The Triumph of Nonsense in Management Studies: A Commentary

Abstract

Professor Dennis Tourish’s recent essay ( AMLE , March 2020) provides an analysis of why business schools and management education are perceived to be in a state of crisis. This commentary focuses on one important aspect of Tourish’s criticism of the management education field; namely, the quality, value, and appropriateness of the field’s research in advancing knowledge. His main criticisms are that the failure of management research arises from its extremely strong focus on theory development, its inadequate writing, and the formulaic, template style and formal structure of research papers in leading journals. Indeed, the rules and practices underlying the development of this portfolio of management research seems to have been defined by academia itself.