Jan Ch Karlsson: Organizational Misbehaviour in the Workplace. Narratives of Dignity and Resistance. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012

Abstract

Jan Ch Karlsson: Organizational Misbehaviour in the Workplace. Narratives of Dignity and Resistance. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012If you have any doubts about the importance of dignity and autonomy to employees at all levels of an organization, then this book surely is a must read for you. Should you lack good research-based examples of what happens when management tries to impose a suitable culture on the employees, forces employees to work in presumably more efficient ways, or implements control measures that are perceived as intrusive and unjust, then this book provides you with numerous references. In fact, this is a book very much suited for work life researchers, for general management, and within organization and management studies.The book is divided into three separate parts. First, the theme of organizational misbehavior is shortly introduced in relation to theories that address problems of organizing work processes or dignity and autonomy more indirectly, for example, socio-technical theory, the control-demand model, and Lysgaards study of the workers' collective. The second part of the book consists of a total of 66 short narratives on organizational misbehavior drawn from various research literature from the 1950s onward; approximately half of them stem from the years between 2000 and 2011. The third part of the book consists of two chapters. The first introduces what the author describes as the focal point of organizational misbehavior, the rationales behind the breaking of management rules, through the introduction of an empirical example/research study from the Norwegian Health Care Sector. The second chapter discusses numerous approaches relevant to organizational misbehavior and presents a model of possible subsets of organizational misbehavior in relation to the command hierarchy at the workplace.The main bulk of this book, the narratives, is perhaps also the most interesting one. There is no doubt that the author has done a great job selecting interesting, illuminating, and relevant examples of organizational misbehavior in various contexts. There is, however, a slight problem with regard to the lack of systematic analysis of the presented narratives. After reading 128 pages of narratives, you get surprised that Karlsson chooses to present another empirical study over a whole new chapter. It is as if he does not after all regard the 66 narratives as anything else than, well, just narratives. Another question also presents itself-why has not the narratives been placed directly within, or more clearly in relation to, the model in the concluding chapter? The book would also benefit from presenting an overview of the narratives-country of origin, year, type of business, size of business, and so on-it just is not enough to write one paragraph to sum up all of these characteristics.The narratives may be perceived as a summary of every possible way management can go wrong in their quest for more control and how the (more clever) employees manage to be productive anyway. They make you smile, they may shock you, but even more so they come across as essential insights for anyone interested in the organizing and development of organizations. Some of the narratives illustrate the classical struggle of middle management when they are made responsible for implementing top-down initiated restructuring processes, often put forward as cultural change projects, but with the hidden agenda of making the workers more productive. In some of these cases, middle management then overrules top management by joining forces with the employees. Management is not homogenous and managers do not always threaten the subordinates' dignity. On the contrary, managers may themselves be without the necessary dignity and influence in their work. In other words, organizational misbehavior-the breaking of management rules- can be found at every level of an organization and is not an exclusive worker strategy. …