Post-growth Organisations as Resonant and Reciprocal Social Systems: A Matter of Gratification

Abstract

This article examines how, in times of increasing flexibilisation of work, an organisational culture based on resonance and reciprocity may soften psycho-social disorders and contribute to a health-supporting working environment. Flexibilisation is a phenomenon that inscribes socially shared notions of capitalist growth by exploiting natural and human resources as a necessary dynamic of societal stabilisation, into the everyday working lives of human beings. As a result, “dramatic changes are observable in flexibilised contexts” (Joseph, 2004, p. 234). The article shows to what extent flexible work relations are contrary to human needs. In this context, Siegrist’s theory of gratification crisis constitutes an approach to analysing the relationship of working conditions on the one side and human needs on the other side. Siegrist’s approach is augmented by relevant aspects of flexibilisation and applied in a qualitative manner to gain more insights into employees’ perceptions of work. Based on these results, I will reveal an image of an organisation which mostly reflects terms of resonance and reciprocity as determining principles of organisational structuring.