Empowerment and emotions in ‘New Management’ and in generativity-driven organizations

Emotional distance, detachment, compassion and care: The affective milieu of academic management in the neoliberal university

“…This affectively produced division is created to make the institution thrive. According to Tosoni and Cecchinato (2018, p. 297), ‘in the New Management discourse it is always the organisation and its functional needs that prevail’. It is worthwhile to ask what this affective-discursive polarisation does to the individual academic’s psyche, especially the one who has not obtained funding for some time, or who, for one reason or another, does not feel they are part of the group of achievers.…”

“…This marketing of the faculty may be seen essential, especially since while recruiting: 'The faculty is looking for [a] potential researcher who has skills to produce, innovate, generate, write, and get funding: a kind of person who has suitable surplus value for big projects' (Max). Thus, with positivity, the faculty tries to attract scientists whose competency is defined as an underlying feature of the individual that leads to superior performance (Tosoni & Cecchinato, 2018).…”

“…Taking emotions as a focus of enquiry relates to the affective dynamics of governmentality and the new management approach, which has devoted increasing attention to the emotional dimensions of work life and the emotional disposition of employees (Tosoni & Cecchinato, 2018). In this process, management attempts to employ techniques to target and expand the affective lives of employees in order to increase their productivity and manageability in the new market environment (Foucault et al, 2007, pp.…”