28365 - Critical Studies and Arts Management

Learning outcomes

Student is expected to understand the impacts of managerialism in cultural organizations. In particular, the student is expected to understand: - the nature management rhetoric across time and space; - strategy processes and change phenomena in managing arts organizations; - arts organizations in relation to reforms inside the public sector; - managerial rhetoric and processes of privatisation and désétatisation.

Course contents

Program and Structure

The course is organized in four main parts. The first two deal with general issues of managing cultural organizations and the international debate. Though empirical evidence is provided by Italian organizations, in a sense accidentally, this kind of analysis could generally apply to cultural organizations elsewhere. In contrast, part three and four deal directly with aspects that are peculiar to the Italian situation.

More specifically, part one dwells on the general issue of the rhetorical nature of management discourse, across time (also in proto-industrial settings) and space (in different organizations). Such an revisiting of management discourse is essential in order to avoid misunderstanding, pitfalls, misuse and abuse of managerial rhetoric when referring to cultural organizations.

If management knowledge as developed in management studies is of some help, part two aims at addressing the variety of knowledge and stream of research that could be relevant for analyzing cultural organization, more than simply communication and fundraising, as it is sometimes understood. A more thorough understanding of managerial discourse – either in terms of the strategic approach, knowledge management, organization of labor, HRM and similar issues – is proposed here as a less superficial uses of management for arts organizations.

Part 3 then move more directly to the Italian arts sector. After introducing few data for a preliminary description of the Italian context, some of the major topics under discussion in Italy are addressed here. The focus is on the specifics of the Italian system, i.e. the role of public sector in the arts. Major reform processes in this context are then investigated, i.e. referring to reform inside the public sector, tending to foster a managerial logic within public organizations (the so called process of “managerialization”).

The issue of the exit from public sector by arts and cultural organizations in Italy is finally addressed in part 4, looking at a variety of processes of privatization, désétatisation, or in any case of abandoning in a way or another the status of public sector entities by arts organizations.

A working book – the same title as the course – will be made distributed to the students on the first day of class. Additional readings will also made available during the class.

 

Part 1. Management Rhetoric Across Time and Space

Session 01 - Arts Organizations & Managerial rhetoric
Presentation of the course, studying assignments, exams etc.
Management as rhetoric: an ongoing perspective
The extension of economics/management and the Arts: A controversy across Europe
Variety of professional discourse and multidimensional approach
A modest view of management: The essence of management within a historical understanding
Insights on management as rhetoric and the management of arts

Session 02 - Rhetorics in competition
The obsession with “best practices”.
Management as addressing attention
Management studies and non managerial views of managing
Discussion: British Museum

 

Part 2. Management of Arts Organizations: Strategy and Change

Session 03 - Strategy as action
The critique to the so called "Harvard approach" and the processual view
The business idea and strategic change
Case discussion: The Imola Piano Academy

Session 04 -Actors in action
The analytical vs. the processual view
Constellation of roles between actors and sense making processes
Case discussion: Ferrara Buskers' Festival
Further implications: Heritage & Hi-Tech;
Management and knowledge in Arts Organizations
Arts and technologies: the restoration sector
Case discussion: the OPD in Florence

Part 3. Arts Organizations and Reforms Inside the Public Sector

Session 05 - Management and arts: The Italian art sector and the Ministry
The Art sector in Italy: some data
Macro trends and policies, Questions and challenges (and why "management" is called for)
Changes at the Ministry level:
The Ministry and its local organization
The so-called autonomous Soprintendenza (i.e. the local branch of the Ministry)
Case discussion: Pompeii

Session 06 - Managerialization in Municipal museums
Focus on discourse about managerialization within public sector museums
Accountability, Performances and Responsibility
The unfair game of giving responsibilities but not resources/information
Case discussion: The Bologna Archaeological museum
Effectiveness and value for money: New Public Management in Italy?
Performances and arts organization: True & false managerialism
Case discussion: Reporting on Venice museums

Part 4. Managerial rhetoric, Privatization and Désétatisation

Session 07 - Patterns in“Privatization”
A critique to the general Italian debate
Ambiguity & variety in “privatization” policies: - The appeal of institutional transformation
- Institutional innovation and implementation problems
Pitfalls in the transformation process towards the Foundation firm:
- The Italian tradition of managing by law: an oxymoron?
- The transformation of Opera Houses into foundations: Paradoxes and perverse effects
- Case discussion: The Teatro Comunale of Bologna

Session 08 - Foundations: a modest view, and some warnings
The debate on transformation of art organizations into Foundations
The transformation process: from assets to income centered view
Business plan and désétatisation
Case discussion: Milan municipal museums
Concluding remarks
Discussion on the course, suggestions, comments

Readings/Bibliography

L. Zan, Managerial Rhetoric and Arts Organisations. Insights from the Italian Context, 2006

 

Papers authored (or co-authored) on different topics analysed in the course also constitute the core part of the reading materials:

Zan L., "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, 1995 (p. 261-283).

Zan L., "Piano, with harmony: analysing the Imola academy from a management study perspective", Financial Accountability & Management, Special Issues on Accountability in Non-Profit Organisations, Vol. 14, No. 3, 1998 (p. 215-231).

