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Episode details

Radio 4,13 Sep 2017,28 mins

Management Jargon

Thinking Allowed

Available for over a year

Management speech - Laurie Taylor explores the origins and purpose of 'Business Bullshit', a term coined by Andre Spicer, Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Cass Business School, City University of London and the author of a new book looking at corporate jargon. Why are our organisations flooded with empty talk, injuncting us to "go forward" to lands of "deliverables," stopping off on the "journey" to "drill down" into "best practice."? How did this speech spread across the working landscape and what are its harmful consequences? They're joined by Margaret Haffernan, an entrepreneur, writer and keynote speaker and by Jonathan Hopkin, Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at the LSE. Producer: Jayne Egerton.

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