On the usefulness of Nietzsche to strengthening the critical radicality of Critical Management Studies

Lebrument, Norbert Article On the usefulness of Nietzsche to strengthening the critical radicality of Critical Management Studies Cogent Business & Management Provided in Cooperation with: Taylor & Francis Group Suggested Citation: Lebrument, Norbert (2024) : On the usefulness of Nietzsche to strengthening the critical radicality of Critical Management Studies, Cogent Business & Management, ISSN 2331-1975, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 1-8, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2300843 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/325983 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Cogent Business & Management ISSN: 2331-1975 (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/oabm20 On the usefulness of Nietzsche to strengthening the critical radicality of Critical Management Studies Norbert Lebrument To cite this article: Norbert Lebrument (2024) On the usefulness of Nietzsche to strengthening the critical radicality of Critical Management Studies, Cogent Business & Management, 11:1, 2300843, DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2023.2300843 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2300843 © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Published online: 13 Feb 2024. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 764 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oabm20 ManageMent | ReseaRch LetteR Cogent Business & ManageMent 2024, VoL. 11, no. 1, 2300843 On the usefulness of Nietzsche to strengthening the critical radicality of Critical Management Studies norbert Lebrument Clermont auvergne university, CleRMa, Clermont-Ferrand, France ABSTRACT It is well known that there is little interest in nietzschean thought in the management sciences. this observation is supported by the low number of articles published in management science journals that use what could be called the nietzschean conceptual framework or even part of it. this observation of a weak mobilization of the nietzschean corpus can be explained, on the one hand, by the non-univocal character of the nietzschean style and, on the other hand, by the critical radicality of nietzschean thought. given this situation, one might expect critical Management studies to make significant use of nietzschean concepts, especially nietzschean genealogy. But this is not the case. nietzsche’s work is hardly used by critical Management studies (cMs). Yet cMs, because it seeks to question and challenge existing managerial practices by analysing the power dynamics, processes of domination and inequalities that are expressed in organisations, could benefit from the nietzschean genealogy. Indeed, nietzschean genealogy, which aims to shed light on the history and origins of values, can provide useful insights into the critical work carried out by cMs and broaden their scope of investigation. In this essay, I argue that cMs should incorporate nietzschean genealogy into their research in order to strengthen the critical scope of their work when questioning the axiological foundations of managerial practices and exploring the power relations that run through organisations. Introduction: Nietzsche, a ‘neglected’ thinker by the management sciences nietzsche has always been for me a loyal companion (which he wished to be in the eyes of his readers) who has always played the role of a lookout when the weather turns sour and it is necessary to rely on landmarks to find firm ground. During my studies, I had the opportunity to follow the courses of some French nietzschean exegetes, namely Professors Michel haar, eric Blondel, Patrick Wotling and Marc crépon, not forgetting christian Berner who introduced me to nietzsche during Year 13. this very personal context explains why, with age, I developed an affinity with this thinker that has followed me since the beginning of my career as a teacher-researcher in management sciences. these affinities with nietzsche have naturally led me to frequently wonder about the lack of interest in nietzschean thought in management sciences. this observation of a lack of interest is supported by the few articles published in management science journals that call upon what could be called the nietzschean framework or even part of it (see tables 1 and 2). this is a strange observation when one considers that there is a way of philosophising before and after nietzsche. Faced with the weak use of the nietzschean corpus in our research, I have finally found only two reasons for such a situation. the first reason is the asystematic and non-univocal character of nietzschean thought and style. every reader of nietzsche must have had the same experience as I did: nietzschean writings talk to each other, one can even say that they constitute a polyphonic network of conceptual analyses that communicate with © 2024 the author(s). Published by informa uK Limited, trading as taylor & Francis group CONTACT norbert Lebrument norber[email protected] Clermont auvergne university, CleRMa, Clermont-Ferrand, France. