`This book offers a lively and readable account of how scholars and students might engage with some of the more unusual critical theories associated with the critical management research project. Supported by a wealth of empirical and theoretical material, this book will introduce readers to the complex issues surrounding how to carry out critical management research rather than simply providing prescriptive answers' - Heather Hoepfl, University of Essex `Kelemen and Rumens have done management scholars a great service in reviewing a huge amount of disparate knowledge and compressing it into a succinct, lively and provocative book on the current state of Critical Management Studies. This is a "must-read" for those both inside and outside CMS' - Keith Grint, Cranfield University `Management is a critical term for contemporary politics, but getting to grips with managerialism requires research methods that can deal with contemporary and controversial topics. This book provides the tools for that project, and will be invaluable for scholars and students who wish to challenge the conservatism of management academy at the present time' - Martin Parker, University of Leicester Why have certain theories shaped management research? Where do research theory and practice meet, if at all? To ask these questions is to think critically about management research. Mihaela L Kelemen and Nick Rumens explore the fundamentals of critical management theory and their influences on management research, and in doing so offer the student an illuminating introduction to what is often a disparate and complex array of issues. 10 expressive chapters examine theoretical foundations, including those most often sidelined in mainstream management theory; from postmodernism and deconstruction to American pragmatism, along with methodological choices and the intellectual issues each of these presents. Also provided is a timely consideration to the consequences and ethical concerns now inherent to any research issue.

Managing Quality provides a comprehensive review and critical analysis of quality management discourses and techniques by drawing on a number of management disciplines such as operations management, HRM, organizational behaviour, strategy, marketing and organization theory.

The book:

- introduces readers to key concepts and issues in quality management

- provides an overview of both managerial and critical perspectives on quality management

- presents the 'wisdom' of quality management gurus

- documents the way quality is pursued in manufacturing, service and public sector organizations

- compares and contrasts hard and soft technologies of quality management

- critically reviews the rhetoric of TQM and business process re-engineering (BPR)

- examines the consequences of quality on stakeholders

- scrutinizes the language of quality management

- documents the mundane nature of quality managemnt practices through the use of real life case studies

Managing Quality is an up-to-date and student-centered treatment of quality management that will be essential reading for undergraduate students of operations and quality management. It will also be extremely relevant to all MBA students, and useful reading for students of HRM, organization theory and the sociology of organizations.