81975 - GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND ARTS ORGANIZATION

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

Student is expected to understand the impacts of managerialism in cultural organizations.

Contenuti

Course description or course overview

Arts management faces enormous differences in contexts across the world, in backgrounds and social aspects affecting both consumption and production of arts, in addition to major differences in terms of administrative traditions. While reconstructing systematically these differences will require a whole program on its own on international cultural studies, the course will provide a basic understanding of the variety of contexts within an international comparative view, providing some basic analytical tools and developing skills to deal with these aspects. The focus will be on countries outside the Anglo-Saxon world. Based on extensive field research in the last two decades, case studies provided are – with one exception – outside the realm of influence of the common law and commonwealth tradition.

A first set of differences refers to ways in which management itself is conceptualized and taught. At a general level in fact differences can be found in the emphasis given to the notion of leadership as opposed to more participatory notions of management as social practices. Also, a different attention can be found towards (hidden) assumptions about decision making and the role of unanticipated consequences of human action in managing – not as “errors & mistakes”, but as normal conditions in complex organizations, according to a bounded rationality perspective. Consequently, a different importance emerges about the role of goals versus processes.

Another set of differences relates more specifically to the world of arts & culture, where serious variations in managing are related to the different role played by philanthropy, the market or the State. While understanding basic principles of fundraising is crucial for any art manager, and the dialectic between profit & nonprofit, most of students will face a different context in their countries, where arts management is embedded in public sector. Elements of public administration are needed to interact with these different contexts, and the huge processes of change characterizing them worldwide. Different meanings assumed by cultural polices also need to be understood.

A further set of differences is related to the prevalence of different forms of arts. While performing arts and contemporary visual arts are relevant all over the world, the role of – and the attention to – history can be perceived as crucial in other countries, impacting the ways in which arts are conceived, promoted and consumed (see contemporary arts exhibitions in ancient buildings or inside industrial heritage settings; or preforming in archaeological sites). This requires for an art manager the capability of dialoguing with a variety of disciplines and agenda in a more holistic way.

Finally, cultural heritage in particular represents an important chapter in arts management in countries which have a greater attention to history and cultural traditions. Dealing with cultural heritage requires additional knowledge and skills, interacting with specialists from humanities (archaeologists, historians, museologists), with delicate issues of balance between preservation and uses, long term sustainability, and soft implications in terms of identity that need to be understood and faced in some ways. These aspects are challenging, but also represent huge opportunities. A relevant portion of the labor market in countries where cultural heritage plays a crucial role (Europe, China and Asia, but also Latin America and possibly Africa) is calling for the contribution of arts managers. This also represents a challenge and potential opportunity for US students, to be part of a process of awareness building of heritage even in the US; and in any case, to be ready to interact with international cooperation wherein heritage is part of arts management.

Testi/Bibliografia

Compulsory readings

The basic text of reference is: Zan & al, 2015, Managing Cultural Heritage. An International research Perspective, Ashgate (re-issued by Routledge, 2016).

Two pre-readings should be read before the beginning of the course:

• Normann, R., 1977, Management for Growth, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, chap 3& 4
• Mintzberg H., “Patterns in Strategy Formation”, Management Science, XXIV, 9, 934-48, 1978

  In addition, the following readings will be provided during the course:

• Chandler, A., 1962, “Introduction”, in Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of Industrial Enterprise, Mit Press, Cambridge.
• Hood, C., 1995, “The New Public Management In The 80’s: Variations On A Theme”, Accounting Organizations And Society, 20 (2/3): 93-110.
• March J., 1978, "Bounded Rationality, Ambiguity, and the Engineering of Choice", The Bell Journal of Economics, Vol. 9, No. 2: 587-608.
• Pettigrew A., Whipp R. & Rosenfeld R., 1986, “Competitiveness and the Management of Strategic Change Processes: A Research Agenda”, working paper, University of Warwick.
• Smith A.W., 1996, ‘Is the British Museum losing its marbles’, The Independent, 18.11.
• Tommasini A., 2001, "Critic's Notebook; The Vision For Carnegie, Fresh but Ambiguous", New York Times, April 9.
• Zan L., 2000, “Management and the British Museum”, Museum Management and Curatorship, Vol. 18, No. 3: 221-270.

