Abstract
This research contributes to our understanding of control and resistance by demonstrating that managers may be constrained by the very concertive systems of control that they enact and that managers may subtly and indirectly support employee resistance to control. A study of an aerospace company finds concertive control acts as a barrier to management directed organizational change. In this case, managers subverted their own change efforts by communicating ambivalence about changes they introduced; this gave employees support in resisting the proposed changes. Despite clear material necessity and discursive ideologies supporting change, managers were bound by their identification with and devotion to the traditional value premises of the company.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-21 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Communication Monographs |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2005 |
Funding
The organizational identity of this manager is based, at least partially, on his identification with the company’s past success. Trying “stuff that hasn’t been tried before” motivated this manager. In contrast with the discourse of enterprise, with its compromise position of “best value,” this manager revealed his strong affinity for technical excellence and his devotion to the past. This sentiment is supported by another long-term manager who stated,
Keywords
- Concertive Control
- Identification
- Identity
- Resistance