False binaries in management history, and the scope for a postcolonial project
Purpose This study aims to offer a postcolonial approach that goes past current management history controversies. Design/methodology/approach Discussion of current management history controversies with examples. Findings Post-colonial approaches to management history enable engagement with questions of power and knowledge in the management discipline. Research limitations/implications Further historical research is needed that considers the interplay of disciplinary knowledge and the historical events under question, especially in post-colonial settings. Practical implications It is essential to engage with historical texts and interpretations to better understand the contextual limitations to management as a discipline: a better understanding of disciplinary pasts enables us to better understand the present. Social implications By considering management’s pasts, this paper can acknowledge more closely how the discipline continues to retain colonialist assumptions that need to be challenged and changed. Originality/value Examples of management history from formerly colonized regions.