Images of Workplace Politics: Control and Resistance via Visual Materiality

Abstract

The current paper examines how the material, and specifically visual, aspects of organizing contribute to understanding control and resistance issues in organizations. While the role of visuality in workplace power relations has been acknowledged, the processes by which specific visual affordances can contribute to power contests are not well understood. We argue that visuality offers both opportunities for control and resistance, where control is exerted via the normalizing and objectifying feature of visuality, whereas resistance is promoted through its ironic and humoristic use, which draws on bricolage and juxtaposition to subvert dominant images. Based on an ethnographic study of an industrial print company, we show how the diverse uses of visuality create a field for negotiating underlying organizational tensions. We draw conclusions for the study of power and materiality in organizations.