  Additional reading list

  Further readings will be suggested (though not compulsory for the course). While the list will be updated in relation to the discussion in class, the following can be already identified:

• Astley W.G., 1984, "Subjectivity, Sophistry and Symbolism in Management Science", Journal of Management Studies, vol. 21, n. 3, 259-272
• Brown Bill, Summary Review of Alfred Chandler's The Visible Hand, http://www.cddc.vt.edu/digitalfordism/fordism_materials/brown.htm
• Cannon-Brookes P., 1998, “Cultural and economic analyses of Art Museums: a British Curator’s Viewpoint”, in V. Ginsburgh and P.M. Menger (eds.), Essays in the Economics of the Arts, Amsterdam: North Holland.
• Francioni F. (ed). The 1972 World Heritage Convention: An Introduction
• Gruening, G., 2001, “Origin And Theoretical Basis Of NPM”, International Public Management Journal. 4 :1, pp.1-25.
• Icomos, 2005, The World heritage list. Filling the gaps – an action Plan for the Future
• Kesner Ladislav, 2006, “The role of cognitive competence in the art museum experience”, Museum Management and Curatorship, 21, 4–19.
• Lawrence P.R., Lorsh R.H., 1968, “Organization and Environment: Managing Differentiation and Integration”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 1: 180-186.
• Lewis G., 2003, Deaccessioning and the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, ICOM NEWS no. 1.
• McCloskey D., 1983, “The rhetoric of economics”, Journal of Economic Literature, 21, 2: 481-517.
• Mintzberg H., "The Design School: Reconsidering the Basic Premises of Strategic Management",Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Mar. - Apr., 1990), pp. 171-195.
• Mintzberg H., 1973, "Some distinguishing characteristics of managerial work", chap. 3, inThe nature of managerial work, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
• Narduzzo A., Zan L., “The Opificio delle Pietre Durein Florence: between excellence and surviving”, in Ayata B. (ed.), Kulturen och dess ekonomier”, Studentlitteratur AB, Stockholm, 2007.
• Pascale, R.T., 1984, Perspectives on Strategy: The Real Story Behind Honda's Success, "California Management Review", XXVI, 3: 47-72.
• Sicca L.M.,Zan L., 2005, “Much ado about management”, International Journal of Art Management, volume 7, number 3,: 46-64.
• Simon Herbert A., 1978, Rational Decision-Making In Business Organizations, Nobel Memorial Lecture, 8 December.
• Sylvers E., January 1, 2004, “Years Later, Italy Assesses Change In How Its Fabled Museums Are Run”, The New York Times.
• Wang T., Zan L., 2011, “Management and Presentation of Chinese sites for UNESCO World Heritage List”, in Special Issue: World Heritage cities management Guest editor(s): Ana Pereira Roders and Ron van Oers, Facilities, Vol. 29, No. 7/8: 313-325.
• Zan L., 1990, "Looking for Theories in Strategy Studies", Scandinavian Journal of Management, vol. 6, n. 2: 89-108.
• Zan L., 1995, "Interactionism and Systemic view in the Strategic Approach", in P. Shrivastava, C. Stubbart (Eds.), Advances in Strategic Management, vol. 11, Jay Press Inc, Greenwich, Connecticut: 261-283.
• Zan L., 1998, "Piano, with harmony: analysing the Imola academy from a management study perspective", Financial Accountability & Management, Vol. 14, No. 3: 215-231.
• Zan L., 2000, "Managerialisation processes and performance in arts organisations: The Archaeological Museum of Bologna", Scandinavian Journal of Management, Vol. 16, n. 4: 431-454.
• Zan L., 2002, "Renewing Pompeii, Year Zero. Promises and expectations from new approaches to museum management and accountability", Critical Perspectives in Accounting, 13: 89-137.
• Zan L., 2006, Managerial Rhetoric and Arts Organizations. Palgrave MacMillan
• Zan L., 2013, "Economic discourse and heritage conservation. Towards an ethnography of administrations", Heritage & Society, Vol. 6 No. 2: 167–184.
• Zan L., 2014, "Cultural Heritage in China between policies, development, professional discourse and the issue of managing", Public Archaeology Journal, special issue on Archaeology and Economic Development, Vol. 13, Nos 1-3: 99-112.
• Zan L., Bonini Baraldi S., “Managing Cultural Heritage in China. A View from the Outside”, China Quarterly, 210, June 2012a, pp. 456-481

Metodi didattici

Schedule of assignments, exams &/or projects

Students are asked to prepare case studies before classes, and to read articles and chapters before and after classes, according to the scheduling provided. A precise list of readings (to be done before/after class) will be made available on blackboard before the course starts.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

The grade will be based on the contribution to the class discussion (40%), and on the quality of a final report that the student will be asked to submit after the end of the course.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Luca Zan

Consulta il sito web di Robert Baker Pegram Harrison