UNEQUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE: A TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF MANAGERIAL ROLES IN MILLER’S DEATH OF A SALESMAN

Abstract

Interdisciplinary research is the demand of this epoch of flux but literature has not yet been linked with Management Science that this study will attempt to conduct. Employing the research method of Textual Analysis, this study explored the Managerial Roles Approach of Management Science from Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Good interdisciplinary research not only opens up new horizons of knowledge but also identifies new concepts and theories to expand traditional disciplines. The purpose of this study is to merge literature with Management Science in order to explore a new area of knowledge. Findings of this study are: i. reflection of unequal, authoritative, and cost-benefit trade-off relations in discourses of Howard, the manager, and Willy, the employee; ii. reflection of the orthodox Managerial Roles Approach in this play; iii. integration of the discipline of literature with Management Science. As opposed to traits of a good manager proposed by Mintzberg and Zaleznik, Howard, the employer, possesses the characteristics of an orthodox manager who has unequal and authoritative power relations with his employee, Willy, reflected in Miller’s Death of a Salesman.