Abjection and organization: men, violence, and management

This paper explores case material to show the extent to which non-organizational experiences of violence can shape subsequent behavior within organizations. These connections are not commonly considered either in the study of organizational behavior or of managerial practice, because behaviors from other arenas, adaptations, and responses, can be reproduced many years away from the source of anxiety. These behaviors are widespread, patterned, cyclical, and carry an inevitability about them that cannot be modified simply by changing behavior alone. The paper concentrates on examples where the extent of pathological behavior is easily seen, but the processes which surface are common mechanisms of 'ordinary' human behavior and more attenuated experiences of violence within organizations operate similarly. These processes are discussed through the work of object-relations theorists, Julia Kristeva, and recent theorists of masculinity, arguing that bureaucracies seek to deny the emotional dimension of their behavior and decision-making which creates emotion as an abject phenomenon, denied but present, ever potentially resurgent, never addressed as reality. Men are caught up in this web of societal and organizational denial because of their traditional dominance in formal organizations and the historical association of masculinity and rationality, compounded by the dynamics of male psychology. However traditional symbolic associations between men and physical violence introduce a problematic contradiction, and societal, cultural, and organizational arrangements tend to support and facilitate the psychodynamics of denial which deals with this contradiction by producing narcissistic and addictive responses. This is illustrated by a discussion of film, novel, and biographical data. The paper finally argues that men in organizations need to come to terms with the unacceptable in themselves and their experience in order to break this cycle of reproduction of dysfunctional behavior.
KEY WORDS: abjection; violence; masculinity; management; addiction; organization. INTRODUCTION Violent behavior can take many forms -- extremely physical, sexual, intimidatory, psychological, intense, infrequent, impulsive, sustained, planned, ritualized, official, encultured, verbal, [...]