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2300843 this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. the terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 10 august 2023Revised 26 December 2023accepted 27 December 2023 KEYWORDS nietzsche; critical Management studies; management studies; critical analysis; genealogy REVIEWING EDITOR Pablo Ruiz, Universidad de castilla-La Mancha, spain SUBJECT Philosophy of Mind; Business, Management and accounting; Philosophy 2 n. LeBRUMent Table 1. Papers using only the nietzschean conceptual framework - sources: eBsCohost business source complete and Cairn. Bardon, thibaut, et emmanuel Josserand. 2011. « a nietzschean reading of Foucauldian thinking: constructing a project of the self within an ontology of becoming ». Organization 18 (4): 497-515. Chirat, alexandre. 2017. « nietzsche et le travail : ce « vice » de notre époque ». Revue de philosophie économique 18 (2): 59-101. Dunne, stephen. 2008. « Corporate social Responsibility and the Value of Corporate Moral Pragmatism ». Culture and Organization 14 (2): 135-149. Freund, James. 2015. « Rev Billy vs. the Market: a sane man in a world of omnipotent fantasies ». Journal of Marketing Management 31 (13-14): 1529-1551. Hillman, arya L. 2004. « nietzschean development failures ». Public Choice 119 (3/4): 263-280. Hjorth, Daniel, et alexandra Dawson. 2016. « the Burden of History in the Family Business organization ». Organization Studies 37 (8): 1089-1111. Köllen, thomas. 2020. « Worshipping equality as organizational idolatry? a nietzschean view of the normative foundations of the diversity management paradigm ». Scandinavian Journal of Management 36 (2): 1-9. Lapied, andré, et sophie swaton. 2013a. « sélection naturelle ou volonté de puissance : comment interpréter le processus de destruction créatrice ? » Revue de philosophie économique 14 (2): 43-65. Lapied, andré, et sophie swaton. 2013b. « L’entrepreneur schumpétérien est-il surhumain ? » Cahiers d’économie Politique 65 (2): 183-202. Lapied, andré, et sophie swaton. 2014. « Le cycle de la conjoncture chez schumpeter : éternel retour du même ? » Revue de philosophie économique 15 (1): 17-47. Lapied, andré, et sophie swaton. 2016. « Que veut Homo œconomicus ? » Revue de philosophie économique 17 (2): 147-178. Mcelwee, gerard, David Currie, et Peter somerville. 2012. « Managerialism and nihilism ». Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry 10 (4): 61-72. Morrell, Kevin. 2012. « evidence-based dialectics ». Organization 19 (4): 461-479. neilson, Francis. 1953. « the nietzsche-Wagner Rift ». American Journal of Economics & Sociology 12 (2): 211-217. ortmann, günther, et Jörg sydow. 2018. « Dancing in chains: Creative practices in/of organizations ». Organization Studies 39 (7): 899-921. Painter-Morland, Mollie, et Rosa slegers. 2018. « strengthening “giving Voice to Values” in Business schools by Reconsidering the “invisible Hand” Metaphor ». Journal of Business Ethics 147 (4): 807-819. stanisevski, Dragan. 2015. « agonistic Moderation: administrating With the Wisdom of sophrosyne ». Administration & society 47 (1): 5-23. tajalli, Payman, et steven segal. 2019. « a nietzschean re-evaluation of values as a way of re-imagining business ethics ». Business Ethics: A European Review 28 (2). Wiley-Blackwell: 234-242. townley, Barbara. 1999. « nietzsche, Competencies and ubermensch: Reflections on Human and inhuman Resource Management ». Organization 6 (2): 285-305. ulusoy, emre. 2016. « subcultural escapades via music consumption: identity transformations and extraordinary experiences in Dionysian music subcultures ». Journal of Business Research 69 (1): 244-254. Waistell, Jeff. 2007. « Metaphorical Perspectives of organisational Values ». Culture & Organization 13 (1): 83-97. Walters, Melissa. 2004. « alternative accounting thought and the prison-house of metaphor ». Accounting, Organizations & Society 29 (2): 157. Worden, skip. 2009. « a genealogy of Business ethics: a nietzschean Perspective ». Journal of Business Ethics 84 (3): 427-456. Table 2. Papers not using exclusively the nietzschean conceptual framework - sources: eBsCohost business source complete and Cairn. Bos, René. 2004. « the Fear of Wolves: anti-Hodological Ruminations about organizations and Labyrinths ». Culture & Organization 10 (1): 7-24. Costa Lima, Marcos. 2014. « a Conception of the World in Celso Furtado ». International Journal of Political Economy 43 (4): 82-95. Cronin, James, et James Fitchett. 2021. « Lunch of the last human: nutritionally complete food and the fantasies of market-based progress ». Marketing Theory 21 (1): 3-24. Cutler, ian. 2000. « the Cynical Manager ». Management Learning 31 (3): 295. elliston, Frederick. 