Management and art views of Depression era workers: The need for an organizational-arts perspective

Abstract

Sometimes an historical approach can help in understanding a vexing question like why artists seemingly had a lot to say about US workers’ experience during the Depression era (1930–41) but management thinkers and business leaders did not. Searching for an answer prompted this investigation into the need for an organizational-arts perspective.Collected images from movies, the visual arts, and dramas revealed insights into the human condition at work whereas a review of the thinking of management scholars and practitioners at the time showed little attention to workers’ perceptions or feelings.These findings support the value of an organizational studies approach that takes history seriously, and recognizes that an arts and organizational aesthetics perspectives can provide primary knowledge.