The Rise of Management-Speak

When important decisions are made – whether in organizations or in a public debate – the winner is almost certainly a management-speaker. It does not matter if the opponent is a well informed, committed and ­competent professional, a well prepared representative of an interest group, a politician with a large backing or a journalist who has been digging deep, still, the management-speaker gets the last say.The management-speakers do not have better knowledge of the factual ­matters, they are not more devoted than others, they do not represent ­stronger interests and they do not know anything more about the present or the future than other people. They are successful in managing decisions and decision makers into the right direction, because they speak a more ­powerful language than the others – the Management-Speak.This book contains essays on the language management-speak, its ­significance and the use of it. The essays are addressed to all readers who seek an answer to the question why management-speak really matters.Essays by: Johan Berglund, Lars Engwall, Maria Grafström, Sven Jungerhem, Lars Melin, Margareta Norlin, Alf Rehn, Björn Rombach, David Sköld, Åsa Wengelin och Patrik Zapata