Abjection and organization: men, violence, and management.

Abstract

This paper explores case material to show the extent to which nonorganizational experiences of violence can shape subsequent behavior within organizations. The paper emphasizes examples where the extent of pathological behavior is easily observed, but the processes which surface are common mechanisms of ¿ordinary¿ human behavior and more attenuated experiences of violence within organizations operate similarly. These processes are discussed through the work of object-relations theorists, Julia Kristeva, and theorists of masculinity, claiming that bureaucracies seek to deny the emotional dimension of their behavior and decision-making which establishes emotion as an object phenomenon. Men are entangled in this web of societal and organizational denial, partly due to their traditional dominance in formal organizations. However, traditional symbolic associations between men and physical violence present a problematic contradiction, and societal, cultural and organizational arrangements tend to back and aid the psychodynamics of denial which deals with this contradiction by showing narcissistic and addictive responses. Finally, this paper contends that men in organizations need to come to terms with whatever is unacceptable to them and their experience so as to break this cycle on reproduction of dysfunctional behavior.