1985. « the Philosopher in the Workplace ». Journal of Business Ethics 4 (4): 331-339. Francois, Yolande. 2015. « essay on the problem of power in organizations: a nietzschean and Hegelian approach to power. Power management and power led ». Revue internationale de psychosociologie et de gestion des comportements organisationnels, no 52 (juin): 279-292. Hacking, ian. 2002. « inaugural lecture: Chair of Philosophy and History of scientific Concepts at the Collège de France, 16 January 2001 ». Economy & Society 31 (1): 1-14. Hicks, steven V. 2009. « 5. the Project of Reconciliation and the Road to Redemption: Hegel’s social Philosophy and nietzsche’s Critique ». American Journal of Economics & Sociology 68 (1): 153-180. Howe, Louis e. 2002. « Mourning administrative generosity in a Postgenerous time: Lessons From Wallace shawn’s the Designated Mourner ». Administration & Society 33 (6): 583. Jørgensen, Kenneth, et David Boje. 2009. « genealogies of Becoming - antenarrative inquiry in organizations ». Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry 8 (1): 32-47. Macintosh, noirnan B. 2004. « a comment on “Recovering accounting” ». Critical Perspectives on Accounting 15 (4/5): 529-541. Macintosh, norman B. 2009. « “effective” genealogical History: Possibilities for Critical accounting History Research ». Accounting Historians Journal 36 (1): 1-27. Mcgoey, Linsey. 2007. « on the will to ignorance in bureaucracy ». Economy & Society 36 (2): 212-235. Romar, edward. 2009. « noble Markets: the noble/slave ethic in Hayek’s Free Market Capitalism ». Journal of Business Ethics 85 (1): 57-66. shionoya, Yuichi. 2009. « the history of economics as economics? ». European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 16 (4): 575-597. stevens, simon. 2017. « Life and Letting Die: a story of the Homeless, autonomy, and anti-social Behaviour ». Organization Studies 38 (5): 669-690. Vine, tom. 2020. « Brexit, trumpism and paradox: epistemological lessons for the critical consensus ». Organization 27 (3): 466-482. Walle, alf H. 2001. « Machiavelli, humanistic empiricism and marketing research ». Management Decision 39 (5): 403. Walton, Clarence C. 1993. « Business ethics and Postmodernism: a Dangerous Dalliance ». Business Ethics Quarterly 3 (3): 285-305. Wray-Bliss, edward. 2019. « Redeeming organisational soul ». Organization 26 (1): 55-74. cogent BUsIness & ManageMent 3 each other and where none of them can be understood as the deciding principle for the understanding of the others. In this reticular approach to conceptual analysis, which is supported by stylistic variety, the interpretation of the main nietzschean ‘concepts’ is never closed, which means that the reader must always be on his guard, as nietzsche constantly tries to lead him down false interpretative paths in order to mislead him, or even to confront him with his own contradictions. In reading nietzsche, I discovered a thinker who was disconcerting because he was testing me with a precise aim: there is a stylistic work in him which aims to select his readers on their capacity to orient themselves in a thought where the principles which command understanding are organised according to a reticular approach which is both decentralised and distributed. this decentralised and distributed character of nietzschean thought offers the reader few stabilised conceptual reference points, at least at first glance. the second reason for this weak mobilisation of nietzsche lies, in my opinion, in the critical radicality of nietzschean thought, which is considered disconcerting. the critical radicality of a thought that leads many researchers in management sciences to approach nietzsche only indirectly through his filiation with Deleuze, Derrida or Foucault, to name but a few. however, I am convinced that researchers in management science working on issues related to values or value judgements would have a definite interest in directly investing the corpus of a thinker whose philosophy has, by the very admission of Deleuze, Derrida and Foucault, considerably inspired their respective philosophies. Moreover, when I think about it, it seems to me rigorously impossible to understand Deleuze’s, Derrida’s and Foucault’s philosophies accurately and rigorously without ‘rubbing shoulders’ with nietzschean texts in depth. the lack of investment in nietzsche’s work by research in management sciences is all the more damaging in that the few references to nietzsche in these same works sometimes lead to misunderstandings or inaccuracies. these misunderstandings and inaccuracies often result from an understanding of nietzsche through the reading of another thinker - be it heidegger, Deleuze or Foucault - or an academic exegete. In short, nietzsche seems to me, wrongly, to be an unloved thinker of our beloved management sciences, or at least a thinker