The Nostalgia of Organisations and the Organisation of Nostalgia: Past and Present in the Contemporary Railway Industry

Abstract

This paper examines the role and meaning of nostalgia, and its opposite nostophobia, in the contemporary railway industry. It charts the way the past is passively and actively used by organisational actors, management as well as at the political level. It is argued that in the contemporary railway industry history and heritage are selectively annexed, negatively in order to win consent for change, and positively in an attempt to recapture the `golden age of railways' for marketing purposes. The paper makes sense of these processes by deploying a framework derived from various writers on issues connected with nostalgia and the emotional attachment to work.

Nostalgia-Related Aspects of Professional Sport Facilities: A Facility Audit of Major League Baseball and National Football League Strategies to Evoke the Past

“…The study of nostalgia is limited despite the fact that many political and economic figures and organizations exploit it to their advantage (Brown & Humphreys, 2002;Gabriel, 2000;Hinch & Higham, 2004;Milligan, 2003;Ritchie & Adair, 2004;Strangleman, 1999Strangleman, , 2002. For instance, marketing and consumer behavior scholars noted organizations use nostalgia to motivate or prompt the use of specific products and services and as a tool to positively affect brand image (Funk & James, 2006;Goulding, 2001;Havlena & Holak, 1991, 1998Holbrook, 1993;Moriarty & McGann, 1983;Pascal, Sprott, & Muehling, 2002;Unger, McConocha, & Faier, 1991).…”

History and Organizational Change

“…So, for example, research has emphasized the importance of mourning the passage of a celebrated CEO, such as Steve Jobs, in order to mark transition to a new form of leadership (Bell & Taylor, 2016) or canonizing the iconic image of a founder (Foster, Suddaby, Minkus, & Wiebe, 2011). Often, memorializing involves a high degree of revisionist history and a deep reliance on nostalgia-or appeals to an invented past that never actually was (Gabriel, 1993;Strangleman, 1999).…”

“Time(x) Out of Joint”

“…Employment relations were expected to reflect this emergent phase of unprecedented consensus given the overcoming of outdated industrial disagreements. Moreover, it is certain that the prolonged and extremely visible Timex dispute provoked nostalgic sentiments (Gabriel, 1993;Hay, 1996;Strangleman, 1999Strangleman, , 2007, as angry workers bearing placards with Marxist slogans revived images of a past not yet successfully buried (Crow, 2005).…”

“…In the context of industrial disputes, this maps onto a story of a golden past marked by solidarity, community and fraternity (Davis, 2002;Strangleman, 1999Strangleman, , 2007). …”

“…As opposed to malevolent visitations, another reading of the ghost metaphor has been a nostalgic hearkening back to a pre-crisis era of (perceived) harmony. For example, in Strangleman's (1999Strangleman's ( , 2007 Monde, 2011). Similarly, the Economist characterises it as a "spectre that haunts…”