Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Queer Business: Towards Queering the Business School

  • Chapter
Book cover The Entrepreneurial University

Abstract

Business schools are a common and accepted feature of the university landscape. Many embody the characteristics associated with the ‘entrepreneurial university’, especially the emphasis it places on capitalising knowledge, being market-driven and adopting a ‘triple helix’ schema for modelling relations and interaction among university-industry-government (Etzkowitz, 2004). At the same time, responsibility is conferred upon enterprising business schools to create environments that nurture diverse inclusivity, potentially allowing hitherto marginalised groups of people to contribute to the successful running of these institutions. Indeed, it is crucial for such groups to have a say in shaping the business schools of the future. In that respect, one might hope, perhaps naively, that business schools would commit themselves to imagining and using categorical difference in ways that exceed market-driven versions of employees as ‘diversity dividends’ (Adkins, 2002). As I and some others see it, part of this endeavour must involve developing ‘openness to becoming’ different, permitting individuals to inhabit different identity categories, realities and possibilities (Petersen and Davies, 2010). This necessitates taking seriously the needs, interests and voices of peripheral groups of people who have struggled to be heard and validated. However, scholarly research in this area gives us reason to be worried (Morrish and O’Mara, 2011).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Addison, M. (2012) Feeling your way within and across classed spaces: the (re) making and (un)doing of identities of value within Higher Education in the UK. In Y. Taylor (ed.), Educational Diversity: The Subject of Difference and Different Subjects. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adkins, L. (2002) Revisions: Gender and Sexuality in Late Modernity. Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen, K., Quinn, J., Hollingworth, S. and Rose, A. (2012) Doing diversity and evading equality: the case of student work placements in the creative sector. In Y. Taylor (ed.) Educational Diversity: The Subject of Difference and Different Subjects. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, E. and King, D. (2010) The elephant in the room: critical management studies conferences as a site of body pedagogics. Management Learning, 41(4), 429–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bendl, R., Fleischmann, A. and Walenta, C. (2008) Diversity management discourse meets queer theory’, Gender in Management: An International Journal, 23(6), 382–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binks, M., Starkey, K. and Mahon, C. (2006) Entrepreneurship education and the business school. Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, 18(1), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowring, M. and Brewis, J. (2009) Truth and consequences: managing lesbian and gay identity in the Canadian workplace. Equal Opportunities International, 28(5), 361–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1994) Against proper objects. Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, 6(2–3), 1–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chasin, A. (2000) Selling Out: The Gay and Lesbian Movement Goes to Market. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clough, P. (1994) Feminist Thought. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Currie, G., Knights, D. and Starkey, K. (2010) Introduction: a post-crisis critical reflection on business schools. British Journal of Management, 21(1), 1–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dilley, P. (1999) Queer theory: under construction. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 12(5), 457–472.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, L. (2004) No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Eng, D. L., Halberstam, J. and Muñoz, J. E. (2005) Introduction: what’s Queer about Queer Studies now? Social Text, 23(3–4), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H. (2004) The evolution of the Entrepreneurial University. International Journal of Technology and Globalisation, 1(1), 64–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleischmann, A. (2009) Queering the principles: a Queer/intersectional reading of Frederick W. Taylor’s the principles of scientific management. In M. F. Ozbilgin (ed.), Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Work: Theory and Scholarship. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford, J. and Harding, N. (2010) Get back into that Kitchen, woman: management conferences and the making of the female professional worker. Gender, Work and Organization, 17(5), 503–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fotaki, M. (2011) The sublime object of desire (for knowledge): sexuality at work in business and management schools in England. British Journal of Management, 22(1), 42–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fournier, V. and Grey, C. (2000) At the critical moment: conditions and prospects for critical management studies. Human Relations, 53(1), 7–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson-Graham, J. K. (1999) Queer(y)ing capitalism in and out of the classroom. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 23(1), 80–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grey, C. (2002) What are business schools for? on silence and voice in management education. Journal of Management Education, 26(5), 496–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grey, C. (2004) Reinventing business schools: the contribution of critical management education. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 3(2), 178–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halley, J. and Parker, A. (eds) (2011) After Sex? On Writing Since Queer Theory. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harding, N., Lee, H., Ford, J. and Learmonth, M. (2011) Leadership and charisma: a desire that cannot speak its name? Human Relations, 64(7), 927–949.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hines, S. and Taylor, Y. (eds) (2012) Sexualities: Reflections and Futures. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Humphrey, J. C. (1999) Organizing sexualities, organized inequalities: lesbians and gay men in public service occupations. Gender, Work and Organization, 6(3), 134–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirp, D. L. (2003) Shakespeare, Einstein and the Bottom Line. