Managing the employee's soul: Foucault applied to modern management technologies

Abstract

This paper presents an alternative approach to analyse power in modern organisations. It does so by applyingFoucauldian concepts to new types of management technologies, which are directed at the employee's personality. Most often, studies of power and management focus on organisational structures, power games between groups and issues of how to manage processes within and between organisations. We rarely talk about whatcould be termed 'the management of personality'. This paper argues, however, that this kind of Human Resource Management is becoming increasingly important and should be a key focus in critical organisational analysis. It also discusses the consequences and possibilities for employees facing a proliferation of management-ofpersonality technologies.<br>Este artigo apresenta uma abordagem alternativa para a análise do poder em organizações modernas, a partir de conceitos de Foucault voltados a novos tipos de tecnologias de gerência referentes à personalidade do empregado. Comumente os estudos de poder e gerência têm como foco estruturas organizacionais, jogos de poder entre grupos e questionamentos acerca do controle de processos dentro das organizações e entre elas.Nós raramente discutimos o que poderia ser denominado de 'gerência da personalidade'. Este artigo pondera, entretanto, que esse tipo de gerência de recursos humanos está se tornando cada vez mais importante e deveser um foco chave na análise crítica das organizações. Além disso, discute também as conseqüências e aspossibilidades para os empregados que enfrentam a proliferação de tecnologias de gerência-da-personalidade

Workplace bullying prevention: a critical discourse analysis

“…While modern disciplinary power may have origins in techniques such as the panopticon, it also operates on the assumption that direct coercion is neither possible nor necessary to modify all behaviors (Foucault 2010b; Savage 1998; Villadsen 2007). To that end, organizations also expect employees, especially those who belong to the professional staff, to monitor their own behaviors, changing those which are not in agreement with the goals and values of the organization (Jackson & Carter 1998, Villadsen, 2007).…”

“…To that end, organizations also expect employees, especially those who belong to the professional staff, to monitor their own behaviors, changing those which are not in agreement with the goals and values of the organization (Jackson & Carter 1998, Villadsen, 2007). In this study, managers acknowledged the limitations of the technique of using presence to deter workplace bullying.…”

“…While critical management research can be negative and hyper-critical, it can also be transformative if the ultimate goal is to suggest ways of transforming managerial discourses and practices to make them more effective and humane (Villadsen, 2007). Critical analysis gains depth when theoretical knowledge is used to help interpret and understand empirical data (Alvesson & Deetz 2009).…”

“…To meet their goals, organizations need a well-regulated, self-disciplined workforce (Jackson & Carter 1998). Since it is not possible for managers to directly supervise workers all the time, organizations operate on principles of a psychological contract, where employees learn to regulate their own work through adoption of the goals of the employer (Villadsen, 2007). In this model, the goal of organizational discipline is the prevention of deviations of behaviors through the creation of a workforce that is responsible for controlling their own behavior (Brivot & Gendron 2011).…”

“…Foucault noted that organizations can exert power in a similar manner, exerting control over multiple people through an ‘inspecting gaze, a gaze which each individual will interiorize to the point that he is his own overseer, each individual thus exercising this surveillance over and against himself’ (p. 154). Through knowledge of employees, regular performance evaluations and informal feedback, modern managers manifest this inspecting gaze, thereby establishing behavioral norms which the workers themselves eventually internalize (Townley 1998; Villadsen, 2007). Managerial techniques which are based on individual self-regulation can be beneficial and can result in an autonomous, self-directed workplace.…”