MANAGEMENT AS A TECHNICAL PRACTICE - PROFESSIONALIZATION OR RESPONSIBILIZATION

This paper attempts to make sense of the apparent paradox of the succe ssful representation of management as a technical practice coexisting with a lack of success in management sustaining a project of professio nalization. The success of the former has, for many occupations, been the key to the latter, especially when allied with university licensin g. The main issues and debates relating to management as a technical p ractice, management as a profession, and the role of the management ac ademy are outlined. This leads to an alternative interpretation of the ir relation, in which the representation of management as a technical practice is envisaged not as a Failed professionalization of managemen t but rather as a successful responsibilization of managers.