somewhat lost from view. CMS reluctant to ‘Nietzscheanise’ themselves given this state of affairs of a marginalised nietzsche, I nevertheless expected the critical Management studies stream (alvesson & Willmott, 1992) to make more pronounced and significant use of nietzschean texts (Mcelwee etal., 2012). Indeed, we know that the critical Management studies (cMs) have emerged over the last three decades as a field of management science that aims to identify and explore the power dynamics, inequalities and processes of domination that lie behind managerial discourses and practices. In this sense, cMs can be seen as a critical movement seeking to deconstruct dominant values in organisations and to promote a dialogue on possible alternatives. such a project led me to enter the cMs movement with the spontaneous assumption that nietzschean texts should have a prominent place. But this was not the case. the more I read, the more it became clear to me that nietzsche’s work was still very little used in the cMs. this is evidenced by the few references to nietzsche in the reference works in the field of cMs: • In critical management studies: a Reader (grey & Willmott, 2005), 1 reference to nietzsche. • In the oxford handbook of critical management studies (alvesson et al., 2009), 4 references to nietzsche; • In critical Management Research: Reflections from the Field (Jeanes & huzzard, 2014), 1 reference to nietzsche; • In the Routledge companion to critical Management studies (Prasad et al., 2015), 3 references to nietzsche. this is all the more surprising given that the nietzschean corpus proposes, albeit in an unformalised and structured manner, an approach to investigating values and power relations that is known as nietzschean genealogy (Jørgensen & Boje, 2009). the nietzschean genealogy (Merrick, 2021), which is basically a critical analysis approach aiming essentially at deconstructing the dominant values and at highlighting the power relations underlying them (Rayman, 2022), seems to me to be mobilisable by the 4 n. LeBRUMent cMs as a critical evaluation approach of the values and ideologies promoted in the organisations and incorporated by the individuals. Based as much on nietzschean texts as on their commentaries by Wotling (2016) and Blondel (2006) as well as on the nietzsche Dictionary (astor, 2017), the following table 3, which synthesizes the principles and the main moments of the nietzschean genealogical approach, then constitutes a methodological approach that can be applied to the studies of organizations: Finally, the question remained and continued to nag at me: what could account for this lack of interest in nietzschean thought and, above all, in its genealogy in the cMs? CMS are critical, but not radical enough from a Nietzschean point of view how can this marginalisation of nietzsche and his genealogy within the cMs be explained? In the following lines, I will venture to propose some possible answers to this question. once again, I will rely on the radicality of nietzschean thought to try to explain the little mobilisation of nietzschean texts in the work of the cMs. Indeed, in my opinion, the radicality of nietzschean thought can be considered as an explanatory element of this non-mobilisation of the nietzschean corpus. It should be remembered that what might be called the cMs project aims to propose, through a variety of studies, a critique of the values embodied by management within the approaches, methods, tools, practices and relationships to others that structure the everyday life of organisations. this critique is fundamentally aimed at exposing the tensions, contradictions and inequalities that the universalism of the values embodied by a globalised management is said to bear in the face of the plurality of our singular organisational realities. In so doing, the cMs movement participates in what is now called the critique of Table 3. Background, principles and stages of the application of the nietzschean genealogy. sources: based on Blondel (2006), Wotling (2016) and astor (2017). Background and principles of Nietzschean genealogy • genealogy is part of the nietzschean problematization of values and culture, which replaces the question of truth: it is therefore not a new instrument for identifying truths, nor is it a method for constructing knowledge. • it is not a historical approach, as it aims to evaluate the values embodied by psychological types that make up cultures. • it does not seek to identify principles (ontological or theoretical) at the origin of the phenomena studied: it is part of a way of thinking about reality in which any organisational or individual reality, even the most elementary, is understood as a process of interpretation, i.e. of evaluation. • Being part of a thought of interpretation, it considers any interpretation as the result of a process that takes place over a long period of time and is