Globalization, Transition and the Discourse of Management

Globalization is a heavily debated phenomenon and can be studied from many perspectives. In the present paper the perspective of the discourse of management is presented. Management as an idea and as practice is also a critically contested phenomenon in today's fast changing world. In this paper managerial discourse as an aspect of globalization is studied. The concepts of globalization, managerialism and managerial discourse are introduced and their interdependence is described. Special attention is given to the process of the so-called transition in Slovenia and its connection to the concepts of managerialism and managerial discourse. During the process of transition from one economic and political system to another, managerial discourse became adopted in Slovenia and soon constituted itself as a standard or even dominant discourse in business and economics. Some examples are drawn from Slovene newspapers and other publications to demonstrate first the difference between the socialist (self-management) discourse and managerial discourse, and second, to demonstrate the diffusion of managerial discourse to other spheres of social and political life.