From laissez-faire to laissez-faire : revisiting the notion of efficiency in globalising management praxis

The findings of this research confirm that the notion of descriptive efficiency has been developed as a populist concept in managerial discourse and is typically interpreted in simplistic, normative terms and thus has limited technical meaning in management praxis. Furthermore, the concept has been captured by uncritical, yet plausible, management commentators who have seemingly assumed that management efficiency will emerge from the adoption of their various prescriptions. The research will contribute to the general management literature through a cross-disciplinary critique and a re-interpretation of the notion of efficiency in management praxis. At a macro-level, the research advances the proposition that the notion of efficiency has become an ideological statement of support for any management intention, rather than a practical means to inform a range of management actions. A grounded theory of descriptive efficiency is proposed in order to explain the apparently unconscious application of laissez-faire and more contemporary principles of economics to management praxis and the wider management discipline without the support of a substantive elaboration of contemporary efficiency