the result of conflicting or cooperative relationships between different drives (affects). First stage of the Nietzschean genealogy • Research the drive origins, i.e. the origin of the values (any value being the expression of a drive system) from which an interpretation of reality (theory, belief, practice, organization…) emerges. • in this first moment, genealogy does not aim to discover a single foundation or cause for the phenomenon under study: it seeks to identify the multiplicity of sources (rivalries or drive coalitions) at the origin of the incorporation of an interpretation, and therefore of a value. • genealogical work thus translates into the exploration of a complex field where multiple sources (drives) have produced an interpretation: every phenomenon is the result of a partisan interpretation for the benefit of a determined system of drives. • nietzsche gives several illustrations of this first moment of genealogy in his texts: • in paragraph 92 of Human, All Too Human (Nietzsche 1988a), book 1: the origin of justice is based on an agreement, a barter, between rival equivalent forces, far from any disinterested moral position. • in paragraph 22 of Human, All Too Human (Nietzsche 1988b), book 2: ‘mercantile morality’ is a refined axiological elaboration of ‘privateer morality’. • in paragraph 344 of The Gay Science (Nietzsche 1992): science is the fruit of ascetic values that have, with partiality, condemned illusion and error in the name of an unshakeable faith in truth. Second stage of the Nietzschean genealogy • after the identification of the infra-conscious and infra-rational impulse complexes at the origin of an interpretation, the aim of this second moment is to carry out the evaluation of these same complexes. • the second moment of the genealogy lies in the evaluation of the sources at the origin of certain interpretations: the aim is to evaluate the value of these interpretations for human life, i.e. to rule on their harmful or beneficial character for the intensification of human life. • the task of evaluating the impulse sources of an interpretation is made difficult by the fact that impulses can manifest themselves in various forms (immediate and spontaneous as well as intellectualised and spiritual) which act as masks hiding their real intention with regard to life: "the unconscious disguise of physiological needs under the masks of objectivity, of the idea, of pure intellectuality, is capable of assuming frightening proportions - and i have wondered often enough whether, all things considered, philosophy up to that point would not have been only an exegesis of the body and a misunderstanding about the body" (The Gay Science (1992), Preface, § 2). • this work of evaluating the sources at the origin of interpretations is also necessary, because an interpretation is only a symptom that can refer to very different pulsional situations: the illustration of this is given by nihilism, which can be just as much the sign of a despondency and discouragement with regard to life (passive nihilism) as, on the other hand, the sign of a creative exaltation aiming at an intensification of human life (active nihilism). cogent BUsIness & ManageMent 5 managerial ideology with a view to achieving real emancipation of individuals (alvesson & spicer, 2012) and overcoming inequalities within organisations. If this current has a raison d’être that can be judged noble and scientifically supported, it is possible, on reflection, to identify several reasons for the lack of mobilisation of the nietzschean critical approach. to be clear, the point is not to say that the cMs are not critical, but to understand why they are not radically critical in the nietzschean sense. the first reason I identify is that most of the research work of this current focuses on a critique of managerial values, practices and devices within organisations, but does not proceed to a critical work in the nietzschean sense on the meaning and the scope of values conveyed by these same managerial values, practices and devices. I would be tempted to say that the cMs stop short of a real nietzschean genealogical investigation by not going beyond its first moment, which consists of identifying the origin of the sources that produce the dominant interpretations that have conceived and favoured such and such organisational phenomena and such and such managerial practices. In my opinion, they fail to carry out the second moment of any nietzschean genealogical approach, which is to rigorously question the beneficial or harmful character for human life of the values embodied in the individual and organisational phenomena they criticise. I think that this is more deeply explained by the fact that cMs have from the outset a critical approach oriented by a system of values (emancipation of individuals, equality of individuals, valorisation of individual differences…) which