Concepts Flashcards
Basic understanding of core concepts
Coercion
Definition: Coercion involves the direct exercise of power through force or threats to compel someone to act in a certain way. It often relies on the use of authority or control over resources to achieve compliance.
Characteristics: Coercion is overt and explicit, typically involving clear demands or consequences for non-compliance. It can create a climate of fear and resistance, as individuals may comply under duress rather than genuine agreement
Manipulation
Definition: Manipulation, on the other hand, refers to a more subtle form of influence that involves shaping the decision-making criteria or perceptions of others without their full awareness. It often relies on persuasion, agenda-setting, and controlling the context of discussions.
Characteristics: Manipulation is less direct and can be more insidious, as it seeks to influence behavior by managing what is considered reasonable or acceptable. It often involves strategic communication and the use of social networks to sway opinions and decisions without overt pressure
Faces of Power
Coercion: The use of force or threats to compel compliance.
Manipulation: Influencing others in a non-transparent manner, often through deception or strategic framing.
Domination: Establishing control over others, typically through hierarchical structures and authority.
Subjectification: The process by which individuals internalize power dynamics and organizational norms, shaping their identities and behaviors accordingly
Sites of Power
In Organizations: Power dynamics that occur within the organizational structure and culture.
Through Organizations: How organizations exert power externally, influencing societal and political contexts.
Over Organizations: The power that external entities (like governments) hold over organizations.
Against Organizations: The resistance and counter-power that can emerge from within or outside organizations
Function creep
The phenomenon where data collected for one purpose is gradually used for additional, often unintended purposes.
Dual nature of surveillance
Positive aspects such as enhances security and accountability and negative consequences such as invasion of privacy and increased stress.
Surveillance as form of control
Surveillance is the systematic monitoring of the behaviour, activities, or other changing information, usually of people for the purpose of influencing, managing, directing or protecting them
Undecided Space (surveillance)
individual conduct is not predetermined by the surveillance itself but is shaped by individuals’ reflexive and creative responses to it.
Care of the self (Foucault)
individual’s capacity for self-reflection and the conscious shaping of one’s conduct
Covert discipline
Subtle and often disguised methods of control that operate through employee involvement, engagement, and commitment, rather than through direct or explicit commands.
Name and briefly explain three different reasons why excessive monitoring can be detrimental to employees.
Excessive monitoring can create a climate of distrust in the workplace. When employees feel constantly watched and scrutinised, they may perceive their employer as suspicious and controlling. This can lead to a decline in morale, motivation, and a sense of autonomy.
Constant surveillance can contribute to heightened stress and anxiety among employees. Feeling pressured to constantly perform under the watchful eye of monitoring systems can lead to emotional exhaustion and burnout.
The phenomenon of “function creep”, where surveillance technologies initially intended for specific purposes are gradually expanded to collect and analyse more information than originally intended. This can result in unintended consequences for employees, particularly when the collected data is used for decisions related to pay, promotion, or disciplinary action.
What is your own position on the need for and the legitimacy of workplace surveillance? What could possibly be done to counter this seemingly unstoppable trend?
I think that workplace surveillance is necessary but there is also a high potential for harm. I think that surveillance helps with security and heightened productivity, and transparency (legal situations). However, I think that when monitoring extends beyond what is reasonable and necessary, or when employees lack awareness and control over their information, it must be stopped.
In order to stop this trend, I would promote transparency and employee involvement, communicating what information is being collected, how is used and why. I would also involve (democratization of organizations) employees in the design and implementations of monitoring systems. I would also establish clear policies and guidelines with a strong legal and ethical framework.
Finally, I would use monitoring as a tool for support and development rather than control and punishment.
According to Iedema & Rhodes (2010), What managerial practices are examples of covert or ‘soft’ forms of discipline? Why can it be difficult to draw the line between what is good for the organization and what is good for the worker in these practices?
Covert or ‘soft’ forms:
Teamwork can function as a surveillance mechanism. In teams, individuals are subject to the observation and scrutiny of their peers, creating pressure to conform to group norms and expectations. This dynamic can lead to self-surveillance as individuals anticipate and internalise the judgements of their team members.
Systems of performance management can act as subtle forms of discipline, by establishing clear performance metrics and linking them to rewards and consequences, these systems encourage employees to align their behaviour with organisational objectives.
Efforts to shape organisational culture through programs that promote specific values and behaviours can also function as covert discipline. These programs often aim to instil a sense of shared identity and commitment among employees, encouraging them to internalise the organisation’s values and norms.
