CRITICAL THEORIES OF ORGANIZATION

Session 12  Introduction to Critical Theory

Required: McAuley, J., Duberley, J. and Johnson, P. (2007) Postmodernism as a philosophy: the ultimate challenge to organization theory? In Organization Theory: Challenges and Perspectives.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Review: Boje, David. What is postmodern? http://www.horsesenseatwork.com/psl/pages/postmoderndefined.html

http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/papers/ENRON_critical_dramaturgical_analysis.htm

http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/mpw.html

Particularly useful at this point may be Boje’s paper on narrative frames http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/papers/practicalauthor.html as well as the 5 narrative survey at http://www.horsesenseatwork.com/psl/007.html and http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/papers/TableBQCP.html

For additional reading:

Verstehen: Max Weber's Home Page at http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Weber/Whome.htm

Karl Marx http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Marx/index.htm

Braverman http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Braverman/index.htm

Representations of work in TV ads  http://www.lclark.edu/~soan221/fordism2.html

Kersten, A. "Philosophical Foundations for the Construction of Critical Knowledge," in McLaughlin, M. (ed.) Communication Yearbook 9. (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1985),  pp. 756‑774.

Deetz,  S. and Kersten, A. "Critical Models of Interpretive Research", in Putnam, L. and Pacanowski, M. (eds.) Communication and Organizations: An Interpretive Approach. (Beverly Hills:Sage, 1983), pp. 147-171.

Session 13 Organizations as Psychic Prisons

Text, chapter 7

Thinking about psychic prisons

Kersten, A. "Organizing for Powerlessness: A Critical Perspective on Organizational Dynamics and Dysfunctionality." (2001). Journal of Organizational Change Management , 14, 5, pp. 452-467. (Special Issue on The Psychodynamics of Organizational Change Management). 

Deconstructing Stories: Read one of the original versions of Snow White and apply Boje’s 8 steps of deconstruction (http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/deconstruct.html)

Snow White links: http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/snowwhite.html (a complete page of Snow White version, story interpretation, analysis and (de)construction); http://www.fln.vcu.edu/grimm/schneeeng.html original Grimm version of Snow White; http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0709.html 6 different versions of the story

See Also:

A few pieces on organizational dysfunction:

http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/issues/management/leadership_training/3_signs_of_a_dysfunctional_company.mspx (article on warning signs of dysfunction in a company)

http://www.cio.com/archive/040102/angst.html (interesting piece on corporate angst and its symptoms)

http://www.stevedenning.com/SIN-50-Booz-Allen-study.html (nice discussion of corporate profiles, sick and healthy)

http://www.coe.montana.edu/ie/faculty/sobek/ime458/BR/Sp03/latray.htm Book review of If It’s Broken, You Can Fix It: Overcoming Dysfunction in the Workplace. Tom Jones, NY: AMA, 1999.

Kets de Vries, M. (April 2004) Organizations on the Couch: A Clinical Perspective on Organizational Dynamics. European Management Journal, 22, 2, pp. 183-200. Organizations_on_the__Couch.EMJ.doc.pdf

Clements, C. and Washbush, J. (1999). The two faces of leadership: Considering the dark side of leader-follower dynamics. Journal of Workplace Learning, 11, 5, pp. 170-176. http://www.healthcarequities.com/pages/managment/2facesleader.html

Introduction to defensive routines in organizations http://www.healthcarequities.com/pages/managment/org_defense.html

Session 14 Organizations as Flux and Transformation

Text, chapter 8

Some links on complexity and  and chaos theory:

http://www.systems-thinking.org/arch/arch.htm

http://www.calresco.org/sos/sosfaq.htm

http://www.managementhelp.org/systems/chaos/chaos.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/12170/

http://www.answers.com/topic/chaos-theory-in-   organizational-development

Session 15  Organizations as Instruments of Domination

Text, chapter 9

Global exchange network http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/sweatshops/nike/NikeReebokChinaReport.html

Globalization research center http://www.globalhawaii.org/home.html

Critique of global economy http://www.timsbrain.com/Memes/Corporate_Power/Critiques_of_the_Global_Economy/

Assorted globalization/ corporate watch/corporate ethics links http://www.tvo.org/thecorporation/links.html

Kersten, A. (2006). Crisis as Usual: Crisis, Dysfunction and Crisis Management. Public Relations Review  (pdf file)

Session 16   Final Session - All Papers due