functions as a set of axioms refusing any hierarchy and any logic of domination. now, if there is one thing that reading nietzsche’s work has taught me, it is that nietzschean thought is deeply a thought of hierarchy and command. In other words, for nietzsche, I think that cMs would be considered insufficiently critical for the simple reason that they do not examine, with all the intellectual probity required, the beneficial or harmful character to the development and intensification of human life in organisation of the values they promote. In other words, in nietzschean regime, cMs do not examine their own axiological system while at the same time examining the values, practices and managerial arrangements of organisations. of course, it is not a question of making a value judgement on these studies; it is simply a question of recognising, by putting ourselves ‘in nietzsche’s shoes’, their lack of critical radicalism which explains their weak mobilisation of nietzschean texts. Beyond the fact that the cMs carry within themselves an axiological system that is not evaluated, not criticized, the second reason, in my opinion, explaining their weak mobilization of the nietzschean corpus resides again in their lack of critical radicality, but this time towards the conceptual foundations of certain notions on which their analyses are based. I do not mean, of course, that they do not offer analyses that allow us to understand, for example, how relations of domination derived from social values are expressed in relations to others in organisations. But, for a reader who is a little familiar with nietzschean texts, I am forced to note that they mobilise, without questioning or authentically interrogating the systems of interpretation that they incorporate, certain notions that nietzsche precisely worked to ‘dynamite’ in order to bring to light their unfounded, subjective and falsifying character, namely the concepts of free will, of the identity of the individual and of language. Far be it from me to claim that there is no reflexive work on these concepts within this research, but this reflexive work is, from a nietzschean perspective, immediately hindered and biased by the value system that orientates them despite themselves. While I do not see the cMs as having a nietzschean lineage for the reasons outlined above, how can they integrate the radicality of nietzschean thought into their studies? I believe that by further integrating nietzschean genealogy into their analyses, cMs researchers could strengthen the critical scope of their work and develop more radical and innovative perspectives for understanding and transforming the organisational values and practices they study. I strongly believe that cMs need the critical radicality of nietzsche and his genealogy to inspect the organisational basements. Why CMS need Nietzsche to explore organisational subsoils Despite the shortcomings of the cMs that I have highlighted, it seems to me that they would benefit from using nietzschean genealogy. Indeed, the latter can be used as an approach to deconstructing organisational and managerial values in order to uncover their origins and historical foundations. this approach offers the possibility to highlight the social construction processes and power dynamics that 6 n. LeBRUMent Table 4. aims and expected contributions of using nietzschean genealogy in various fields of management. Management field aim of using nietzschean genealogy explanations of the use of nietzschean genealogy strategy Critical analysis of the ethical and historical foundations of strategies. nietzschean genealogy can help deconstruct the assumptions underlying business strategies by examining how historical values and beliefs influence current strategic decisions. this can reveal contradictions or hidden motivations behind certain strategic practices. Human Resource Management (HRM) Questioning the norms and values guiding HRM. By mobilising nietzsche’s genealogy, it’s possible to examine the historical and cultural evolution of HRM practices, questioning the basis of recruitment, training and retention policies. this can lead to a re-evaluation of practices considered “standard” or “effective”. Marketing analysis of the evolution of consumer values and their impact on marketing. the nietzschean approach can be used to question the foundations of marketing strategies, analysing how consumer preferences and behaviours have been shaped by cultural and historical values, and how these influence current marketing practices. Finance and Management Control exploration of the evolution of financial practices and their ethical foundations. the nietzschean genealogy allows questioning the values and ethical norms that underpin financial decisions and control management practices. this can reveal tensions between financial objectives and ethical imperatives and encourage reflection on responsible