Interpreting the Maternal Organization

Over the past ten to fifteen years there has been an increasing interest in emotion in organizations, in diversity, ethics, care and the ubiquitous pursuit of quality. These concerns, however, have consistently been reduced to issues of management and regulation. There is now a growing need to confront issues related to the dehumanization of organizations. This book brings these issues together, presenting an original construction of the organization via an emphasis on the (m)other. This book is not a feminist tract, nor is it primarily about the experiences of women in organizations. It rather argues that conventional representations of the organization are patriarchal, masculine, directed by the animus and that such representations reduce the notion of ’organization’ to abstract relationships, rational actions and purposive behaviour. This challenging book will be of essential interest to all critical management theorists. With its innovative approach, it will also appeal to students, teachers, and all those looking for an approach to management that does justice to the complexity, ambivalence and chaos of the world of organizing.

Heather Höpfl is Professor of Organizational Psychology and Head of the School of Operational Analysis and HR and the University of Northumbrra, UK. She is an Adjunct Professor of the University of South Australian, and holds Visiting Professorships in both Poland and the UK. She is a Fellow of the British Academy of Management and a former Chair of the SCOS. She is, with Stephen Linstead, editor of the journal Culture and Organisation, and has published a number of books.
Monika Kostera is Professor in Management and Organization Theory at Warsaw University (Poland). She is a visiting professor at a number of institutions, including Northumbria University, UK and Växjö University, Sweden. She has published articles in journals such as Organisation, Organization Studies, Quantitative Sociology, and others, as well as books in Polish and English.