There is a challenge in drawing a clear line between what benefits the organisation and what benefits the workers, since certain practices can serve both organizational and individual goals.
The covert nature of the disciplinary mechanisms makes it challenging for workers to recognise and resist them. The pressure to conform to group norms, achieve performance targets, or embody the organisational culture can feel like self-motivated behaviour rather than a response to external control. This subtlety makes it difficult for workers to assess whether these practices are ultimately beneficial or detrimental to their own interests.
“caring” facade.
L5 How does the concept of ‘undecided space’ relate back to the notions of structure and agency as discussed during Lecture 2 of this course?
The concept of undecided space related to the notions of structure and agency because it establishes a space for the employees to respond actively and reflexively to the act of being observed, this directly related to the Hawthorne studies, which showed that people act differently when they are being watched, thus there is a blurred line between reflexive responses under the purpose of caring and the lack of agency when behaving due to surveillance, leading to an internalization of norms. This would lead to a soft control.
According to Iedema & Rhodes (2010) surveillance also holds ‘the potential to open up an ethical space of self and mutual care’, allowing people to ‘constitute themselves as ethical subjects of their own actions’. Briefly explain this argument in your own words.
Surveillance can create an environment conducive to self-reflection and mutual care. This argument challenges the traditional view of surveillance as solely a mechanism of control and domination.
There is an “undecided space” within surveillance, a space where individuals can respond actively and reflexively to the act of being observed. This space arises because surveillance doesn’t dictate specific responses but rather creates a context for individuals to reassess their actions and interactions.
The act of “being seen”, can foster a sense of mutual susceptibility, a heightened awareness of the interconnectedness of actions within the team. This awareness translates into a more ethical approach to practice as clinicians become more attuned to the potential consequences of their actions for both themselves and their colleagues.
This ethical potential of surveillance, lies in its ability to promote reflexivity. By observing themselves and their practices, individuals can engage in self-examination and critique, leading to a conscious reshaping of habits and behaviours. This process of self-reflection allows individuals to “constitute themselves as ethical subjects”, taking ownership of their actions and their impact on others.
Based on what you have read about the positive potential of workplace surveillance through video-ethnography as exemplified in this article, what is your own position on whether such surveillance-based interventions should be introduced more into the work context? In your answer/ reflection, also consider the counter-arguments as presented in the article by Ball (2010).
Spiritual fantasy of purpose
Quest for meaningful engagement, where individuals seek to remove bureaucratic barriers to discover their selves.
Entrepreneurial fantasy of growth
Aspirations for personal and organizational development, driven by innovation and success with collaborative settings
Tribal fantasy of belonging
Te need for connection and community, highlighting the emotional ties that bind individuals with collaborative environments.
Joissance
the affective control that operates through the paradoxical tensions between pleasure and pain in the workplace
Affective control
In the psychoanalytic approach, the leadership figure (symbolic authority) is replaced by the community (communal Other), fostering a sense of collective identity.
This shift promotes collectively held fantasies about collaboration, driving intrinsic motivation, engagement, and accountability, but can also lead to frustration, overwork, and burnout.
Power ‘with’
Collaborative, shared power where individuals work together to achieve common goals, emphasizing cooperation and mutual support
Power over
Involves control or domination, where one person or group holds authority and influences others, often through coercion or hierarchy.
Normative control
form of organizational control that relies on shared values, beliefs, and cultural norms to influence employee behavior. Instead of using direct supervision or formal rules, normative control encourages employees to internalize the organization’s expectations and standards, leading them to regulate their own actions in alignment with these norms.
What are the three leadership roles of Complexity Leadership theory? (CLT)
Adaptive leadership, administrative leadership and enabling leadership.
Adaptive leadership
Emergent change behaviours under conditions of interactions, interdependence, asymmetrical information, complex network dynamics, and tension.
Administrative leadership
individuals and groups in formal managerial positions who plan, coordinate, and manage activities to achieve organisational goals.
Enabling leadership
aims to create the conditions that allow adaptive leadership to thrive. Enabling leaders facilitate the interaction between administrative and adaptive functions.
Great man theory
the measurement of traits, which can be defined as habitual patterns of behaviour, thought and emotion.
Transactional leadership
Followers are moved to complete their roles as agreed with a leader in exchange for a reward
Transformational leadership
Move followers to awareness about what is important, and away fro own self interest
Servant leadership
enagegement through collaboration
