Philip Hancock

Uncovering the Semiotic in Organizational Aesthetics

This article seeks to illustrate the utility of a semiotically grounded approach to the analysis of organizational aesthetics. Developed from a critique of the tendency to romanticize the notion of aesthetics within both organization studies and the social sciences more generally, it is argued that such a tendency tends to overlook the ways in which organizational imagery and artefacts are imbued with aesthetic meaning—which in turn can be understood to function as what Gell (1992) has described as cultural ‘technologies of enchantment’. Commencing with a brief review of increasing practitioner interest in the possibility of harnessing the aesthetic as a managerial resource, the article then considers the nature of the aesthetic as an essentially contested concept within both philosophy and organization studies. In doing so, it outlines the dominance of what it considers to be a romanticized understanding of the aesthetic amongst those who believe it to provide what Strati (1999) has described as an ‘epistemological metaphor’ for organizational studies. In contrast to this, a case is then made for the utility of a semiotic approach to studying organizational aesthetics, which is itself illustrated with reference to an analysis of a particular organizational artefact, namely a graduate recruitment document.

‘MOT Your Life’: Critical Management Studies and the Management of Everyday Life

This article attempts to reflect critically on the extent to which the discourses, techniques and imperatives associated with the management of work organizations are increasingly colonizing the everyday sphere of human communication and sense-making. Drawing on critical social theory and particularly Habermas’s account of ‘the rational organization of everyday life’, as well as what has come to be known as critical management studies (CMS), the article begins by locating itself within contemporary debates on management and everyday life. It then proceeds, drawing on recent research involving a critical analysis of post-Excellence management books, to map out the discourse commonly encountered in such texts before going on to explore the presence of a notably similar discourse appearing within contemporary cultural resources such as self-help manuals and, more notably, lifestyle magazines. It is then argued that such texts constitute a material signifier of what is an ongoing managerialist colonization of the everyday life world. This argument is substantiated with reference to a series of (group and individual) semi-structured interviews focusing on the lived experience of management, highlighting the encroachment of management discourse, techniques and imperatives on life outside work organizations. The article concludes by reflecting critically on some of the philosophical and political issues this potentially raises and, in doing so, aims to contribute to a critical discussion of the diffusion of management knowledge and ideology, particularly in relation to the subjective impact of managerialism on human relations.

Embodied Generosity and an Ethics of Organization

In this essai I address the subject of organization and ethics. In contrast to both the Kantian legislative tradition, and the idea of organizational virtue, both of which are predominant within contemporary accounts of business ethics, I argue for an ethics of organization based on the principles of recognition. Such an ethics would be both intersubjective and embodied, sensitive to what Diprose (2002) has described as corporeal generosity. In doing so, I lay claim to a set of ontologically a priori conditions in order to provide an alternative ethical foundation for modes of organizing, as well as a retort to more mundane assumptions about the ethical character of organizational life.

Hyper-Organizational Space in the Work of J. G. Ballard

This paper explores three hyper-organizational spaces: the skyscraper, the resort and the office-park. Drawing on Henri Lefebvres account of the production of space, we consider how these spaces are socially produced, how they materialize relations of power and how inhabitants engage in struggle to change these spaces. Three novels by J. G. Ballard are selected to explore each of these spaces. We argue that in each of these novels, such hyper-organizational environments can be understood as the product of ongoing struggle between centrally planned and practiced space, and peripheral lived space. This both animates these spaces and the lived relations that comprise them, as well as potentially destroying them.

Networks of aestheticization: the architecture, artefacts and embodiment of hairdressing salons

The aesthetic dimension of interactive service work is increasingly significant. This is reflected in the attention paid to it within both industrial sociology and organization studies. Such research has however tended to focus either on the aesthetic aspects of the labour process of service workers or, alternatively, on the material environments within which such labour takes place. This article draws on data derived from a case study investigation of two hairdressing salons in the UK. It extends our understanding of the aesthetics of such service encounters through an analysis of the inter-relationships between the human and non-human elements present in such workspaces. Incorporating elements of actor-network theory, it examines the aestheticization processes that emerge from, among other things those networks of architecture and design, non-human artefacts, and embodiment and aesthetic labour, that constitute the servicescapes of the salons in question.

