Management: The work that dares not speak its name
研究发现管理者普遍回避自称“经理”，转而使用“专业人士”“企业家”等头衔，反映了管理职位地位下降和“经理”一词的贬义内涵，对管理教育有启示。
The status of management and managers has fluctuated over the years, arguably reaching its high point in the mid-20th century but since declining. This article explores how managers respond to this decline in status. It presents and discusses the findings of a study of managers (who are also Executive MBA students) who unanimously avoided describing themselves as ‘managers’. The article argues that this response reflects both the overuse of the designation ‘manager’ as well as derogatory connotations of the term. This derogation is rooted in the nature of managerial work and its associations with bureaucracy and inflexibility. But while features of bureaucracy such as hierarchy remain, then these managers find justification for their status in alternative self-descriptions such as ‘professional’, ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘project leader’. The article concludes by considering some of the implications for management education and learning.