The Hype and Hope of Interdisciplinary Management Studies

Abstract

Demand for multi-, if not interdisciplinary, research is currently strong, especially from funding bodies. But it often leaves little more than a shrill echo within the corridors of management departments and business schools. Academic respectability still seems to remain with the single disciplinary approach of economics, finance, sociology, etc. and also increasingly with those management subjects such as marketing, human-resource management or operations research that depend upon other social sciences for their existence, although the latter have considerable difficulty in gaining recognition and respect from those in the disciplines from which they draw their theoretical inspiration. As academics struggle to find ways of bridging their separate and distinct disciplines practitioner divisions are being questioned and eroded as they are increasingly regarded as dysfunctional in achieving the flexibility and speedy responses demanded of the modern corporation. This paper seeks to develop an analytical understanding of the obstacles to the development of interdisciplinary research and teaching in management.