A C-SAP-funded research project investigating the interdisciplinary nature of Business and Management.
Business and management is an inherently interdisciplinary subject area. Politics may be viewed as a key sub-discipline contributing to the achievement of the purposes of business and management education. This is because government and politics constitute an important element of the changing external context in which business organisations operate and because some aspects of political theory are relevant to understanding the behaviour of business organisations.
Indeed it can be argued that the interface between the worlds of business and politics has become more important in recent years both in terms of formal and informal politics. For example a key theme of neo-liberal politics was to make the public sector more 'business-like' through the introduction of private sector management approaches often analysed under the heading of 'new public sector management'. Third Way politics seeks in Giddens's terms to inaugurate a 'new mixed economy' based on 'a synergy between public and private sectors'. This is reflected in the emphasis on public-private partnership bringing private sector organisations into the delivery of public services. In terms of more informal politics the purpose and performance of business organisations has become more politicised reflected in the increasing emphasis on corporate ethics and social responsibility. These issues have moved up the corporate agenda partly because corporations have become targets for campaigning organisations and pressure groups and partly because of a more general climate of declining trust in business.
However this area of teaching and learning is relatively neglected in terms of an overall understanding of its nature and development. Thus research is needed to determine the actual and potential contribution of politics to learning and teaching in business and management through a survey of current practice and the attitudes and perceptions of the various stakeholders.