financial practices. operations and Logistics understanding the influence of historical values on current methods. examining the history of operations and logistics practices through a nietzschean lens can identify how methods and processes have been shaped by past values and beliefs, and assess their relevance in the current context of operations management. entrepreneurship Critique of entrepreneurial ideologies and underlying values. in entrepreneurship, using nietzsche’s genealogy can lead to a critical analysis of the ideals and beliefs that motivate entrepreneurs, questioning traditional notions of success, innovation and risk-taking, and exploring how these ideas have evolved over time. technology and information Management examination of the evolution of technological values and their influence. applying nietzschean genealogy in this field can reveal how historical and cultural values have shaped the development and management of information technology. this can lead to a re-evaluation of current practices and uses of technology and information management within organisations. Table 5. Methodological approach for applying the nietzschean genealogy to innovatech’s diversity and inclusion policy. innovatech and its diversity and inclusion policy Contextualisation of the diversity and inclusion policy innovatech is a major technology company. Renowned for its technological innovations, innovatech has recently introduced a diversity and inclusion policy aimed at promoting equal opportunities and the representation of minorities within the company. Stage Description of actions to be taken 1. identifying the origins of the diversity and inclusion policy (first moment in the nietzschean genealogy) • analyse how and why innovatech developed this policy. examine the historical influences, including social change and equal rights movements, that may have influenced this decision. • study the company’s speeches and publications to identify the main drivers and justifications put forward to justify this policy. 2. analysis and evaluation of the values underlying the diversity and inclusion policy (second moment in the nietzschean genealogy) • Question the nature of innovatech’s diversity and inclusion values: are they purely ethical or also influenced by market and brand image considerations? • examine whether these values reflect a genuine desire for equality or whether they serve to mask or legitimise existing power dynamics within the company. 3. study of the dynamics of power and domination • study the effects of the diversity and inclusion policy on power relations within innovatech: who really benefits? are there groups or individuals who feel marginalised or exploited? • analyse whether this policy could be used to justify or mask other less ethical practices within the company. 4. impact on employees and corporate culture • examine the practical impact of this policy on employees from diverse backgrounds: has it led to a real improvement in inclusion and representativeness? • evaluate the impact of this policy on corporate culture and employee relations, particularly in terms of group dynamics and communication. 5. Critical summary and prospects for improvement • Formulate a critique of innovatech’s diversity and inclusion policy in the light of nietzschean principles: does this policy encourage a genuine intensification of the life and creativity of employees in the service of the common good? • Propose recommendations for a more authentic and effective implementation of diversity and inclusion that is not just symbolic, but that engenders real and profound change within the company. Conclusion this fictional case study shows how the application of nietzschean genealogy can help reveal the real complexities, motivations and consequences of corporate diversity and inclusion policies, paving the way for more authentic and responsible management practices. By adopting the nietzschean genealogy, it is possible not only to better understand corporate policies such as innovatech’s, but also to propose improvements based on a deeper, historical understanding of the underlying power dynamics and values. cogent BUsIness & ManageMent 7 shape and justify these values. By mobilising genealogy, cMs researchers can reveal how organisational and managerial values are embedded in axiological systems expressed in specific social practices, and how these systems may evolve over time. this allows the pseudo-naturalisation and fictitious universality of these values to be delegitimised by identifying the processes and power relations that underpin them. It thus offers a well-founded critique of these values, opening up a space for critical debate that invites both a rethinking of the value systems that underpin managerial practices and the invention of more emancipatory and just forms of management. In this sense, table 4 proposes, for different fields