Theorizing and Researching the Dark Side of Organization. Issue 2 (February 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Linstead, Stephen; Maréchal, Garance; Griffin, Ricky W.
• Other Names: Linstead Stephen guest-editor.; Maréchal Garance guest-editor.; Griffin Ricky W. guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Organization studies. Volume 35:Issue 2(2014)
• Page Start: 165
• Page End: 188
• Publication Date: 2014-02
• Subjects: critical management studies -- dark side -- organizational behaviour -- ethics -- research methods; Organizational sociology -- Periodicals; Organizational behavior -- Periodicals; Organization -- Periodicals; 302.35
• DOI: 10.1177/0170840613515402
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0170-8406

Abstract

The paper offers an introduction to research that concerns itself with the 'dark side' of organization and attempts to bring theoretical resources from a range of disciplines to bear upon the problem. This stream of research has emerged most visibly since the 1990s, although its concerns can be found in much earlier research. Frustrations with the tendencies of mainstream work to overlook, ignore or suppress difficult ethical, political and ideological issues, which may well mean life or death to some people, has in recent years led to a research that self-identifies its concerns as being with the dark side. We structure our review around key contributions on the dark side of organizational behaviour, mainly in psychology but also including the concept of organizational misbehaviour; the sociology of the dark side, with particular reference to mistakes, misconduct and disaster; and a wider range of critical approaches to the dark side including Marxist, post-Marxist and postcolonial perspectives. We also undertake a review of methodologies for investigating dark side phenomena, and finally introduce the five papers that comprise this special issue.