Masino G., Zan L., “The Ferrara Buskers Festival: managing of meanings and social emergence”, working paper (Italian edition: “Il Ferrara Buskers Festival: progettualità, emergenza e costellazione di significati”, Micro e Macro Marketing, a. XI, n. 1, 2002, pag. 85-113).

Narduzzo A., Zan L., “The Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence: between excellence and surviving”, in Ayata B. (ed.), Kulturen och dess ekonomier”, Studentlitteratur AB, Stockholm, 2007, forthcoming

Zan L., "Renewing Pompeii, Year Zero. Promises and expectations from new approaches to museum management and accountability", Critical Perspectives in Accounting, 13, 2002 (pp. 89-137).

Zan L., "Managerialisation processes and performance in arts organisations: The Archaeological Museum of Bologna", Scandinavian Journal of Management, Vol. 16, n. 4, 2000 (pp. 431-454).

Sicca L.M., Zan L., “Much ado about management”, International Journal of Art Management, 2005, volume 7, number 3, Spring, 46-64

Zan L., Bonini Baraldi S., Gordon C., “Cultural Heritage between Centralisation and Decentralisation: Insights from the Italian context”, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 2007, forthcoming

 

In addition, further readings are provided/suggested, according to the following instructions (additional readings will be provided/suggests during the class).

0. Pre-readings

a. To be read before the course (compulsory)

- Mintzberg H., “Patterns in Strategy Formation”, Management Science, XXIV, 9, 934-48, 1978

- Normann, R., 1977, Management for Growth, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, chap 3& 4

b. If lacking basic knowledge in strategic management, please read also:

- Ghemawat P., Strategy and the business landscape, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliff, 2001

or any other textbook in strategic management

1. Perspectives on general management

Suggested additional readings:

- Chandler, A., “Introduction”, in Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of Industrial Enterprise, Mit Press, Cambridge, (Mass.), 1962

- Mintzberg H., 1973, "Some distinguishing characteristics of managerial work", chap. 3, in Mintzberg H., The nature of managerial work, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

- Pettigrew A., “Context, Culture & Politics: The development of strategic change”, in Pettigrew A., The Awakening Giant. Continuity and Change in ICI, Ba­sil Blackwell, Ox­ford, chap 2, 1985

- Pascale, R.T., 1984, Perspectives on Strategy: The Real Story Behind Honda's Success, "California Management Review", XXVI, 3, 47-72, 1984

 

2. On management & rhetoric

Choose two articles form the following list:

- Astley W.G., 1984, "Subjectivity, Sophistry and Symbolism in Management Science", Journal of Management Studies, vol. 21, n. 3, 259-272

- Czarniawska B., Narrating the Organization. Dramas of Institutional Identity, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1997

- Czarniawska B. (ed.), Rhetoric And Modern Organizations, Special Issue of Studies in Culture Organizations and Society, vol 1, n 2, September 1995

- Klamer A., McCloskey D., "Accounting as the master metaphor of economics", The European Accounting Review, vol 1, 1992

- McCloskey D., 1983, “The rhetoric of economics”, Journal of Economic Literature, 21, 2, 481-517

- Melander A., Melin L., Müllern T., Stein J., 2003, “The Rhetoric of Top Managers – A Study of Four Generations of CEO's”, working paper, Jönköping International Business School and Stockholm School of Economics

- Müllern T., Stein J., 2003, “The appearance of the future – emotion and logic in the rhetorical expression of strategic change”, working paper, Jönköping International Business School and Stockholm School of Economics

 

3. On management and Arts Organizzations

a. Documents and press articles (compulsory)

- Tommasini A., "Critic's Notebook; The Vision For Carnegie, Fresh but Ambiguous", New York Times, April 9, 2001

- A.W. Smith, “The Independent, 18 November 1996, ‘Is the British Museum losing its marbles'

- Financial Times, "Music in the world of Don Camillo", 18.11.95

- DCMS Effectiveness & Efficiency

b. One of the following:

- Bradford H., “A new framework for museum marketing”, in Moore K. (ed.), Museum Management, Routledge, London, 1994

- Cannon-Brookes P., “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, 1998

c. Suggested reading: one of the following:

- Hood, C., 1995, “The New Public Management In The 80's: Variations On A Theme”, Accounting Organizations And Society , 20 (2/3), pp. 93-110

- Gruening, G., 2001, “Origin And Theoretical Basis Of NPM”, International Public Management Journal. 4 :1, pp.1-25.

 

4. On the Italian situation

a. Documents and press articles (compulsory)

- Sylvers E., January 1, 2004, “Years Later, Italy Assesses Change In How Its Fabled Museums Are Run”, The New York Times

- Financial Times, "Music in the world of Don Camillo", 18.11.95

- Smith A.W.,The Independent, 18 November 1996, ‘Is the British Museum losing its marbles'

- The Art Newspaper: a collection of articles

- A Selection of article on the “Patrimonio spa”

b. Suggested reading:

- Panozzo F., 2000, “Management By Decree. Paradoxes In The Reform Of The Italian Public Sector”, Scandinavian Journal Of Management, Vol. 16, P.357-373

Links to further information

http://www2.sa.unibo.it/docenti/luca.zan/

Office hours

See the website of Luca Zan