1.  Ghoshal, S. (2005) ‘Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices’, Academy Of Management Learning & Education, 4(1): 75-91.

1.Ghoshal2005-Bad Management Theories

2.  Stein, M. & Pinto, J. (2011) The Dark Side of Groups: A “Gang at Work” in Enron. Group & Organization Management, 36, 692–721.

2.Stein2011-Dark Side of Groups

1.  Ghoshal, S. (2005) ‘Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices’, Academy Of Management Learning & Education, 4(1): 75-91.
Ghoshal’s paper is very firm on putting the onus of responsibility on academia, but is it overly so? Those not obeying the rules will always prosper when left unchecked and unrestrained whereas the moral well intentioned company will get left behind in comparison. The travelling expedition who ruthlessly abandons struggling companions will get there faster than more compassionate rivals. In addition the question should be asked if the situation as it is now is actually reversible. Friedman influenced politicians such as Thatcher and Reagan have surely opened the stable door so wide that the horse has well and truly bolted. Would a change in academic teachings and publications, however dramatic, really see a comprehensive re-introduction of the systematic checks and balances, regulatory bodies, trade unions and trade barriers which have now all but been dismantled by successive governments?
2.  Stein, M. & Pinto, J. (2011) The Dark Side of Groups: A “Gang at Work” in Enron. Group & Organization Management, 36, 692–721.
The Stein and Pinto paper introduces us to some interesting topics around psychoanalysis but is there a feeling that all we having explained to us is an elaborate explanation of what is simply peer pressure? Also, the discussions on Enron and Lehman Bros seem to be very much a reverse of the Halo theory. The line from that paper that if we were to discuss what characteristics these companies have in common you might conclude that they all reside in buildings seems particularly apt. In the same way that Rosenzweig compellingly argues that we tend to prefer simple notions and that complexities are set aside in our desire to tell a satisfying story when describing success, surely the same charge can be levelled at Stein and Pinto when discussing failings. After all there are surely companies out there who share some or possibly all of the listed traits who have not gone to ruin in the same way.