hegemony in organizations

A primary criticism of early work in organizational culture was the lack of attention to power in the organization. That is, while all organization members participate in the creation of organizational culture, some have greater influence in the process than others. In addition, cultural norms typically reinforce the status quo and cultural artifacts, such as stories and practices, convey values in implicit ways that are difficult to critique. As I mentioned in my entry yesterday, much of my work in organizational communication has focused on culture. My early research took an interpretive approach, but later work took a critical approach.

As the authors of your text point out in Chapter 6, he roots of critical theory are in the writings of Karl Marx and the scholars associated with the Frankfurt School. Critical approaches advocate for working people. A social trend in the U.S. that has contributed to increased interest in critical approaches to organizations is more resources being given to larger corporations. A recent example is the banking industry bailout in which billions of dollars were given to financial institutions with essentially no strings attached or oversight, while people directly affected by the collapse of the real estate market and mortgage system were for the most part left to fend for themselves.

Hegemony occurs when organizational rules developed by top management are adopted and enforced by those at lower levels of the hierarchy. Reification occurs when organization members view organizational reality as objective and fixed. Concertive control occurs when employees create and enforce their own rules. For example, SJSU administration requires that faculty give a final examination (of some sort) during finals week. As a learning and assessment tool, finals do a poor job, especially concentrated in just a few days. But SJSU has always had finals week (at least since anyone I know here can remember). It's viewed as something that can't be changed. Faculty have developed their own rules associated with finals week and enforce those rules. Some of us have questioned the rationale beyond finals week, but the questions are ignored.

According to Stan Deetz, a noted critical organizational communication scholar, critical research is a way of life that involves being filled with care, which means trying to understand others on their own terms. He also argues that critical researchers should be filled with thought, which means identifying the political implications of personal stories. Finally, being filled with humor for the critical researcher means accepting uncertainty and recognizing life's ironies.

~ Professor Cyborg