Everyone is talking about partnerships environmental partnerships, social partnerships, public-private partnerships, partnerships between NGOs in Europe and the third world. How did partnerships come to emerge almost everywhere and at almost the same time? What is the inner logic of partnerships? And at what point does that logic begin to break down? In a highly complex society, the conditions on which agreements are built are constantly changing, demanding, first and foremost, that parties agree to reach an agreement. Partnerships are precisely such "second order" agreements. They are contracts about contracts or promises of later promises. Partnerships both depend upon and reproduce the plasticity of promises and contracts. They link together many different forms of communication be they those of economy, law, politics, health, etc. without ever producing unified, homogenous communities. Partnerships are machines that produce possibilities, and partners are always looking for p

More and more adults participate as employees in games at work and in public and voluntary organizations. Power at play covers the intricate linkages between pedagogy, play and power. It shows how power today suspends itself through play and analyzes organized play as a symptom of more radical changes of the exercise of power in work and society.

This title looks at how power communication in the recent years has begun to reflect on its own limits in a new way. It focuses on a number of areas within the welfare state and how power desires non-power, including financial policy, voluntary policy, educational policy and public steering technologies.

The 1st textbook to examine how new trends such as "radical innovation", "co-creation" and "potentialization" challenge fundamental values in the public sector. Bridging traditional public management approaches that tend to exclude social and societal problems, with broader social theories apt to capture new dilemmas and challenges, the authors show how the effects of new forms of managerialism penetrate the state, local governments, welfare institutions as well as professional work and citizens' rights.

What does it mean to organize when the only established premise is that everything is transient? How is it possible for an organization to manage expectations based on the expectation of the unexpected?In this thought-provoking book Niels Akerstrom Andersen uses a unique combination of deconstruction, systems theory and discourse theory to critically discuss topics such as the management of feelings, partnerships as second order promises, and work-life balance as an immune defense against over-socialized employees. He assesses the parallels between layoffs in intimate organizations and modern professional divorce discourses, and explores the dichotomy of double-bounded management commanding both 'do as I say' and 'be autonomous'. In so doing, Professor Andersen encourages the reader to look at relationships in the workplace in new ways. This unique book will prove invaluable for academics and students of human resource management, organizational behavior and critical management studies. Contents: Introduction 1. Diagnostics of the Present and Second-Order Observation 2. Adapting to Adaptability: The Machine of Transience 3. From Membership to Self-enrolment: The Production of the Employee who Creates Herself in the Organizational Image 4. Management of Authentic Feelings: The Trembling Organization 5. Managing Interpenetration and Intensity 6. Loving Layoffs: The Intimate Strategies of the Break-up 7. Unbound Binding: From Employee Contracts to Partnerships 8. The Organization as a Nexus of Partnerships Conclusion: Transient Relationships - Towards the Intensity Machine Bibliography Index

What does it mean to organize when the only established premise is that everything is transient? How is it possible for an organization to manage expectations based on the expectation of the unexpected?In this thought-provoking book Niels Akerstrom Andersen uses a unique combination of deconstruction, systems theory and discourse theory to critically discuss topics such as the management of feelings, partnerships as second order promises, and work-life balance as an immune defense against over-socialized employees. He assesses the parallels between layoffs in intimate organizations and modern professional divorce discourses, and explores the dichotomy of double-bounded management commanding both 'do as I say' and 'be autonomous'. In so doing, Professor Andersen encourages the reader to look at relationships in the workplace in new ways. This unique book will prove invaluable for academics and students of human resource management, organizational behavior and critical management studies. Contents: Introduction 1. Diagnostics of the Present and Second-Order Observation 2. Adapting to Adaptability: The Machine of Transience 3. From Membership to Self-enrolment: The Production of the Employee who Creates Herself in the Organizational Image 4. Management of Authentic Feelings: The Trembling Organization 5. Managing Interpenetration and Intensity 6. Loving Layoffs: The Intimate Strategies of the Break-up 7. Unbound Binding: From Employee Contracts to Partnerships 8. The Organization as a Nexus of Partnerships Conclusion: Transient Relationships - Towards the Intensity Machine Bibliography Index

This book is about how power communication inrecent years hasbegun to reflect on its own limits in a new way. It focuseson a number of areas within the welfare state and how power desires non-power. It looks at financial policy, voluntary policy, educational policy and public steering technologies.

More and more adults participate as employees in games at work and in public and voluntary organizations. Power at play covers the intricate linkages between pedagogy, play and power. It shows how power today suspends itself through play and analyzes organized play as a symptom of more radical changes of the exercise of power in work and society.

This exciting and innovative book fills a gap in the growing area of discourse analysis within the social sciences. It provides the analytical tools with which students and their teachers can understand the complex and often conflicting discourses across a range of social science disciplines.Examining the theories of Foucault, Koselleck, Laclau and Luhmann, the book: - vbTab]focuses on the political and social aspects of their writing;- vbTab]discusses and combines their theories to suggest new analytical strategies for understanding society;- vbTab]combines theory with practical illustrations.A best seller in Denmark, this English edition is vital reading for anyone with an interest in discourse analysis. It will also be invaluable to anyone looking at the analytical works of Foucault, Koselleck, Laclau and Luhmann. Students will find the clear exposition of the theories and strategies supported by an easy-to-digest, easy-to-read layout, which includes summaries and boxed examples highlighting the relevance of analytical strategies to social and policy research.