Management and Langugage explores and develops the image of the manager as one who is aware of, and attends to, the way in which language is used in everyday managerial activity. Much managerial activity is achieved through language and a vital task for any manager is to generate with others an intelligible account of the various feelings that surround the contested issues in the organization.

Introduction - David J Holman and Richard Thorpe Management and Language: The Manager as a Practical AuthorPART ONE: SETTING THE SCENEManagers as Practical Authors - John Shotter and Ann L Cunliffe Everyday Conversations for ActionPART TWO: DEVELOPING AND UNDERSTANDING THE STORYUsing Narrative and Telling Stories - David M BojeFull of Characters - David J Holman, Jeff Gold and Richard Thorpe Identity and Talk in Practical AuthoringVisual Media and the Construction of Meaning - Richard Thorpe and Joep CornelissonPART THREE: DEVELOPING THE AUTHOR'S POSITIONThe Leader as a Practical Narrator - Francois Cooren and Gail T Fairhust Leadership as the Art of TranslatingThe Logic of Message Design in Organisational Argument - Shirley Willihnganz, Joy L Hart and Charles A WillardAuthoring as a Collaborative Process through Communication - Stanley DeetzPART FOUR: REWRITING THE SCRIPT, RESCRIPTING THE AUTHORConversations and the Authoring of Change - Jeffrey D Ford and Laurie W FordAll in a Knot of One Anothers' Labours - Mike Pedler Action Learning as Joint Practical AuthoringA Critical Conversation Between Author Managers and Management Authors - Dorothy Lander and Craig Prichard