When Managers Rebel

This book is about rebellion, revolt and protest. One day, out of the blue, when not even they themselves are expecting it, somewhere one or more high-profile middle managers will rebel. These professionals refuse to maintain the pretence any longer and they are not afraid to say so out loud. What's more, they refuse to back down.

These rebellions occur more often than you might think. Rebels remind companies that they cannot intrude on their middle managers' private lives with impunity and ignore the social, cultural and moral environment in which they operate. This is a managerial challenge that they ignore at their peril.

Rebellion and protest need to be taken seriously. What little media attention had been given to the issue in the past has diluted it with ready-made explanations: "Isn't this what companies are inevitably coming to at the start of the 21st century?; or "Life is just tough for company employees, isn't it?"

This book will show just how hasty and superficial such conclusions are. Executive rebellion is a unique phenomenon, unlike any other. It is not always inevitable, and though it is often a result of a very negative situation, it can have positive results. In this intriguing book the authors demonstrate that when middle managers rebel they aren't just letting off steam, and that their acts of creative protest can even produce benefits for their companies. Rebellion sometimes pays off!

David Courpasson is a Professor at EMLYON Business School, France, and the editor in chief of Organization Studies. He can be contacted at courpasson@em-lyon.com.
Jean-Claude Thoening, a former Professor at INSEAD, France, is Director Emeritus of Research at the Dauphine Recherches en Management lab at the Universite Paris-Dauphine, France. He can be contacted at jeanclaude.thoenig@free.fr.