Sara Muhr | Copenhagen Business School, CBS (original) (raw)

Papers by Sara Muhr

Leadership, 2013

This paper investigates the relationship between the body and leadership through a case study of ... more This paper investigates the relationship between the body and leadership through a case study of a transgender leader. The study shows that the leader's body, presumed gender, and gendered appearance are salient markers that employees use to make sense of leaders and leadership, and that this gendered nature of leadership shows the deep roots of gender dichotomies and the heterosexual matrix that permeate our understanding of leadership. These two findings lead us to emphasize the need to queer leadership. All leaders experience gendered restrictions, to some extent, via the social norms and expectations of the way leadership should be performed. The construction of leadership through a transgender body reminds us to stay open to the exploration of performativity, particularly the relationships between bodies, gender, sexuality, and leadership and how any body can benefit from queering leadership.

Journal of Business Ethics, 2009

Approaches to business ethics can be roughly divided into two streams: 'codes of behavior' and 'f... more Approaches to business ethics can be roughly divided into two streams: 'codes of behavior' and 'forms of subjectification', with code-oriented approaches clearly dominating the field. Through an elaboration of poststructuralist approaches to moral philosophy, this paper questions the emphasis on codes of behaviour and, thus, the conceptions of the moral and responsible subject that are inherent in rule-based approaches. As a consequence of this critique, the concept of a practice-based 'ethics of responsiveness' in which ethics is never final but rather always 'to come', is investigated. In such an approach the ethical self is understood as being continuously constituted within power/knowledge relations. Following this line, we ask how one can become a responsible subject while also acknowledging certain limits of full responsibility. We thereby explore responsibility as a considered but unconditional openness in response to the other.

Strategies Journal of Theory Culture Politics, Feb 19, 2014

Management Learning, 2009

International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 2008

ephemeraweb.org

This open issue consists of a number of contributions, which at first glance do not seem to be li... more This open issue consists of a number of contributions, which at first glance do not seem to be linked by any particular theme. Examining the different approaches to theory & politics in organization that are taken by the eclectic collection of papers featured here, however, it appears that the theoretical notion of the affective emerges again and again, as central to the politics of organization. The notion of affect is as such nothing new to ephemera. Worth noticing is for example Clough et al.'s (2007) careful theorization of 'affect-itself', which was part of a special issue dedicated to exploring immaterial and affective labor (see . Also worth mentioning is the special issue on theory of the multitude (see . The pieces in this issue therefore nicely pick up on an on-going debate in ephemera and illustrate, each in their own way, how an attentiveness to affect helps us to deepen our understanding of the ways in which organization and the political intertwine. This can be seen in relation to the micro-practices of organizations; to the compelling ideologies that inscribe our workplace lives; and to the methods adopted by organization studies scholars.

This study investigates the lived experience of one transwoman, Claire, a public advocate and a m... more This study investigates the lived experience of one transwoman, Claire, a public advocate and a manager with client services responsibilities. We examine Claire’s story in order to discuss how situated contexts, such as different roles, locales and interactions, shape the way she experiences and perceives her trans body and gender identity. In particular, our analysis centres on how Claire’s lived experience of personal and professional life shift across three different situated contexts, each enabling and constraining opportunities for political transgression. Our findings contribute to existing conversations within queer theory, transgender and organization studies by highlighting how situated contexts mediate the political potential of queer bodies at work. By developing the concept ‘situated transgressiveness’, this article challenges notions of transgender as a stable, ideal disruptive category and advances a more contextually sensitive approach to understanding the contingency of transgender lives and politics. Such insights are important in facilitating more nuanced understandings of the situatedness of transgression and transgender bodies within work and professional settings.

he current literature yields contrasting diagnoses of the diversity problem in the professions: (... more he current literature yields contrasting diagnoses of the diversity problem in the professions: (a) a dominant ‘absence’ view, which explains the exclusion of certain people as a lack to be rectified and (b) an alternative ‘presence’ view, which explains exclusion as a consequence of tacit inclu- sion. Although the latter challenges the former by exposing the historical interdependence of exclusion and inclusion, it fails to illuminate a path towards contemporary inclusion. This article develops a third, dialectical, view, which theorizes the inclusivity-exclusivity relation as a contempo- rary crisis of representation managed through occupational branding. The proposed stance mediates between the optimism of the absence view and the scepticism of the presence view by placing historical formations in undetermined tension with contemporary exigencies. By analysing how specific inclusivity-exclusivity tensions are confronted through strategic interventions in the marketplace of occupational identity, the dialectical view stands to generate novel possibilities for social change.

Since Hélène Cixous introduced it in 1975, the notion of a specifically feminine writing -écritur... more Since Hélène Cixous introduced it in 1975, the notion of a specifically feminine writing -écriture féminine -has been discussed as a provocative and potentially disruptive form of representation that breaks with masculine and authoritarian modes thereof. However, in this paper we will discuss how the notion of écriture féminine may itself be at risk of getting trapped within the gender binary its progenitors tried to break free from. As a commentary on this, we suggest looking at the gendered nature of the research text from the perspective of the technologies with which they are produced, as the writer -when writing/publishing -is always already embedded in the technologies of the publishing machine, turning (academic) writing into something akin to cyborg writing. We further suggest that an understanding of the cyborg nature of writing can introduce a parallel mode of inquiry, which holds the potential to enrich écriture féminine and stand as a critique of too simplistic readings of the same.

Research on the dark side of organizations has usually focused on atrocities committed by organiz... more Research on the dark side of organizations has usually focused on atrocities committed by organizations or specific persons within them. Less attention has been paid to how organizations can utilize atrocities they had no part in creating. In this article, the manner in which atrocities can be utilized, managed and narrated in corporate image-work is discussed through two empirical illustrations: The Body Shop's campaign against trafficking, and a campaign by a social movement organization to curb violence towards women in Congo. The article argues that analyzing differences in how organizations choose and position external atrocities in their branding can benefit our understanding of both organizational image-work and the dark side of organization.