Alexandra Michel, University of Southern California

The Limits of Socialization: Agency as the Body's Response to Organizational Control
Alexandra Michel, Marshall School of Business, Management and Organizations, University of Southern California

Description

Semester: 
Fall 2010
Lecture Time: 
Friday, October 29, 2010 (All day)
Lecture Location: 

Room K1310, Ross School of Business

Abstract

Through a nine-year qualitative study of investment bankers, I investigate the body’s involvement in organizational control and action. The banks highlighted bankers’ agency through unobtrusive controls. During years one to three, bankers treated their body as an unproblematic instrument for agentic goals and neglected bodily cues. Starting in year four, the body usurped control through breakdowns; bankers intensified bodily control to maintain performance. Organizational control was high throughout, but performance suffered. From about year six onward, bodily crises forced bankers to surrender control to the body. Because the body cannot be socialized completely, it resisted organizational control and through fresh perspectives spurred innovations.

Recording & Additional Notes

Introducer: Chak Fu Lam, Management & Organizations