Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The 10 worst examples of management speak
From 'action' as a verb to stakeholder not meaning someone preparing to kill a vampire, I have to admit each and every one of these words sets my teeth on edge.
What jargon drives you up the wall?
Enough with the blue sky thinking?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Leverage, that is my most hated jargon word - delighted to see it made it onto the list.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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David, think harder. Your examples are just quick wins.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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"We're all in this together"?
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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I don't want to be a smug git, but I don't see a problem with any of these terms. They're just an easy target, but in fact why should they be ridiculed any more than the language used by doctors, footballers or artists. Like water language flows where it will. Professionals and specialists may use their own language and other paraphernalia to bolster their self-esteem and feel part of the club, but in that respect they're no different to people all over the world from all walks of life.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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For me, all jargon is a pain in the arse. My former profession is notorious for throwing around phrases and acronyms and it annoyed me hugely in meetings (although we tended not to use those expressions when talking to parents and children) so I accept that jargon is part and parcel of jobs and serves both to include but more importantly exclude people outside of that sphere.
Management jargon however has crossed over especially into places like local government and the exclusionary nature of it often obscures a paucity of real ideas. Using management jargon makes you sound like you're 'in the know' but it can also be a replacement for real action or change.
This language likes to pretend that what is being undertaken is more earth shattering than it actually is. Take 'drill down' - hard hats on boys, we're going to take this to the max...or are we just going to look at details? Or else it is camouflage - a way of obscuring and hiding from oneself what is really going on here. If your project is being sunsetted, maybe you're out of a job. Down the jobcentre, its still called redundancy.
Finally, its often ugly and inelegant and 'going forward' fits nicely into that category as does 'action' as a verb. We have many fine doing words in the English language, let's use them for some precision and clarity.
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Don't disagree with any of that, but what you describe is the same for any 'club' or 'gang' language. The issue I'm highlighting is that management speak is an easy target and it's no different to micro-languages used elsewhere..
I used to have fun with it all. We'd invent our own bullshit bingo for the most tedious of meetings and 'bullshit chicken' - when visiting clients we'd challenge one another to work the breed of a dog or a word relating to some other obscure topic into our presentation or conversation.
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Hugh I also agree with everything that Liz said, but unlike you, I agree without qualification. What she described is not the same as for any club or gang language.
I suspect that "micro-languages" to which you refer, is in this context, close to being an example of content-free management-speak, that you've used without any sense of irony.
Your comparing the specialist language of doctors (or engineers or lawyers) with footballers (or worse, PR and advertising) is bluntly, ridiculous. Those professions simply could not do their jobs if their vocabulary was limited to that of management consultants. For example, vascular surgeons do not describe the tools of their trade in order to "bolster their self esteem".
You claim, indeed "highlighted" that management speak is an "easy target".
While management-speak deserves to be a target – as with the title of Liz's list – I cannot agree that it is a target that is easy.
This is because it has become so prevalent and adopted so widely amongst local government, central government, bureaucrats, advertisers and management consultants and slipping into ordinary conversation – that it has become anything but an easy target.
However, it is a target that IMO we must continue to shoot at, anytime we get a clear shot.
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Whilst I agree with a lot of what you say, there are terms used in government that are precise and short circuit long explanations. For instance leverage funding has a precise meaning (money that is used in order to generate more money) but then it slips into imprecise meaning - where 'leverage' is used instead of 'influence' for instance.
Conferences aimed at government are the worst language offenders but at least they give you the opportunity to play lingo bingo.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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The difference, Hugh, is that the language used by doctors, artists and let's say solicitors ( I have no idea what language is used by footballers, but I'm sure it's pithy and to the point ) conveys precise, unambiguous concepts to others in their field.
But, as Liz says, when management speak appears in communications to the wider public ( and we don't have to look too far to see examples of that, do we LBH ? ) then the precise meaning, if any there is, will be obscured or misunderstood.
I have attended many management meetings and if anyone had used jargon like this they would have received a swift kick in the low-hanging fruit. ( or have I got that wrong ? )
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