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Organizational Olympians

Heroes and Heroines of Organizational Myths

  • Book
  • © 2008

Overview

Editors:
  1. Monika Kostera

    1. Växjö University, Sweden
      Warsaw University, Poland

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Table of contents (19 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction to the Trilogy: Mythologies of Organizational Everyday Life

    • Monika Kostera
    Pages 1-8

  3. Introduction to Organizational Olympians: Heroes and Villains of Organizational Myths

    • Monika Kostera
    Pages 9-16

  4. Louhi, the Mistress of Northland: The Power of the Loner

    • Iiris Aaltio
    Pages 17-29

  5. Engaged Leadership: Living the Myth and Embodying the Legend of the Olympian Athlete

    • Elena P. Antonacopoulou
    Pages 30-39

  6. From Managers to Artists and Priests: On Transformation and Development of Organizational Leaders

    • Dorota Bourne
    Pages 40-49

  7. The Uncanny Organization Man: Superhero Myths and Contemporary Management Discourse

    • Alf Rehn, Marcus Lindahl
    Pages 50-58

  8. From Rags to Riches: A Fairy Tale or Living Ethos? Stories of Polish Entrepreneurship during and after the Transformation of 1989

    • Małgorzata Ciesielska
    Pages 59-70

  9. ‘I Could Have Been Like Lou Barlow, But I’m More Like Ken Barlow’: Long-Stayers as Heroes or Failures

    • Yvonne Guerrier
    Pages 71-79

  10. Little Johnny and the Wizard of OS: The PC User as a Fool Hero

    • Dariusz Jemielniak
    Pages 80-91

  11. An Emerging Legend of a Kosovar Heroine: Narrating Female Entrepreneurs

    • Lena Olaison
    Pages 92-101

  12. Gender-Content Myths and their Role in Nation Forming

    • Elzbieta Pakszys
    Pages 102-107

  13. Adulation, Abandonment and Amputation: Images of Women in Vedic Mythology

    • Sumohon Matilal
    Pages 108-118

  14. Romanian Socialist Directors: Heroes or Tricksters?

    • Mihaela Kelemen, Dirk Bunzel
    Pages 119-131

  15. The Hard-working Hero/ine among Phantoms, Donors and Dark Forces: On Mythical Features in Polish Organizational Imagination

    • Katarzyna Wolanik Boström
    Pages 132-141

  16. Mighty McManus: Mystery, Myth and Modernity

    • Tony Watson
    Pages 142-154

  17. Myth and Charisma as Symbolic Capital: The Case of Architecture

    • Alexander Styhre, Mats Sundgren
    Pages 155-164

  18. Paradise Lost: Impartiality of an Arbitrator

    • Joanna Jemielniak
    Pages 165-174

  19. The Film Producer: A Scapegoat or/and a Midwife in the Film Making Process?

    • Marja Soila-Wadman
    Pages 175-183

  20. The Witchcraft of Professionalism: The Attractiveness of Ideal Types of Professions

    • Karin Jonnergård
    Pages 184-194
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Keywords

About this book

The first volume in a series of three focuses on myth in everyday organizational life, pertaining to individual actors: heroes and heroines, and the roles they play in organizations. Attitudes and temperaments, as well as professional ethos, are narrated and mythologized to reveal an archetypal dimension of organizing and organizations.

Reviews

'Monika Kostera has completed an extensive book project of not only one edited volume but altogether three volumes in her trilogy on organizational myths, epics and sagas...[she] has succeeded very well in this endeavor: the trilogy reflects her genuine insights and extensive experience in this field of research. It was a pleasure to read chapters that addressed the themes from many versatile angles yet created a consistent whole, written by authors from many different nationalities and backgrounds...These books are recommended reading for those already familiar with organizational myths and metaphors, but are also very accessible for those less familiar with the mythical side of organizational life. In fact, one wishes that many mainstream management courses, with prevalent modernistic assumptions of rationality and linearity, inherent in mainstream business studies, would include one of these books in their reading list to broaden students' horizons and generate a deeper understanding of the complexities of organizational life.' - Scandinavian Journal of Management

Editors and Affiliations

  • Växjö University, Sweden

    Monika Kostera

  • Warsaw University, Poland

    Monika Kostera

About the editor

IIRIS AALTIO is Professor at the University of Jyväskylä and Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. ELENA ANTONACCOPOULOU is Professor of Organizational Behaviour at the University of Liverpool Management School, UK. DIRK BUNZEL has studied in Germany and Australia and after researching the Future of Work in Scottish call centres and software firms, Dirk has been lecturing at Keele University in England since 2001. MALGORZATA CIELSIELSKA is a doctoral student at the Copenhagen Business School (Denmark). She graduated in management and marketing (MA with honors) from the School of Management of Warsaw University (Poland) in 2003 DOROTA BOURNE has worked on research projects that addressed international knowledge transfer, the idea of the built-in quality, a difference between organizational image and identity and the application of the Personal Construct Psychology in business YVONNE GUERRIER is Professor of Organization Studies and Dean of the School of Business and Social Sciences at Roehampton University, UK DARIUSZ JEMIELNIAK is Assistant Professor of management at Kozminski Business School (Poland) and a visiting researcher at Cornell University (2004-2005), Harvard University (2007) and University of California Berkeley (2008), USA JOANNA JEMIELNIAK is an Assistant Professor at Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management, Warsaw, Poland KARIN JONNERGARD is Professor in corporate governance and management control at the University of Växjö and also connected to the University of Lund. She is research leader at the Forum for Research on Professions, Växjö University and the member of the research group Corporate Entrepreneurship and Governance MIHAELA KELEMEN is Professor or Management Studies at Keele University, UK. MARCUS LINDAHL is Assistant Professor at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden MONIKA KOSTERA is Ordinary Professor in Management, Professor at Växjö and Warsaw Universities SUMOHON MATILAL is a doctoral student in the Department of Accounting, Finance and Management, at the University of Essex, UK LENA OLAISON is a doctoral candidate in management at the Department of Accounting, Finance and Management, University of Essex, UK ELZBIETA PAKSZYS is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Philosophy Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. ALF REHN holds a Chair of Management and Organization at Åbo Akademi University, and is a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden MARJA SOILA-WADMAN is Assistant Professor at the School of Industrial Engineering and Management, The Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden ALEXANDER STYHRE is Professor in technology management, specializing in project management at Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden MATS SUNDGREN is a Principal Scientist, Clinical Development, Astra Zeneca R&D Mölndal, Sweden TONY WATSON is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Nottingham University Business School, UK KATARZYNA WOLANIK BOSTROM works as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Culture and Media/ Ethnology at Umeå University in Sweden

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Organizational Olympians

  • Book Subtitle: Heroes and Heroines of Organizational Myths

  • Editors: Monika Kostera

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230583580

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management Collection, Business and Management (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited 2008

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-230-51571-0Published: 25 June 2008

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-35410-8Published: 25 June 2008

  • eBook ISBN: 978-0-230-58358-0Published: 24 June 2008

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVI, 220

  • Topics: Organization, Behavioral/Experimental Economics

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