Case Study Report
Cyrusxx
L5-Neo-humanism.pptxOrganisational Analysis
Four paradigms in organisational analysis: Neo-humanism
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Lecture Aims
Introduce neo-humanism (also called radical humanism) and show how it manifests in organisational analysis
Illustrate the effects of neo-humanism
Discuss the advantages and limitations of neo-humanism
Next steps
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Introduce neo-humanism (also called radical humanism) and show how it manifests in organisational analysis
Illustrate the effects of neo-humanism
Discuss the advantages and limitations of neo-humanism
Next steps
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RMIT University
Burrell & Morgan, 1979: Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis
Objectivism
Subjectivism
Conflict & radical change
Order & regulation
Neo-humanism
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Scenario 1
Scenario 2
Irrational, insatiable growth & acquisition, to the destruction of own company
Controlled by subconscious, narcissistic impulses and desires
Absence of self-knowledge
Existential crisis & alienation
Rejection of employment institutions, regimes, constraints, and their ends
Rejection of system of production & distribution
Rejection of surveillance & encroachment on civil liberties
Freedom from interference by authority
Seeking end to illegitimate power of authorities, at enormous personal cost
Abject failure of imagination and foresight
Abject failure to question
Self-delusion
Preferencing the interests of the corporation over people and nature
Uncontrolled anger arising from subconscious fears
Clumsy deployment of improvement tools that question workers’ professional skills & competence
Scenario 3
Scenario 4
Scenario 5
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IMAGES:
Image at bottom right is of animal activists outside Flinders Street in Melbourne.
Image of three statues and person standing on chair, see Wikipedia: “Anything to Say? is an itinerant bronze sculpture and art installation by Italian artist Davide Dormino which was placed in Berlin's Alexanderplatz on May Day 2015. It features the whistleblowers Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Chelsea Manning standing on three chairs; the entire installation (which includes a fourth, empty chair meant as a platform for public speaking) is to go on a global tour. The installation was unveiled by "ANYTHINGTOSAY," a private art project supported with an international crowdfunding.[1] [2] ”
Other images indictive of existential angst, silencing, alienation, oppression, and psychic pain.
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What unites these scenarios?
What do they have in common?
What do they mean for you, as future managers?
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Neo-humanism:
Rejects the idea of “rational man” [sic]
Critiques, dissents, and searches for alternatives
Calls for spiritual and psychic emancipation, belongingness, and for control to be given back to the employee
Calls for meaning to be restored to work
Rejects obedience & compliance to organisational edicts and norms; rejects indoctrination
Imagines new organisational possibilities
Seeks to transcend existing power arrangements (e.g. capitalism and managerial prerogative)
Believes that organisations should serve human beings, not that human beings should serve organisations (Aktouf, 1992)
Burrell & Morgan, 1979; Hirschheim & Klein, 1989; Aktouf, 1992; Aktouf & Holford, 2008
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Objectivism
Subjectivism
Conflict & radical change
Order & regulation
Managers ensure that human beings serve organisations
Managers see human beings as instruments of production
Organisations & managers must serve human beings (A, 1992)
Human beings are ends in and of themselves
Managers legitimate organisational projects by securing consensus through participation
Most consensus is a falsity, and achieved via “manipulation” of our perceptions, self-image, feelings, identity, etc. (A, 1992)
So-called “participation” creates false interactions. “Consensus without the operation of power” is needed (B&M, p. 295)
Burrell & Morgan, 1979; Aktouf, 1992; Aktouf & Holford, 2008
Managers side with & are agents of capitalist interests
Managers are complicit in the exploitation of workers
Human beings cannot be reduced to a pre-specified class or identity; human beings are diverse
Ideology distorts understanding & must be dismantled
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To know what to do, we must change the way we think (a shift in consciousness)
Shifts in consciousness require freedom from external & internal regulation, rejection of narratives that dictate who we should be, & freedom from undistorted communication
Knowing what to do involves “ideal” communication & placing the human condition at the centre of our deliberations
So-called general laws about the “best way” of doing something perpetuate repressive systems of production
What counts as “knowledge” is deeply uncreative & typically serves power
The way we think is the product of institutional forces
Knowledge is obscured by systems of work & production that domesticate us & impede true reflection & insight
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Shifts in consciousness require freedom from external & internal regulation, rejection of narratives that dictate who we should be, & freedom from undistorted communication
RMIT University
To know what to do, we must change the way we think (a shift in consciousness)
Knowing what to do involves “ideal” communication & placing the human condition at the centre of our deliberations
So-called general laws about the “best way” of doing something perpetuate repressive systems of production
What counts as “knowledge” is deeply uncreative & typically serves power
The way we think is the product of institutional forces
Knowledge is obscured by systems of work & production that domesticate us & impede true reflection & insight
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Value of neo-humanism
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Diagnostic ‘tool’ to anticipate and explore implications of management decisions (risk exploration)
Creative, generative thinking that serves people (ultimately, how can this do wrong by organisations?)