of management, the objectives and expected contributions of studies that would mobilise the nietzschean genealogy. to illustrate in a concrete way how nietzschean genealogy could be used methodologically to critique certain corporate policies or practices, we propose two cases illustrating how to proceed methodologically with nietzschean genealogy. these two fictitious cases, which relate to real company policies, are presented in tables 5 and 6 and show the ways in which nietzschean genealogy can be used. In this way, we can see how nietzschean genealogy can provide a concrete framework for the critical analysis of certain corporate policies, going beyond mere denunciation to open up prospects for transformation. each methodological case study - a company’s diversity and inclusion policy or a teleworking policy - aims to show how nietzschean genealogy can be mobilised to examine and analyse the origins of the phenomena studied, the underlying values and the power dynamics at play in each case. these cases underline that the aim of nietzsche’s project is not to criticise moral values for the sake of criticising them and undermining morality; his aim is to question them in order to find out whether they make it possible to intensify human life for the common good and, if not, to transform them in order to achieve this aim. applied to business, nietzsche’s position is to deconstruct certain values in order to reconstruct them in the service of the common good. that’s why I believe that genealogy can be mobilised by cMs because it allows the identification and analysis of power processes within organisations. By highlighting the power relations that underlie any value system and the managerial practices associated with it, genealogy can then ‘unmask’ and bring to light the mechanisms of domination, exploitation and resistance that structure all organisations. complementary to other theoretical frameworks from organisational theory, this approach offers the possibility of revealing the power strategies deployed by individuals and groups of individuals to establish, Table 6. Methodological approach for applying the nietzschean genealogy to the case of FLCorp’s teleworking policy. FLCorp and its teleworking policy Contextualisation of the teleworking policy FLCorp is a large financial services company. after the CoViD-19 pandemic, it adopted a large-scale teleworking policy presented as a measure to improve employees’ work-life balance and increase productivity. Stage Description of actions to be taken 1. identifying the origins of the telework policy (first moment of the nietzschean genealogy) • explore the initial reasons that led FLCorp to adopt teleworking. Consider factors such as the response to the pandemic, market trends and employee pressure. • analysing corporate discourse on teleworking, examining how the concepts of flexibility and efficiency have been promoted and legitimised. 2. analysis and evaluation of the values underlying the telework policy (second moment of the nietzschean genealogy) • Question the nature of the values promoted by the teleworking policy. Find out whether they serve the company’s interests alone, such as cost reduction, under the guise of benefits for employees. • examine whether teleworking really does promote a better work/life balance, or whether it leads to an increase in workload and an intrusion into employees’ private lives. 3. study of the dynamics of power and domination • examine how the teleworking policy influences power relations within FLCorp: who controls the terms and expectations of teleworking? How does it affect employees at different hierarchical levels? • analyse whether teleworking has created new forms of surveillance and control of employees, thereby altering existing power dynamics. 4. impact on employees and corporate culture • assess the real impact of teleworking on employees in terms of stress, job satisfaction and performance. • examine changes in corporate culture, particularly with regard to communication, collaboration and a sense of belonging. 5. Critical summary and prospects for improvement • Develop a critical reflection on the adoption of teleworking at FLCorp: does it really contribute to employee fulfilment, or is it a strategy to maximise productivity? • Propose alternative approaches or improvements to ensure that teleworking is beneficial for both the company and employees, taking into account work-life balance and well-being. Conclusion this fictional case study demonstrates how the application of nietzschean genealogy can provide critical insights into teleworking policies, revealing underlying motivations and impacts on power dynamics and employee well-being. By applying nietzschean genealogy, it is thus possible to deepen understanding of corporate policies such as teleworking at FLCorp and explore ways of making them fairer and more beneficial to all concerned.