidence of selfishness.
A man, by cultivating any passion, increases it. An avaricious
man, indulging his avarice, grows more and more so. He not only
becomes more greedy, but less regardful of the rights, feelings, and
interests of his fellow-men. Thus, as a man increases in riches, he
usually becomes vicious and depraved. His vices may not be open—
he may not break the laws of the land, but he breaks the laws of
conscience, and of God. There is hardly a spectacle more revolting
to the eye of virtue, then the bosom of the rich and avaricious man. It
is a machine, which grinds in its relentless wheels the limbs, the
bowels, the nerves, the hearts of such among his fellow-men as fall
within his grasp. He is a kind of moral cannibal, who feasts and
grows fat, not on the bodies of his species, but on their peace and
happiness.
M. You are severe.
R. But I hope not unjust: remember that Christ forgave the thief on
the cross, but declared that it was easier for a camel to pass through
the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of
heaven. He knew by what means men generally grow rich; he knew
the effect of riches on the heart; and, as a class, he denounces the
rich, as in the view of Heaven among the least favored of mankind.
They have their good things in this world, but a fearful penalty is
attached to the abuse of these good things—an abuse which is but
too tempting and too common.
But the only evil of wealth lies not in the danger which it threatens
to the future welfare of the soul; it is very apt to destroy or prevent
some of the sweetest pleasures of this life. Humility is the source of
more true happiness than wealth. A rich man may possess humility,
though he is more likely to be proud; poverty, disappointment,
sorrow, and misfortune, are the great producers of humility: and it
often happens that God, in taking away wealth and worldly
prosperity, and giving humility in return, greatly increases a person’s
true wealth and genuine peace. It is thus that he often deals with
those he loves. He thinks that a man may well afford to part with his
wealth, if he parts with pride at the same time, and obtains humility
as a reward; and surely he knows what is best for us.
Nor is peace of mind the only effect of humility. It not only wakes
up the heart of man to many kindly exercises of charity to his fellow-
men, but it clears his mind and his intellect, so that it is brighter and
stronger. Pride dims, dulls, and cheats the mind; the judgment of a
proud man is seldom good. Not only does pride beget meanness of
soul, but meanness of intellect. Greatness of mind, as well as of
soul, is usually associated with humility. For this reason it is, that you
find among the poor, who are usually humble, more true greatness of
both mind and heart, than among the rich; and it is thus that we see
the fact explained, which I have before stated, that for almost all the
great religious, benevolent, and social progress of the world, we are
indebted to the wisdom, charity, disinterestedness, and patriotism of
the poor.
M. Is it then a sin to be rich, or a virtue to be poor?
R. Certainly not: there is no virtue or vice in either poverty or
wealth. All I say is this, the usual means taken to get riches are
supreme selfishness or craft, or uncommon want of principle; and
riches, when once obtained, tend to corrupt and degrade the heart,
and stultify the mind. While, therefore, we admit that a rich man may
be wise and virtuous, still, as a class, the rich are the least to be
respected and trusted. We are borne out in this view by the

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The Language of Managerialism:

ISBN 978-3-031-16378-4 ISBN 978-3-031-16379-1 (eBook)

I would like to acknowledge the proofreading and editorial assistance and

grateful for the assistance of WSU’s Library and in particular, WSU’s

1 Introducing the Language of Managerialism 1

3 The Twelve Language Areas of Managerialism 65

5 Business Schools and the Language of Managerialism131

7 Corporate Apparatchiks and Superlatives191

8 Conclusion: The Curse of the Language of Managerialism223

Fig. 2.1 The Organisational Model of Managerialism (MA).

Table 1.1 The vocabulary of Managerialism 13

In order to understand the language of Managerialism, a brief examina-

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 1

defines organisational schemes, rules, norms and routines. Managerialism

The MBA degree, for example, is intended to provide generic skills to

Managerialism combines management’s generic tools and knowledge with

and society while depriving business owners (property), workers

To achieve this, management had to mutate into Managerialism,

In terms of historical-geographical chronology, Managerialism’s mana-

 anagerialism = Management + Ideology +

this process by adding ideology. Today, the ideology of Managerialism

society. Implicitly, a catch-all umbrella ideology, such as Managerialism’s

become one of Managerialism’s most favourite buzzwords.39 Restructuring

Managerialism and Neoliberalism

By contrast, Managerialism is not primarily concerned with such

perhaps, the clearest point of difference between both remains democ-

Business executives are society’s leading champions of free markets and

Managerialism’s ideology, rhetoric and factual interests are worlds

The language of Managerialism originating as a linguistic doctrine of busi-

Managerialism came to the lifeworld as the German army came to Poland.

There are many more examples of the language of Managerialism. Just

Table 1.1 The vocabulary of Managerialism

Table 1.1 (continued)

Table 1.1 (continued)

Onboarding—The process of introducing new recruits to the contact centre.

nearly all forms of critical scholarship in order to be a functional and

example, shown in the initial collusion of big businesses and weakened

Managerialism. Perhaps orbit best describes Managerialism’s asphyxiation

1. Managerialism’s ideological hegemony remains capable of containing

The hegemonic ideological domination of the language of

the sum-total of ideological instruments invented by management, per-

anticipates specific modes of utilising human beings while simultane-

issuing linguistic guidelines for the use of the language of Managerialism.

mathematical equations eliminates dialectical thinking in favour of one-­

The Structure of the Book

Chapter 2: Models of Managerialism

Chapter 2 provides a short history of what might be called ‘simple’ man-

Chapter 3: The Twelve Language Areas

Chapter 3 is about the twelve language areas in which Managerialism

highlights the difference between the macro-economic language of neo-

Chapter 4: The Language of Managerialism and its

Chapter 5: Business Schools and the Language

The key theme of Chap. 5 is to highlight the role of business schools as

essential role in spreading managerial language and its infiltration, and

Chapter 6: Language and Rationality

This chapter is about the assumed rationality of the language of

Chapter 7: Corporate Apparatchiks and Superlatives

Chapter 8: The Curse of the Language

1 Introducing the Language of Managerialism 1

3 The Twelve Language Areas of Managerialism 65

5 Business Schools and the Language of Managerialism131

7 Corporate Apparatchiks and Superlatives191

8 Conclusion: The Curse of the Language of Managerialism223

Table 1.1 The vocabulary of Managerialism 13

anagerialism = Management + Ideology +

Managerialism and Neoliberalism

mathematical equations eliminates dialectical thinking in favour of one-

The Structure of the Book

Chapter 2: Models of Managerialism

Chapter 3: The Twelve Language Areas

Chapter 4: The Language of Managerialism and its

Chapter 5: Business Schools and the Language

Chapter 6: Language and Rationality

Chapter 7: Corporate Apparatchiks and Superlatives

Chapter 8: The Curse of the Language