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kotz, D. M. (2009) The financial and economic crisis of 2008: a systemic crisis of neoliberal capitalism. Review of Radical Political Economics, 41(3), 305–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lazzeroni, M. and Piccaluga, A. (2003) Towards the Entrepreneurial University. Local Economy, 18(1), 38–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, H., Learmonth, M. and Harding, N. (2008) Queer(y)ing public administration. Public Administration, 86(1), 149–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McQuarrie, F. A. E. (1998) Expanding the concept of diversity: discussing sexual orientation in the management classroom. Journal of Management Education, 22(2), 162–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morrish, L. and O’Mara, K. (2011) Queering the discourse of diversity. Journal of Homosexuality, 58(6–7), 974–991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozturk, M. B. (2011) Sexual orientation discrimination: exploring the experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual employees in Turkey. Human Relations, 64(8), 1099–1118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papayannakis, L., Kastelli, I., Damigos, D. and Mavrotas, G. (2008) Fostering entrepreneurship education in engineering curricula in Greece: experiences and challenges for a technical university. European Journal of Engineering Education, 33(2), 199–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker, M. (2002a) Against Management: Organization in the Age of Managerialism. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, M. (2002b) Queering management and organization. Gender, Work and Organization, 9(2), 146–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patriotta, G. and Starkey, K. (2008) From utilitarian morality to moral imagination: reimagining the business school. Journal of Management lnquiry, 17(4), 319–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, E. B. and Davies, B. (2010) In/Difference in the neoliberalised university. Learning and Teaching, 3(2), 92–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J. and Fong, C. (2004) The Business School ‘Business’: some lessons from the US experience. Journal of Management Studies, 41(8), 1501–1520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reedy, P. and Learmonth, M. (2009) Other possibilities? the contribution to management education of alternative organizations. Management Learning, 40(3), 241–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renn, K. A. (2010) LGBT and Queer research in higher education: the state and status of the field. Educational Researcher, 39(2), 132–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, D. (2005) Desiring sameness? the rise of a neoliberal politics of normalisation. Antipode, 37(3), 515–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, D., Mclaughlin, J. and Casey, M. E. (2012) Intersections Between Feminist and Queer Theory. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rofes, E. (2000) Bound and gagged: sexual silences, gender conformity and the gay male teacher. Sexualities, 3(4), 439–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowlinson, M. and Hassard, J. (2011) How come the critters came to be teaching in business schools? contradictions in the institutionalization of critical management studies’, Organization, 18(5), 673–689.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rumens, N. (2012) Queering cross-sex friendships: an analysis of gay and bisexual men’s workplace friendships with heterosexual women. Human Relations, 65(8), 955–978.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rumens, N. (2013a) Queering men and masculinities in construction: towards a research agenda. Construction Management and Economics, 31(8), 802–815.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rumens, N. (2013b) Organisation studies: not nearly ‘queer enough’. In Y. Taylor and M. Addison (eds), Queer Presences and Absences, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salbu, S. (2002) Foreword to B. Cruver. Anatomy of Greed: The Unshredded Truth from an Enron Insider. London: Hutchinson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidman, S. (ed.) (1996) Queer Theory/Sociology. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidman, S. (2002) Beyond the Closet: The Transformation of Gay and Lesbian Life. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, J. S. (2012) I thought this course was going to be streamlined? the limits of normal and the possibilities of transgression. Journal of Homosexuality, 59(7), 938–956.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spargo, T. (1999) An Introduction to Foucault and Queer Theory. New York: Icon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starkey, K. and Tempest, S. (2005) The future of the business school — knowledge challenges and opportunities. Human Relations, 58(1), 61–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Starkey, K. and Tiratsoo, N. (2007) The Business School and the Bottom Line. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Starkey, K. and Tempest, S. (2008) A clear sense of purpose? the evolving role of the business school. Journal of Management Development, 27(4), 379–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein, A. and Plummer, K. (1994) ‘I can’t even think straight’: ‘Queer’ theory and the missing sexual revolution in sociology. Sociological Theory, 12(2), 178–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talburt, S. (2000) Subject to Identity: Knowledge, Sexuality, and Academic Practices in Higher Education. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatli, A. (2012) On the power and poverty of critical (self) reflection in critical management studies: a comment on Ford, Harding and Learmonth. British Journal of Management, 23(1), 22–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Y. (2012a) Queer encounters of sexuality and class: navigating emotional landscapes of academia. Emotion, Space and Society, 8(3): 51–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Y. (2012b) Future subjects? education, activism and parental practices. Graduate Journal of Social Science, 9(2), 65–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, V. and Raeburn, N. (1995) Identity politics as high-risk activism: career consequences for lesbian, gay, and bisexual sociologists. Social Problems, 42(2), 252–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, M. and Cohen, L. (2008) Management in/as comic relief: Queer theory and gender performativity in the office. Gender, Work and Organization, 15(2), 113–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward, J. and Winstanley, D. (2003) The absent present: negative space within discourse and the construction of minority sexual identity in the workplace. Human Relations, 56(10), 1255–1280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward, J. (2008) Respectably Queer: Diversity Culture in LGBT Activist Organizations. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner, M. (1993) Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner, M. (1999) The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Nick Rumens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Week Centre for Social and Policy Research, London South Bank University, UK

    Yvette Taylor

Copyright information

© 2014 Nick Rumens

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Rumens, N. (2014). Queer Business: Towards Queering the Business School. In: Taylor, Y. (eds) The Entrepreneurial University. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137275875_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation