Organizational scholars have shown considerable interest in the rise of complex systems of organizational control, sometimes referred to metaphorically as the process of tightening the iron cage, as well as patterns of workplace resistance to it. More recently, the scholarly spotlight seems to have shifted from formal modes of employee resistance to more informal or routine forms of workplace resistance. This paper presents a detailed ethnographic account of informal resistance and its ability to limit managerial control in a health maintenance organization undergoing the computerization of its administrative functions. Our study adopts a more problematic approach to understanding routine resistance, tracing its discursive constitution in the workplace. Using the findings of an ethnographic study involving observation and interviews, we show how routine resistance was discursively constituted and how it limited organizational control in interesting and unexpected ways. This discursive constitution was achieved through (a) owning resistance, (b) naming resistance, and (c) designating indirect resistance. The paper also analyzes how these different discursive constructions limited managerial control by affirming autonomous self-identities, renegotiating roles and relationships, and reinterpreting dominant managerial discourses. Finally, broader implications for understanding routine resistance in organizations are drawn.
Across the Red Sea, the Saudis watch Soviet influence increase on the horn of Africa. The Russian presence is felt in South Yemen, Iraq, and Afghanistan. And now, across the Persian Gulf, the populous and important nation of Iran, once considered the guardian of the mouth of the Persian Gulf, is in turmoil. Continuing heavy reliance on Middle Eastern oil is extremely dangerous to the security of the United States and its allies in the industrialized Western world.Letter to Shareholders (Amoco, 1978, pp. 4-5) In this paper, we analyze Chief Executive Officers' letters to shareholders in the United States petroleum industry during the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on the industry's turbulent relationship with OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). We discuss and deploy the methodology of critical hermeneutics. The "texts" of the CEO letters, when juxtaposed against the "context" of key historical events, suggest that these letters were deployed to produce a certain attitude toward OPEC among their readers that deflected attention from the crisis of legitimacy faced by the oil companies domestically. We suggest that the trope of Orientalism helps us understand what exactly the texts sought to achieve through their pronouncements about OPEC.
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to present a short note on postcolonialism as a field of critical inquiry in the business management field, and enable the guest editors to introduce the contents of a special issue entitled "Critical reflections on management and organization: a postcolonial perspective". Design/methodology/approach -The paper states that postcolonial theory seeks to critique and analyze the complex and multifaceted dynamics of modern Western colonialism and to develop an in-depth understanding of the ongoing significance of the colonial encounter for people's lives both in the West and the non-West. Findings -The paper finds that modern western colonialism -a phenomenon with a history of roughly 500 years and a geographical reach that at one point spanned approximately 90 percent of the entire earth -is an episode of particular significance in human history. Originality/value -The paper shows that the special issue contents reflect different aspects of contemporary issues in postcolonialism. In terms of postcolonial geographies, the special issue papers cover regions as diverse as Africa,
This article focuses on the methodological and epistemological aspects of hermeneutics, a leading genre of interpretive research. Beginning with a brief overview of the limitations of methodological discussions of hermeneutics in current organizational research, the article first introduces readers to the historical context of hermeneutics and then discusses the major epistemological and methodological concepts and debates that inform contemporary hermeneutics. Next, methodological guidelines for employing hermeneutics in organizational research are proposed. Finally, some conclusions are offered.
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