Chan, P W (2013) A 'zombie' existence: Exploring Ulrich Beck's zombie categories and construction management research. In: Smith, S D and Ahiaga-Dagbui, D D (eds.) Proceedings of 29th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2013, Reading, UK.
Abstract
Many construction management researchers continue to be preoccupied with narrowly advancing the corporate causes of productivity and profitability, with relative neglect for the implications of recent developments in the global economy. In this article, Ulrich Beck’s idea of 'zombie categories' and his theory of reflexive modernity is drawn upon to critically discuss how these render traditional studies of organisational performance limited. Zombies are the living dead. Like zombies, these are social concepts that are dead and yet kept alive in their use by scholars to describe the growing fiction of traditional social institutions. Through a reflection of two cases - a doctoral research project on construction labour productivity and an ongoing study on servitization of construction - it is argued that one needs to move away from the current complacency in using, and becoming used to, familiar categories in construction management research to question their consequences. The promulgation of 'zombie categories' associated with organisational performance in construction might serve only to create the problems that many desire to solve in the first place.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | post-structuralism; reflexive modernity; research method; zombie category |
| Index terms: | profitability, management research, becoming, productivity, organizational performance, servitization, reflection, construction labour |
| Subjects: | economic analysis, philosophical process, market strategies, research design and methodology, management, professional development, performance measurement |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Information Management, Site Management, Research Practice, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here