Global organisational truths? Invoking the past to re-write the management narrative of Chile.

Abstract

Until recently, it has been a universal and legitimate practice to use Anglo-Saxon organisation theory to describe organisation processes in other historical and cultural settings. This practice has not only produced a colonised grand-narrative of organisation, but has also contributed to misrepresent organisation experiences around the world. In fact, what has emerged from this practice is an imperialist way of writing that advocates a different organisational truth; a truth that comes from other countries. In this paper, we would like to challenge and examine this practice by re-writing the management grand-narrative from a local perspective. Using Chile as an example, and decision-making theory as the focus, we construct a management story that reflects the history, culture and ideology of the country. A story that does not derive from the universal Anglo-Saxon narratives, but one that reflects knowledge and understanding generated locally. In this way, we hope to add more thoughts to the debate on the way we write and interpret organisation stories around the world and, in particular, to appreciate how the way such stories are written can shape the way we represent what organisations are and their implications in a polyphonic world. Paper presented at the APROS Conference on “New World: Translating Present & Organising the Future”. Dec 2003, Oaxaca, Mexico