Dark organizational theory

Brown, Steven D.; Reavey, Paula

doi:10.1080/17530350.2017.1298533

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Emphasizing multiplicity and mess, post-ANT speaks well to ongoing discussions in organization studies about the emergent and dis/organizing making of spaces (Barinaga, 2017; Cooren, 2006; Giovannoni & Quattrone, 2018; Jones et al, 2004; Knox et al, 2008, 2015). Post-ANT introduces the idea of topological multiplicity as a sympathetic critique of the trope of the network and its topological presuppositions of stability and powerful enrolments (Brown & Reavey, 2017; de Laet & Mol, 2000; Law & Singleton, 2005; Mol & Law, 2002). Topology, with its focus on changing surface relations and dis/continuities, brings spatial imagination beyond that of the network.…”

Section: Topology: Space In Continuous Deformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Formerly insignificant, these become large and a matter of concern. The managers become temporarily defined by this uncertainty, anticipating the breaking down of order (Brown & Reavey, 2017).…”

Section: Suspending the Boundary: Topological Irruption Of Organizatimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An irruption in the topological space, it seems, undoes this work and makes us realize that even walls and gates are situational achievements. Brown and Reavey (2017, p. 86) characterize such dis/continuities as ‘breach space’: ‘The boundary is nothing and nowhere, until it is revealed through the act of breach. And then it envelops you.’ In the example analyzed here, the suspension of the boundary is not simply a theoretical problem but a very practical problem for the school managers to handle.…”

Section: Suspending the Boundary: Topological Irruption Of Organizatimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rather than the non-knowledge of an emerging crisis, and its breach space, they are confronted with matters they can identify as ‘management problems’: truant pupils, a suspended pupil, a stolen moped, a drug dealer, an unhappy neighbour. The spatial irruption analyzed in the previous section resulted from the association of these elements, a ‘parasitic cascade [where] one act of interception is interrupted by a further act’ (Brown & Reavey, 2017, p. 291). Yet, once identified by the managers, they allow a narrative ordering of the event.…”

Section: Fire Topology: Spatial Inclusion Of Absence-presencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Topology posits ‘constant deformation’ as the norm, involving changing surface relations that will always result in different dis/continuities and different spatial shapes, and whose emergence surprises us by the extent to which we are still Euclidean in our thinking and practice of organization. To navigate shifting topological forms of organizational space, the paper has taken its inspiration from Law and Singleton’s topological metaphors of network and fire, as well as O’Doherty’s (2013) and Brown and Reavey’s (2017) theorizations of intersecting spaces. With these resources we can help open up for enquiry those moments of a topologically shifting organizational space, where the furniture of everyday organizational life is moved around – by design or by accident.…”

Section: Conclusion: the Constant Topological Deformation Of Organizamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Topologies of Organization: Space in Continuous Deformation

Ratner

2019

Organization Studies

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This paper offers to extend existing discussions about the socio-material production of organizational space through the concept of topology. It does so by: (1) connecting the concept of topology to existing approaches to spatial organization that emphasize its socio-material and open-ended emergence; (2) theorizing organizational space as being in constant deformation across different topological shapes; and (3) exploring this in an empirical example that juxtaposes a management meeting with its interruption. The empirical material is collected through the method of shadowing managers at a Danish school. Theoretically, the paper argues that the shaping of space is contingent upon dis/continuities between (non)human agencies. The topological deformation of space testifies to the continuous but under-acknowledged work provided by (non)human agencies to both achieve and challenge the stability of organizational space. It further situates the boundary between inside and outside as a transient condition. This renders spatial matters such as scale and size situational achievements. Topology thus implies that we cannot in advance scale organization into micro and macro spatialities, and further, foregrounds the inherent dis/organization of space.

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