The Management of Everyday Life

The practices and values of management are increasingly shaping the management of life outside of work. Here, experts reflect critically on the implications this has for our everyday experiences of self and society. The book helps students to reflect critically on the relationship between management and changes in the organization of work.

Space and time in organizational change management

Purpose – The paper aims to introduce the manner in which management and organization theory have viewed space and time as significant resources and to put forward a number of more contemporary views as to how space and time is both managed and experienced.Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts a postmodern approach in assembling what it regards as “fragments” from a variety of disciplinary discourses on space and time. Each fragment presents, putatively, a different voice, theme or motif which are intended to help the reader better understand the trajectories contained in the other papers in the volume.Findings – The paper finds that conceptions of space and time are fundamental to the manner in which organizations are managed and organized and are a symbolic order inter‐related to themes of power and control. The manner in which we experience space and time is open to manipulation and specifically a form compression that displaces critical reflection and may make individuals prone to external lo...

Architectures of incarceration: The spatial pains of imprisonment:

This article considers the contribution that physical environment makes to the pains of imprisonment. Synthesizing concepts and theories from critical organization studies with those that have informed criminological studies of prison design and the lived experience of imprisonment, the article discusses the ways in which the architecture and aesthetics of penal environments might be better understood with reference to the restricted economies of space found in industrial and bureaucratic organizations. It is argued that a grasp of the limits historically placed on the subjective growth of individual workers (workspaces frequently being characterized as ‘iron cages’ or ‘psychic prisons’) can enhance our understanding of the physical and psychological confinement of those in custody. Moreover, critical organization studies can inform emerging debates about what future prisons should look like and alert us to the potential fallacy in assuming that ‘modern’ equates to ‘better’. While clean, humane and safe environments are unquestionably desirable for both prisoners and prison staff, and considerations such as natural daylight, access to outside space and aesthetic stimuli are increasingly being incorporated into penal environments around the world, this article will critically interrogate the value of such initiatives arguing that they may, in fact, represent a new and potentially more insidious form of control that bring their own distinctive ‘pains’.

Aestheticizing the World of Organization – Creating Beautiful Untrue Things

The aesthetic has long endured an uneasy relationship with institutions of power and authority. For Plato (trans. 1955/1987), the subversive potential he detected in the practice of art, and the aesthetic it engendered, was sufficient for him to call for poets and performers to be banned from his ideal Republic, lest they should corrupt his guardians and future philosopher kings. For the great minds of the Enlightenment the aesthetic, something unwieldy and corporeal in its nature, threatened their equally idealized realm of mind and led Kant (1790/1952) to construct his elaborate philosophical system to ensure its subservience to the exercise of reason and judgement. More recently, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as modernity witnessed art and aesthetic practice emerge as a radical political and cultural force, the Janusfaced character of the age became increasingly apparent as the creations of the avant-garde rapidly became the sole preserve of the rich and powerful in society to accumulate and enjoy.

The spatial and temporal mediation of social change

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to provide insight beyond the internal dynamic of organizational change and explore how organizations contribute, at the symbolic and aesthetic level, to the experiential stabilization of spatio‐temporal change within society more generally. As such, the paper seeks to contribute to critical debates surrounding the relationships between organization and society, particularly in terms of understanding change as an outcome of organizational activity within the broader socio‐cultural environment.Design/methodology/approach – Concerned as it is with the critical interpretation of visual image and composition, the paper adopts a broadly structural‐hermeneutic framework directed at the semiotic analysis of a sample of organizational artifacts; in this instance, a sample of company documents chosen by virtue of their communicative intent and rich symbolic and aesthetic content.Findings – It is argued in the paper that several recurring or generic constellations of meaning...