Anatomising Embodiment and Organisation Theory

Dale, Karen

doi:10.1057/9780333993828

Cited by 128 publications

(166 citation statements)

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“…This is emphasized in the work of scholars who are exploring the imbrication of discourse, gender and the materiality of bodies. For example, Dale (2001), one of the few readers of Irigaray's work in management and organization studies, examines how diverse bodies experience life and organizations differently because of ways in which bodies are subjected to and exceed organized life. Other work on embodied practices in management pedagogy support Irigaray's theories.…”

Section: Language and Embodiment In Organization Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Writing materiality into management and organization studies through and with Luce Irigaray

2014

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There is increasing recognition in management and organization studies of the importance of materiality as an aspect of discourse, while the neglect of materiality in post-structuralist management and organization theory is currently the subject of much discussion. This paper argues that this turn to materiality may further embed gender discrimination. We draw on Luce Irigaray's work to highlight the dangers inherent in masculine discourses of materiality.We discuss Irigaray's identification of how language and discourse elevate the masculine over the feminine so as to offer insights into ways of changing organizational language and discourses so that more beneficial, ethically-founded identities, relationships and practices can emerge. We thus stress a political intent that aims to liberate women and men from phallogocentrism. We finally take forward Irigaray's ideas to develop a feminist écriture of/for organization studies that points towards ways of writing from the body. The paper thus not only discusses how inequalities may be embedded within the material turn but it also provides a strategy that enriches the possibilities of overcoming them from within. IntroductionThe neglect of materiality in post-structuralist management and organization theory is currently the subject of much discussion, notably in an important recent review article by Phillips and Oswick (2012), and Ashcraft, Kuhn and Cooren's (2009) excellent summary of approaches to exploring materiality. There is therefore recognition of the need to return to a continental philosophical tradition that attempts to transcend the subject-object dualism undergirding much of modernist knowledge production, and thus to avoid 'the bifurcation of the material and discursive' that is too often present in the texts of the proponents of discourse (Mumby, 2011). Academics are included in this turn: they are not disembodied subjectivities but sexuated subjects that are implicated in the accounts they produce. The material bodies that sit pounding keyboards will have different musculatures and organs; they may be perceived as leaky or hard; and they may also experience pains peculiar to one or other sex. While such bodies themselves can only be understood through and indeed as constituted within discourse, at the same time discourse is material and cannot be separated from such (academic) bodies (Butler, 1990(Butler, , 1993. Furthermore, academics are gendered embodied subjects, and as such are not only subject to forms of gender domination and subordination; they also may (albeit unwittingly) reproduce those forms. In other words, we argue that when bodies enter then so does gender and gender discrimination. To take forward the material turn through introducing methodological plurality and combining discourse with non-discursive approaches, as suggested by Phillips and Oswick (2012), without awareness and understanding of gender could therefore perpetuate inequalities. To avoid this danger, we propose that the turn to materiality requires fundamental...

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Section: Language and Embodiment In Organization Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Writing materiality into management and organization studies through and with Luce Irigaray

2014

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“…Dale 2001;Engelsrud 2005;Knights and Thanem 2005), this paper develops an embodied methodology to explore the active role of the body in management work.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The body is still not theorized and is hardly seen as being relevant to the development of knowledge about organization (Dale 2001;Dale and Burrell 2008;Hindmarsh and Pilnick 2007;Casey 2000). However, within sociology, the conception of social life as dematerialized and disembodied has not gone unnoticed and unchallenged (e.g.…”

Section: The Lived Body As a Productive Resourcementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, scholars have started to drift away from considering the body as being passive and discursively constructed, and instead have started to explore embodiment as active in shaping action (e.g. Shilling 2005;Hassard, Holliday, and Willmott 2000;Dale 2001;Hindmarsh and Pilnick 2007;Thanem 2008;Heaphy and Dutton 2008;Dale and Burrell 2008). This paper takes a similar point of departure.…”

Section: The Lived Body As a Productive Resourcementioning

confidence: 99%

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Management practice and disability: an embodied perspective

Värlander

2012

Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research

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In organizational research, disability is most often treated as a hindrance for performance. One of the barriers to the employment of disabled people is the perceived extra costs related to adaptation of the physical work environment and reduced efficiency. This paper argues for a view on disability as a productive resource within organizations. More specifically, the paper explores how disability informs and affects management practices. In order to accomplish this aim, three in-depth interviews with disabled managers in three different Swedish companies have been conducted. The findings show that the lived experiences of disability impregnate management practices in many various ways, leading to: Creativity, innovation and problem-solving skills; Diversity promotion; Positive energy, humbleness and a holistic view on employees; Focus on well-being in the workplace, and Increased delegation skills and establishment of an empowering culture.

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“…I attend to hitherto less developed discussions at the intersections between the monstrous-feminine and maternal-feminine in organisation (Dale, 2001;Gatrell, 2011;Haynes, 2008aHaynes, , 2008bHöpfl and Kostera, 2003;Longhurst, 2001Longhurst, , 2008Riad, 2007). Feminist contributions have hitherto explored psychoanalytic approaches to demonstrate the power of the monstrous, its excesses or lack (Creed, 1993), and the emancipatory potential of recognising one's own monstrosity by embodying the 6 monster (Shildrick, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Always different?: exploring the monstrous-feminine and maternal embodiment in organisation

Vachhani

2014

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal

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Purpose -This article problematises the notion of woman-as-monster and draws together a conceptual analysis of the monstrous-feminine and its relation to maternal and monstrous bodies including its implications for equality and inclusion in the workplace.Design/methodology/approach -Whilst exploring how female monsters are inextricably tied to their sexual difference, I draw on social and psychoanalytic perspectives to suggest how such monstrosity is expressed through ambivalence to the maternal. I analyse two 'faces' of the monstrous-feminine in particular: the archaic mother and the monstrous womb (Creed, 1993) and develop this discussion in relation to the potential for a feminist monstrous politics of organisation.Findings -Firstly, I expose the basis on which the monstrous-feminine articulates and disarticulates femininity, that is to say, how a feminist analysis of monsters may enable but also foreclose a positive articulation of disruption, disorder and disorganisation central to the conceptualisation of monsters. This is done through a reading of the maternal-feminine and literature on motherhood in organisation studies.2 Secondly, I locate the monstrous-feminine in the body and explore how maternal bodies are constructed and experienced as monstrous as they disrupt the self/other relationship. This analysis suggests that embodying the monster comes with risks and that different configurations of the monstrous maternal are necessary for equality and inclusion in the workplace.Originality/value -The article identifies and contributes to growing research on the ambivalence of monsters and expands a neglected area of the feminine and maternal aspects of these relationships and what this means for workplace relations.

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Anatomising Embodiment and Organisation Theory

Cited by 128 publications

References 0 publications

Writing materiality into management and organization studies through and with Luce Irigaray

Writing materiality into management and organization studies through and with Luce Irigaray

Management practice and disability: an embodied perspective

Always different?: exploring the monstrous-feminine and maternal embodiment in organisation

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