Organization and mimetic excess: magic, critique, and style

This paper presents a series of connected reflections that consider the process of representation, mimesis, and poiesis in textuality, with a particular focus on writing about management and organizations. The paper juxtaposes and partially connects stories, narrative fragments, and arguments ranging in source from, inter alia, fictionalizations of ancient Rome, reflections on the magical practices of native South Americans, lyrics of popular songs, considerations of Hindu gurus, and the phenomena of guru management books. This assemblage of different yet interconnected texts intends to suggest a critique of popular fashionable management, as well as a critique of its critique elsewhere. The point we arrive at is that management and its scholarship might eschew a desire for being either fashionable or scientific, and instead try just to be stylish.