Kavanagh, DonnchaDonnchaKavanaghCusack, MichaelMichaelCusack2021-04-292021-04-292020 Taylo2021Culture and Organization1475-9551http://hdl.handle.net/10197/12125This paper is a conversation between a management academic and a practitioner from the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), the largest sporting and cultural organisation in Ireland. The GAA is an alternative organisation in that it (a) has a particular understanding of ‘management’, (b) emphasises place and community, (c) prohibits a market for players; (d) is volunteer-led; (e) operates on democratic principles; and (f) is concerned with more than sport. In the conversation, the practitioner asserts that, for him, critical performativity is arrogant and self-serving, with academics using practitioners as tropes in faux performative research. Instead, he argues that academic practice should become normative with academics becoming critics, adjudicating on what’s good and the bad in their objects of study.enThis is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Culture and Organization on 24 May 2020, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14759551.2020.1769621PerformativityCritical performativitySports ManagementGaelic Games AssociationManagementNormative researchJournal Article2729811410.1080/14759551.2020.17696212020-06-14https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/