Pop-Management: 15 Years Later – the incorporation of pop-management in the work of executives of big companies

Abstract

This article analyzes how corporative executives construct their arguments to justify incorporating elements of pop-management literature into their work. To reach our goal, we review the literature on pop-management and criticism directed at this phenomenon. Regarding the procedures, we interviewed 12 executives using argumentative analyses. Our analyses recognized four argumentative lines used by the interviewees: (1) Pop-management is a tool to support decision making; (2) Pop-management offers practical guidelines to achieve results; (3) Pop-management is a tool to disseminate knowledge for the relationship networks; (4) Pop-management is a source for personal improvement. Our findings point to directions on how executives incorporate the knowledge obtained from pop-management literature into their activities as well as the implications in these processes. Managers and executives might use the contributions of this study in their decision making on the use of pop-management literature in their work.