The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg?: A Rhetorical Critique of Stephen Covey and the Effectiveness Movement
运用修辞批评方法，分析斯蒂芬·柯维的效能运动如何通过三种幻想主题吸引追随者和组织，揭示其与当代个人物质、存在和精神需求的共鸣。
Through his best‐selling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989, Simon & Schuster), and subsequent publications, Stephen Covey has established himself as the pre‐eminent management guru in North America. While there are clear similarities between the ‘Effectiveness’ movement he has spawned and competing organizational improvement programmes such as excellence, TQM, and re‐engineering, there are also some important differences in how this movement has been rhetorically constructed, the manner in which it has been organized and the ideological roots upon which it is based. The paper draws on Ernest Bormann's fantasy theme analysis to develop a distinctively dramatistic rhetorical critique of this movement. Three primary fantasy themes are identified that, it is argued, underpin the rhetorical appeal of Covey's work to the individuals who follow and the organizations that sponsor him. The paper lends further support to the emerging argument that, in order to properly appreciate the broad appeal of gurus in management and other fields, we need to better understand how their work resonates with the material, existential and spiritual needs of individuals that are peculiar to the late modern age.