Basis of genuine transformation
Genuinely participative employees, free from psychological and social burdens, able to express their ideas and fulfil their potential
“Ideal”, “undistorted” communication – best of humanity & creativity poured into organisational decision-making
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A neo-humanist’s perspective on functionalist hierarchy
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HYR Consulting; “Radical humanism in the rise of AI and data analytics”
Tim Leberecht
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Neo-humanism in practice (Aktouf, 1992)
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Call out unethical behaviour, dishonesty and partial truths, particularly as these affect workers and the community and environment
Resist the fragmentation of work & the destruction of its meaning
Denounce and resist intensification of work
Facilitate genuine worker participation in decisions and profits
Dissolve organisational boundaries when conceiving of the responsibility of the firm
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Neo-humanism in practice
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Cascades Inc (Aktouf, 1992)
Pulp & papermill
No organisational charts, no official titles or positions, no job descriptions, no time sheets, no supervisory mechanisms
Direct & informal relations at all levels
Self-managing teams etc.
“Spectacular success”
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Neo-humanism in practice
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Logistics Inc (Burns, 2015)
Giant logistics & transportation firm
Systematically hires & trains ex-prisoners for employment & career opportunities
Disregards any complaints from share-holders; educates concerned employees
Proudly advertises work, despite risk to reputation
Transforms lives, including existing employees; “some of our best employees”
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Burrell & Morgan, 1979: Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis
Existing systems of production are controlling forces that domesticate, impoverish, and prevent people from reaching their potential
Organisations oppress people and ruin the earth through their reckless and irrational short-term pursuit of profit
Foundational management concepts & practices must be re-thought
Organisations must serve people, not the other way around
Critique is vital & must be maximised
Assumptions about organisations and society
Order & regulation
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Conflict & radical change
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Burrell & Morgan, 1979: Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis
Shifts in consciousness hold the key to reimagining work, management, & organisations
Yet, our consciousness (how we think and what we know) is dominated by existing beliefs about how the world should work
We must reject as “knowledge” those management ideas that do not reckon at the deepest level with their implications for human beings
True insight can only be attained by removing barriers to free thought – sub-conscious fears & anxieties; fear of control & authority; impulses to conform and comply; group-think
Assumptions about our knowledge of society
Objectivism
Subjectivism
Objectivism
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Objectivism
Subjectivism
Conflict & radical change
Order & regulation
Burrell & Morgan, 1979
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Limitations of neo-humanism
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Better at critique, less effective in practice
Focuses on the power / lack of power of our consciousness (mind), but pays less attention to the “material” forces that alienate and oppress people
To date, vulnerable to marginalisation by the “pragmatic” elite
Can verge on anti-organisation stance and anarchistic individualism; this makes enemies – how to be constructive, yet maintain necessary critique?
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Parting words ….
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People are “more than [what] the job requires” ….
Aktouf, 1992, p. 418
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Multi-paradigmatic perception: two dimensions
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Burrell & Morgan, 1979: Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis
Assumptions about our knowledge of society
Objectivism
Subjectivism
Order & regulation
Assumptions about society
Conflict & radical change
Radical structuralism
Social relativism
Neo-humanism
Functionalism
Multi-paradigmatic perception: two dimensions, four paradigms
Four radically different ways of seeing organisations
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Multi-paradigmatic perception: two dimensions
RMIT University
Burrell & Morgan, 1979: Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis
Assumptions about our knowledge of society
Objectivism
Subjectivism
Order & regulation
Assumptions about society
Conflict & radical change
Social relativism
Neo-humanism
Functionalism
Multi-paradigmatic perception: two dimensions, four paradigms
Four radically different ways of seeing organisations
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Lecture Aims
RMIT University
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Introduce neo-humanism and show how it manifests in organisational analysis
Illustrate the effects of neo-humanism
Discuss the advantages and limitations of neo-humanism
Next steps
Introduce neo-humanism and show how it manifests in organisational analysis
Illustrate the effects of neo-humanism
Discuss the advantages and limitations of neo-humanism
Next steps
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Next steps
Please review your tutorial activities in Canvas for the current and coming weeks
Finalise your groups for your Group Assignment
Continue to work on Assignment 1 – due in Week 6
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References
Aktouf, O. (1992). Management and theories of organizations in the 1990s: Toward a critical radical humanism? Academy of Management Review. Vol. 17(3): 407-431.
Burns, P. (2015). A neo-institutional study of firms that provide ‘reintegrative’ employment opportunities to former prisoners in a liberal individualist society. Unpublished thesis.
Burrell, G. & Morgan, G. (1979). Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis: Elements of the Sociology of Corporate Life. New York, NY, USA: Routledge.
Hirschheim, R., & Klein, H.K. (1989). Four paradigms of information systems development. Communications of the ACM. Vol. 32(10): 1199-1216.
Morgan, G. (1997). Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
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