Samarco e o rompimento na barragem de Fundão: a narrativa como um recurso performativo da prática estratégica de sensegiving inerente ao strategizing pós-desastre

Abstract

<jats:p>Resumo Esta pesquisa possui como objetivo analisar como ocorreu o processo de sensegiving nas narrativas da Samarco, como uma prática estratégica, após o rompimento na barragem de Fundão. Para isso, desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa qualitativa, com base em dados secundários, sendo coletados 307 arquivos (893 páginas) no site da Samarco, 297 arquivos (647 páginas) no site da Fundação Renova e 52 vídeos (191 minutos) no canal do Youtube Samarco Mineração. Em primeiro momento foi realizada uma análise de conteúdo cujo objetivo era observar os direcionamentos de conteúdo dado pela empresa a partir do rompimento; dessa análise foram inferidos seis momentos narrativos. Foi observado, a partir da análise narrativa, que a empresa aderiu desde o rompimento a uma estratégia discursiva que apresenta um sensegiving direcionado à volta de suas operações.</jats:p>

Capitals and decisions about sustainability in a Brazilian ecocide organization: a narrative analysis based on Bourdieusian sociology

“…Our methodological understanding prevails that the meanings differ according to the agent that disseminates it, according to the language, and the context involved in the construction of the documents (Czarniawaska-Joerges, 1995; Joseph, 2004). This comprehension is aligned with the understanding of narratives as “historical and situational, carrying with them the elements of the production of human conditions of existence and the interpretative directions of situations” (Ceni and Rese, 2020, p. 270). We describe the main stages of the narrative analysis in this research in Table 2, through which we explain the theoretical and empirical moments of investigation.…”

“…In 2015 and 2016, after Mariana’s ecocide, the organization readjusted its decision-making standard and started to promote more decentralized decisions. Participation, in this case, did not represent a spontaneous choice by Samarco Minerações, S.A., but reflected the need for social approval for the continuity of its activities and an image restoration (Ceni and Rese, 2020; Valdebenito, 2013). The absence of this spontaneity was reinforced in the years of 2017 and 2018, when the organization opted to centralize decisions in a council, characterized in the organization’s report as a group with sufficient intellectual capital to attribute agility to decision-making (Samarco, 2010a, 2016a, 2017).…”

“…The coherence between doxa and Samarco Minerações, S.A. practices reflects what the organization strongly defends in relation to its decisions: the relevance of technological development. In the report published after the ecocide in Mariana, the first discussions about the topic “Environmental Management” included a narrative in which the organization approached investment in technology as a way to generate value, to guarantee the continuity of its activities and also as a strategy to resume society’s trust (Ceni and Rese, 2020; Samarco, 2017).…”

“…This objectification comes from economic capital and has been reinforced by Samarco Minerações, S.A. itself after the ecocide. The organization stresses, in an alert tone to the public authorities and civil society, that its inactivity has had negative effects (Ceni and Rese, 2020); among them, a loss of R$989m in tax collection and that the employment of more than 19,000 people directly or indirectly linked to the organization would be at risk (Samarco, 2017). This form of objectification of economic capital is based on the sharing of what cannot be objectified from subjectivity.…”

“…Samarco Minerações, S.A. sought to (re)conquer the society and the government trust to remain with a good reputation, active in the minerals sector and also dominant in the field (Ceni and Rese, 2020; Valdebenito, 2013). The organization did this by highlighting its financial conditions and using its capacity in the development of technologies as an efficient way of dealing with the externalities generated by its own activities.…”