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Introduction Hotho, McGregor Emerging Perspectives Chapter 1 Champion Problematizing a Homogenous Spatial Logic Chapter 2 White and Searle Commercial Business Models Chapter 3 Zackariasson and Wilson The Role of the Consumer Chapter 4 McGregor Business Growth, the Internet and Risk Management Chapter 5 Hotho 'Some Companies are Fine One Day and Gone the next' Chapter 6 Zackariasson The Role of Creativity Chapter 7 Shaw and Homan HR Issues in the Computer Games Industry Chapter 8 Stacey, Thomas and Nandhakumar How Funny Are Games Chapter 9 McNeish Critical Perspectives on the Games Industry Chapter 10 Comas and Tschang Brief History, Tumultuous Present, and Uncertain Future of Virtual Worlds

The seemingly marginal contribution of management theory to management practice has been commented on in different contexts. Specifically, critical management studies (CMS) seems suspended in an impasse between the aim to critique dominant management practice and discourse, and the expectation to facilitate transformative management action. This paper argues that the theory—practice impasse may, in part, be a result of reductivist perspectives discursively produced by both mainstream and critical management studies. To illustrate this argument, the paper refers to a case study exploring middle management practice in the higher education context. It demonstrates that academic middle management practice as constructed by polarized and polarizing discourses of either managerial or critical orientation is counterproductive to a full understanding of this practice and the contribution it can make to organizations if properly understood, and proposes an alternative reading aimed to `cross the divide' between discourses and between theory and practice. It is proposed that a more constructive engagement with multiple rationalities can move towards a more comprehensive understanding of currently marginalized management activity, and, from there, towards a more productive link between theory and practice.

The purpose of this paper is threefold:1. to expand the theory base underpinning academic leadership and HRD;2. to expand theoretical frameworks to challenge prevailing myths about the 'unwilling academicmanager';3. to open up new research avenues and questions which have a better chance of constructivelysupporting HRD practice in HE.