The Organization and the Symbolic: Organizational Dynamics Viewed from a Lacanian Perspective

Arnaud, Gilles

doi:10.1177/0018726702556004

Cited by 68 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…A number of publications by French, Belgian and English authors led the way (Arnaud, 1998(Arnaud, , 2002(Arnaud, , 2003aFleming and Spicer, 2003;Roberts, 2005;Vanheule et al, 2003;Vanheule and Verhaeghe, 2004;Vidaillet, 2007Vidaillet, , 2008a. A more visible and structured expression of this interest in In this respect, the purpose of this paper is threefold.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Clinical and critical: The Lacanian contribution to management and organization studies

Arnaud

Vidaillet

2017

Organization

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Over the past 15 years, an increasing number of researchers have become aware of what the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan's work can contribute to management and organization studies. The number of publications on the subject has significantly risen, at the risk of leading to some apparent heterogeneity of the topics covered and a potential distortion of the Lacanian concepts when used in management and organization studies. In this article, we aim to map this emerging field of research, bring to light the theoretical basis common to those works so as to make the Lacanian theory used to study management and organization more legible, and discuss the limitations and opportunities implied by such a Lacanian approach. We organize the published works around two main orientations, each helping to address specific issues: a clinical orientation, within organizational psycho-dynamics, and a critical orientation, related to critical management studies. KeywordsCritical management studies, Lacan, organizational psycho-dynamics, psychoanalysis Jacques Lacan's work began to be used for studying organizations and management at the turn of the 2000s. A number of publications by French, Belgian and English authors led the way (Arnaud, 1998(Arnaud, , 2002(Arnaud, , 2003aFleming and Spicer, 2003;Roberts, 2005;Vanheule et al., 2003;Vanheule and Verhaeghe, 2004;Vidaillet, 2007Vidaillet, , 2008a. A more visible and structured expression of this interest in In this respect, the purpose of this paper is threefold. Firstly, we aim to review most of the publications which, in the last twenty years, have revolved around Lacan and organizations. This will enable us to identify the various areas of inquiry linking these works, so as to map this emerging field of research, without forcing it into a rigid and ostensibly orderly representation (Contu et al., 2010;Jones, 2010).The task here is to develop around Lacan, what has already been developed in the field of organizational psychoanalysis around Freud and the post Freudians (Carr, 2002;Carr and Gabriel, 2001). Secondly, when reviewing this fairly recent literature, we intend to show why and how Lacanian concepts may be useful in exploring various theoretical perspectives and new ways of approaching practical issues in MOS. Thirdly, we propose to organize Lacan-inspired research around two major orientations that developed in distinct academic fields and with different objectives (Butler, 2008) despite some citation overlaps between both entities: the first orientation, of a clinical nature, pertains to organizational psycho-dynamics; the second, qualified as critical, relates to critical management studies (CMS). The very existence of this second orientation has much to do with the fact that Lacan's work has been disseminated far beyond the borders of analytical circles and particularly, outside France, in the academic philosophical arena, which it has entered with no particular link to the clinical practice of psychoanalysis (Badiou and Roudinesco, 2012).On the one hand, a ...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Arnaud, 2002Arnaud, , 2003bVanheule et al, 2003;Driver, 2005Driver, , 2006Driver, , 2008Vidaillet, 2007) propose to examine the symbolic dimension, and in particular language, which structures and governs the relation of the subject to the organization under an imaginary cover.…”

Section: Organizational Dynamics and Work Relations: The Imaginary Vsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical and critical: The Lacanian contribution to management and organization studies

Arnaud

Vidaillet

2017

Organization

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“…This theorizing was selected because it offers a focus on discourse suitable to the discursive nature of organizational identity (Brown, 2006;Brown and Starkey, 2000a;Hatch and Schultz, 2002;Whetten, 2006). Additionally, it has been shown as highly relevant to a deeper understanding of a number of organizational issues from a broad understanding of organizational dynamics to particular insights about leadership, power, stress and motivation (Arnaud, 2002;2003a;Arnaud and Vanheule, 2007;Jones and Spicer, 2005;Driver, 2005;Roberts, 2005;Vanheule, Lievrouw and Verhaeghe, 2003).…”

Section: Lacan and Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further introductions are also provided elsewhere (e.g. Arnaud, 2002;2003a;Arnaud and Vanheule, 2007;Driver 2008;2009). …”

Section: Lacan and Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Struggling with Lack: A Lacanian Perspective on Organizational Identity

Driver

2009

Organization Studies

105

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The purpose of this paper is to contribute to research on organizational identity by developing a psychoanalytic perspective. In particular, the author draws on Lacanian theorizing to explore how organizational identity discourse is informed by imaginary constructions of subjectivity. It is proposed that the collective construction of coherent, unitary, and definably organizational identity discourse is validated by and validates conscious but illusory constructions of the self. The resulting discourse is inevitably disrupted by unconscious subjectivity and invariably fails. Therefore, the collective construction of fragmented, dynamic, and emergent organizational identity discourse is equally inevitable. While such discourse can be illusory, it also contains the opportunity for engaging in liberating struggles with identity as lack. The implications of this perspective for the theory and practice of organizational identity are discussed.

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“…Lacanian psychoanalysis (Lacan, 1977a,b;1988a,b;2001) with its focus on how identity is constructed in discourse has been shown to have increasing relevance for organizational studies today (Arnaud, 2002;Arnaud and Vanheule, 2007;Driver, 2005;Jones and Spicer, 2005;Roberts, 2005;Vanheule, Lievrouw and Verhaeghe, 2003).…”

Section: Subjectivity and The Failure Of The Imaginarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Encountering the Arugula Leaf: The Failure of the Imaginary and its Implications for Research on Identity in Organizations

Driver

2009

Organization

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The paper reviews research on identity in organizations. It suggests that current research reiterates imaginary constructions of identity by which identity can be defined as coherent or fragmented. Based on a psychoanalytic understanding of subjectivity, it explores how articulating identity as lack may unsettle such imaginary constructions. The paper develops the significant implications this has for how identity is conceptualized and researched and, importantly, how the failure of imaginary identity constructions relates to resistance and control in organizations. The paper provides new directions for the study of identity in organizations particularly with respect to widening the discursive spaces in which creative identity struggles occur.3

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The Organization and the Symbolic: Organizational Dynamics Viewed from a Lacanian Perspective

Cited by 68 publications

References 8 publications

Clinical and critical: The Lacanian contribution to management and organization studies

Clinical and critical: The Lacanian contribution to management and organization studies

Struggling with Lack: A Lacanian Perspective on Organizational Identity

Encountering the Arugula Leaf: The Failure of the Imaginary and its Implications for Research on Identity in Organizations

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