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Degot’s Portrait of the Manager as an Artist

In: Thinking the Art of Management

Author

Listed:
  • David M. Atkinson

Abstract

Although Degot’s Portrait of the Manager as an Artist is very much an antithesis of a profit-performance motivation, his contribution appears to have been largely overlooked for its potential to contribute to the post-rationalistic, postmodernistic management debate. As Degot (1987) observed: We live in a society where the yardsticks of performance, [both individual and corporate], are expressed in quantitative terms: earnings or profits. The “best” executive or manager is generally regarded as being the one who has the most successful career and earns the most money. (D:47)39 Reading this quote in 2007, one can intuitively relate to the fact that such quantitative sympathies — despite an acknowledgement of the appeal of other, socially based, phenomena — remain current for a great many managers and their observers. As a practicing manager myself, I can intuitively rationalize the quote as a valid, if not wholly exclusive, observation in today’s commercial environment. Therefore, in critically exposing a weakness in Degot’s work, it is my intention to rescue what I believe is the essential insight that Degot’s portrait of the manager-artist contains. This insight emerges within five key themes (Atkinson, 2006); these are: 1) historicity, 2) creative management, 3) the work of the manager-artist, 4) the need for a philosophical basis and 5) the need for “audience” clarification.

Suggested Citation

  • David M. Atkinson, 2007. "Degot’s Portrait of the Manager as an Artist," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Thinking the Art of Management, chapter 3, pages 60-81, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-58998-8_4
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230589988_4
    as

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