Enacting Competitive Wars: Competitive Activity, Language Games, and Market Consequences

Rindova, Violina P.; Becerra, Manuel; Contardo, Ianna

doi:10.2307/20159077

Cited by 56 publications

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“…When referring to language games, we refer to the definition of Rindova et al . (), who argue that language games focus on how language and discourse organize experience and reality. However, given our interest in politics and power, we also refer to Foucault (1982, cited in Clegg et al .…”

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confidence: 99%

Politics and Power within Multinational Corporations: Mainstream Studies, Emerging Critical Approaches and Suggestions for Future Research

Geppert

Dörrenbächer

2013

Int J Management Reviews

123

127

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Given the increased public interest in the use and misuse of power in multinationals in the aftermath of the financial crisis, it is notable that power relations in multinational corporations (MNCs) have not gained enhanced attention in the academic community. What is missing so far in the study of MNCs is a systematic examination of how power and politics within MNCs have been addressed in mainstream international business (IB) and sociological research studying the MNC. This paper starts by critically reviewing these two mainstream approaches in the study of MNCs as organizations and seeking to understand the shortcomings of former research. Next, it reviews new emergent critical perspectives, which the authors call socio‐political studies of MNCs, where power and politics are addressed not just more prominently, but also differently, from a more bottom‐up and actor‐centred perspective. After reviewing this emergent stream of research, the authors propose that future studies should take a more micro‐political perspective and focus in more detail on the micro‐foundations of power relations. In the concluding section, the authors show how future studies of MNCs can learn from both critical interactionist and discursive theories when analysing organizational politics and power relations. A framework is proposed for the study of micro‐level political game‐playing in MNCs, based on a three‐dimensional framework for organizational power (episodic, rules of the game and domination), and some key research questions for future studies are suggested.

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confidence: 99%

Politics and Power within Multinational Corporations: Mainstream Studies, Emerging Critical Approaches and Suggestions for Future Research

Geppert

Dörrenbächer

2013

Int J Management Reviews

123

127

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“…A strong definition of performative discourse suggests that language does not only construct reality, but also leads to and/or affects actions (e.g. Rindova et al. , 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the language game of management, of organization science, of war, and so on (e.g. Astley & Zammuto, 1992; Rindova et al. , 2004), our emphasis is procedural, akin to Wittgenstein's (1969) analysis of the language game of builders (and not of the buildings) or Grover's (1993) analysis of the language game of project management (and not of software or other products of project management).…”

Section: Research Settings and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enacting language games: the development of a sense of ‘we‐ness’ in online forums

Fayard

DeSanctis

2010

Information Systems Journal

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A sense of 'we-ness' -enacted through collective identity and culture -is both crucial in online, remote contexts, and particularly difficult to develop in such settings. Using Wittgenstein's concept of language games, we examine how participants of two online forums construct collective identity and culture through their discursive practices. We suggest a strong performative interpretation of the notion of language games, i.e. members of a community produce a sense of we-ness through their participation in the language game while also defining their expected behaviours and actions. We illustrate how the notion of language games offers an approach for researching and analysing the emergence of collective identity and culture in online forums.

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“…In our analysis, the rivalry between Jeff Skilling and Rebecca Mark was a by-product of the ganging dynamics. However, this aspect of "competitive wars" (Rindova, Becerra, & Contardo, 2004) and "the psychology of rivalry" (Kilduff, Elfenbein, & Staw, 2010) is gaining currency, particularly when leaders disagree about organizational identity (Voss, Cable, &Voss, 2006). This paper also has implications for the wide range of debates about organizational crisis and risk, so diverse that, in a landmark UK Royal Society report on risk, they have been referred to as the "risk archipelago" (Hood, Jones, Pidgeon, Turner, & Gibson, 1992, p. 135).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dark Side of Groups

Stein

Pinto

2011

Group & Organization Management

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The purpose of this paper is to develop our understanding of the gang aspects of work organizations. By applying a psychoanalytic lens, we formulate the ideas of the 'gang at work' and 'intra-organizational ganging dynamics', thereby initiating a research stream on the "dark side of groups". We illustrate our conceptual development by drawing on the Enron case thereby contributing unique group-level insights that complement other analyses of the phenomenon. We conclude by identifying areas for further research, and arguing that gang phenomena may also have been present among many of the key organizations at the centre of the credit crisis, such as Lehman Brothers. Key Words: psychodynamics, ganging, Enron The dark side of groups: A 'gang at work' in Enron 3Over the last few years management scholars have been increasingly focused on the "dark side" of various aspects of management and business. Interest areas in this stream include: "the dark side of organizational behaviour" (Griffin & O'Leary-Kelly, 2004), "the dark side of organizations" (Vaughan, 1999), the "dark side of leadership" (Conger, 1990), the "dark side of new organizational forms" (Victor & Stephens, 1994), the "dark side of internal capital markets" (Scharfstein & Stein, 2000), "the dark side of social capital" (Deuchar, 2008), and the "dark side of high self-esteem" (Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, 1996). Although these interest areas are at various levels of analysis, the group-level is conspicuous by its absence. We contribute to this stream by focusing on the "dark side of groups", and drawing on the psychodynamics literature, develop two constructs, i.e., the gang at work and intra-organizational ganging, which we illustrate using Enron as a case study.Much has already been written about the 2001 Enron collapse (Boje, Rosile, Durant, & Luhman, 2004;Bryce, 2002;Cruver, 2002;Fox, 2003;Hamilton, 2006;McLean & Elkind, 2003;Levine, 2005;Partnoy, 2003;Stein, 2007;Swartz & Watkins, 2003), and this new study therefore requires some justification. First, as the biggest-ever corporate failure at that point in history, Enron is a case of considerable significance and complexity, and we believe the understanding of what transpired at Enron is by no means complete. Second, although a variety of perspectives have been applied to the Enron case, the group-level has been relatively neglected (see O'Connor, 2002 for an exception). We argue in this paper that this neglect is particularly unfortunate, and show how group-level aspects played a key role in Enron's demise. Third, we believe the lessons from Enron can be generalized to other 'dark side' situations including the 2008 credit crisis, and we provide here an indication of some of the parallels that exist between these scenarios.Our theorizing is built on the Kleinian psychoanalytic theory which distinguishes between work groups and gangs (Bion, 1961) and their corresponding group and gang states The dark side of groups: A 'gang at work' in Enron 4 of mind (Canham, 2002). We are therefore attempting...

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Enacting Competitive Wars: Competitive Activity, Language Games, and Market Consequences

Cited by 56 publications

References 0 publications

Politics and Power within Multinational Corporations: Mainstream Studies, Emerging Critical Approaches and Suggestions for Future Research

Politics and Power within Multinational Corporations: Mainstream Studies, Emerging Critical Approaches and Suggestions for Future Research

Enacting language games: the development of a sense of ‘we‐ness’ in online forums

The Dark Side of Groups

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