Finding oneself: Subjection, differentiation and lack in the emotionally autonomous subjects of strategic change (original) (raw)
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Poststructuralist accounts of organizations understand them as flows, as verbs in process of always-becoming. Subjects who work 'in' organizations are similarly always in a process of becoming. Organization and members are mutually constitutive, each enfolded within the other. The process by which each is enfolded within and constituted by the other is what is explored in this essai. Its aim is to analyse something of the becoming-ness of organizations/selves, in which the researcher-self is imbricated in this becoming-ness and must therefore be part of that which is studied. To achieve this aim I draw on Lacan's concepts: of the mirror stage, or how I am in an agonistic relationship with the other; Nachtraglichkeist or the reliving of the past in the present (deferred action), and identification. I apply these concepts to an interview I, an academic, carried out with a manager, emphasising the importance of these organizational identities in our encounter with each other. The conclusion I reach is that the organization I am 'in' is at the same time 'in' me: there is no inside and outside.
The aim of this paper is to problematize the notion of the individual self in Management and Organizational Studies (from now on MOS). To do so, we present an original theoretical framework that combines Actor Network Theory ; from now on ANT) and Actor Network Theory and After ; from now on ANT and After), Foucault's reflections on the "techniques of the self" or "arts of existence" (1986, 1988, 1990) and De Beauvoir's (1963Beauvoir's ( , 2009 and Merleau-Ponty's existentialism (1962). Our goal is to advance a critical working understanding of individual subjectivity rooted in an a-modernist, relational and multiple ontology and able to account for existential and aesthetic motives such as the creative enterprise of crafting one's own subjectivity.
Lacanian psychoanalysis and management research: On the possibilities and limits of convergence
Management Decision, 2013
Purpose -This paper aims to reflect on how Lacanian psychoanalysis might inform management studies, and discuss limitations and consequences of adopting this particular framework for doing research in organizations. Design/methodology/approach -The authors integrate existing literature on the topic, and try to articulate what Lacanian psychoanalysis contributes to the study of organizations and management; what its conceptual premises are; and which methodological consequences these premises have. Special attention is paid to the epistemological position of Lacanian psychoanalysis, and to potential pitfalls in using Lacanian theory. Findings -The authors highlight the danger of Lacanian theory functioning as a dogmatic interpretative frame, and suggest countering this tendency by accentuating both the spirit of investigation fostered by Lacan and the ethical stakes of psychoanalytic intervention. The authors equally contend that Lacanian psychoanalysis problematizes the underpinnings of scientific discourse in general, with the epistemological foundations of the social sciences being called into question. Finally, they note that the scientific character of Lacanian psychoanalysis is itself open to contestation if approached from a positivistic point of view. Addressing these objections, the authors argue for the possibility of a promising epistemological convergence between psychoanalysis and management studies. Originality/value -Overall, the authors' point is that Lacanian theory is unique in its systematic study of the dimension of the excluded and that it is in the study of this dimension that the benefit for organization and management research is to be found.
This study of cruise ship activities’ directors analyzes emotion labor, self-subordination, and discursive construction of identity in the context of a total institution. It opens with a review of social the- ories of emotion and emotion work and Foucauldian concepts of power and identity. The case, based on fieldnotes, documents, and interview data, analyzes (a) the arbitrary nature of emotion rules; (b) the dispersion of emotion control among supervisors, passen- gers, peers, and the self; (c) employee self-subordination and pri- vatization of burnout; and (d) identity as coconstituted through resistance and consent to emotion labor norms. The article con- cludes with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications.
Journal of Organizational Change Management, 2009
Purpose -With the help of Slavoj Ž ižek's concept of interpassivity, this paper seeks to illustrate the frantic activities performed by employees to maintain a separation between the idea of an authentic self and the idea of a corporate self. Furthermore, this paper aims to illustrate these activities empirically. Design/methodology/approach -The empirical example is based on a case study of three of the largest international consultancy firms. About 50 consultants were interviewed in this study, but this paper primarily focuses on the experiences of one of these consultants, and goes into depth with his experiences to illustrate the frantic mechanisms of interpassivity. Findings -The paper shows how the maintenance of an "authentic self" outside of the corporate culture demands a distinct and frantic activity; that this activity can best be understood as interpassive in the sense that it involves taking over the passive acknowledgement for which someone else is responsible; and how the separation of an authentic from a corporate self, rather than resist the demand to enjoy one's work -prescribed by contemporary management programs -nourishes it. Originality/value -The paper builds on recent literature on cynicism and normative control in organisations. It introduces interpassivity to this discussion.
Rethinking the" production" of identity in the work context
Electronic Journal of Radical …, 2000
The Organisation behavior and management discourse that addresses itself to the forms of connectedness of the individual and the organisation has traditionally viewed such a relationship as a form of socialisation. Perhaps the most pervasive description of such a relationship is that captured by in his notion of the psychological contract. For Schein, the psychological contract involved reciprocation (contribution -inducement) where the employee and employer became engaged in an interactive process of mutual influence and bargaining (see Schein) to suggest that the forms of employee involvement were a natural outcome of the rewards and kinds of authority used in an organisation.
Emotional states of the individual in a process of organizational change
2017
Given the importance of knowing and anticipating employees' reactions before organizational changes when it is perceived as negative, this Ph.D. thesis defines the individuals' six emotional states during the organizational change so that future researchers and leaders of change have the enough knowledge and tools to address it. We have achieved this through the two purposes of Ph.D. thesis: (1) the identification of the different emotional states through which the individual transits during a process of organizational change when it is perceived as negative and (2) the development of a simulation model that allows analyzing the emotional changes that occur in an organization. In order to culminate the first purpose, we have resorted a qualitative methodological approach and we chose the individual interviews as the main method of qualitative data collection. In this case, the sample consists of fifteen individual participants that they have experienced an organizational cha...
Professional Agency, Identity, and Emotions While Leaving One’s Work Organization
Professions and Professionalism, 2015
This study investigated the enactment of professional agency in an emotionally troubled work context emerging from a conflicted relationship between the professional and the work organization. Narrative interviews with Finnish educators were utilized. The findings indicate that the enactment of agency was in part framed by the educators’ rational interpretations of the relationship between themselves and their employer, plus their work history and future prospects. However, it was simultaneously embedded with contradictory emotions, such as a sense of being undervalued, fear, and a sense of empowerment. Within this framework, multifaceted professional agency was enacted particularly via leaving the organization. This was also a means of upholding one’s professional identity and resisting the organization’s work practices. The paper contributes to the theorizing of professional agency, particularly regarding its emotional dimension, and elaborates the significance of an emotional rel...
Tamara: Journal for Critical Organizational Inquiry, 2021
One ongoing theme in management theory focuses on mitigating the dehumanizing effects of organizational systems and related forms power over employees. Perhaps paradoxically, the alienating tendencies of neoliberalism resulted in various humanist and emancipatory theories intended to mitigate that alienation, which operate in a way that almost exclusively benefits the organization and subtly yet profoundly subjugates the worker. Critiques of contemporary management theory and practice, most notably by critical management studies and psychoana lytic theory, made important contributions in revealing many of the pernicious mechanisms and resulting effects of human relations approaches. However, in our assessment these critiques still struggle to respond to the emergent socioeconomic and political structures of neoliberalism. As an alternative, this article considers Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) work on faciality in order to reexamine the form and function of those structures in a way that explains their perni ciousness and suggests that there is a space within those structures for a more liberated form of subjectivity.