Are conflict and struggle at work as normal as compliance and consent? Contributors in this volume argue that they are. A wide range of passive and active, subtle and covert resistance practices are examined from diverse contexts. These include factory workers, women and minorities, farmers and even managers. International in focus, presenting original research supported by case-study material, this volume begins to redress the often cited neglect of workplace resistance. It will be of great interest to students and researchers in the fields of organizational sociology, organizational behaviour and industrial relations.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of Islamist organizations' conceptions of political order based on a comparative case study of the Shiite Lebanese Hezbollah and the Sunni Palestinian Hamas. Connecting Islamism research, Critical Constructivist norm research, and resistance studies from the field of International Relations Theory, it demonstrates that resistance constitutes both organizations' core norm and is relevant for their conceptions of political order. Based on primary Arabic data the book illustrates that the core norm of resistance, deeply intertwined with both organizations' interactions towards power preservation and the specific political context they are engaged in, characterizes Hezbollah's and Hamas' respective conceptions of political order and explains the differences between them. In contrast to common perceptions presented in research, politics, and the media, the book shows that in the case of both Hezbollah and Hamas the religious orientation, i.e. Shiite and Sunni Islamist political thought, plays a secondary role only when it comes to explaining Islamist organizations' political orientation. Bringing new insights from cases that lie beyond the Western liberal world order into Critical Constructivist norm research and resistance studies, the book establishes a theoretical framework that enables scholars to comprehensively analyze Islamist organizations' political orientation in different cases without being caught in limited analytical categories. It will be of interest to students and scholars of International Relations Theory, Middle East Studies, and Global Governance.

Movements in Organizational Communication Research is an essential resource for anyone wishing to become familiar with the current state of organizational communication research and key trends in the field. Seasoned organizational communication scholars will find that the book provides unique insights by way of the intergenerational dialogue that is found in the book, as well as the contributors’ stories about their scholarly trajectories. Those who are new to the field will find that the book enables them to familiarize themselves with the field and become a part of the organizational communication scholarly community in an inviting and accessible way. Key features of the book include: A review of current issues and future directions in 13 topical areas of organizational communication research. Intergenerational dialogue and collaboration between both established and emerging scholars in their specialty areas. Reflections by the authors on their scholarly trajectories and how they became a part of the field. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter that prompt reflections and debate. The book also features online resources for instructors: Sample course syllabus Suggested case studies from the book Cases in Organization and Managerial Communication to align with this book’s chapters The book is recommended as the anchor text for introductory graduate-level courses and upper-level undergraduate courses in organizational communication. It is also an excellent supplementary text for advanced doctoral-level courses in organizational communication, and courses in related fields such as organization studies, organizational behavior, and management. Chapters 3 and 8 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

First Published in 2007. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In an age when large corporations dominate the economic and political landscape, it is tempting to think that their power goes largely unchecked. Originally published in 2007, Contesting the Corporation counters this view by showing that today's corporations are driven by political struggle, power plays and attempts to resist control. Building on a wide range of theoretical sources, Fleming and Spicer present an analysis of the different ways in which power operates within the modern workplace. They begin by building a theoretical perspective that synthesizes previous investigations of power and resistance, identifying struggle as a key concept. Each chapter illustrates a different dimension of workplace struggle through an array of original empirical studies relating to sexuality, cynicism, new social movements and new-wave trade unionism. The book concludes by demonstrating that social justice claims underlie even the most innocuous forms of resistance, helping to transform some of the largest modern corporations.

This state of the art collection develops the theme of resistance from below in everyday organizational life. Building on a body of theory dealing with power, control and domination in the labour process, international contributors expand the analysis by focusing on material circumstances and subjective states that lead to subtle forms of subversion and sabotage as well as to more overt forms of defiance and protest. Throughout the volume discussion is supported by case studies, interviews, surveys and ethnographic data drawn from around the world to reveal resistance practices which range from those hidden in the 'crawl-spaces' of organizations to those that are more public and demonstrative. Recent developments in critical social theory are used to provoke thinking about resistance both as a response to power and a form of power. Uniquely, the contributions show that oppressive practices at work can be met with powerful counterforces, and that resistance need not only take the form of 'quiet resilience'. Presenting an empowering view of insubordination, this volume will be of interest to those in the fields of organizational sociology, organizational behaviour, industrial and labour relations and women's studies.

For more than a century, from 1900 to 2006, campaigns of nonviolent resistance were more than twice as effective as their violent counterparts in achieving their stated goals. By attracting impressive support from citizens, whose activism takes the form of protests, boycotts, civil disobedience, and other forms of nonviolent noncooperation, these efforts help separate regimes from their main sources of power and produce remarkable results, even in Iran, Burma, the Philippines, and the Palestinian Territories. Combining statistical analysis with case studies of specific countries and territories, Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan detail the factors enabling such campaigns to succeed and, sometimes, causing them to fail. They find that nonviolent resistance presents fewer obstacles to moral and physical involvement and commitment, and that higher levels of participation contribute to enhanced resilience, greater opportunities for tactical innovation and civic disruption (and therefore less incentive for a regime to maintain its status quo), and shifts in loyalty among opponents' erstwhile supporters, including members of the military establishment. Chenoweth and Stephan conclude that successful nonviolent resistance ushers in more durable and internally peaceful democracies, which are less likely to regress into civil war. Presenting a rich, evidentiary argument, they originally and systematically compare violent and nonviolent outcomes in different historical periods and geographical contexts, debunking the myth that violence occurs because of structural and environmental factors and that it is necessary to achieve certain political goals. Instead, the authors discover, violent insurgency is rarely justifiable on strategic grounds.

This book explores the meaning and practice of corporeal ethics in organized life. Corporeal ethics originates from an emergent, embodied, and affective experience with others that precedes and exceeds those rational schemes that seek to regulate it. Pullen and Rhodes show how corporeal ethics is fundamentally based in embodied affect, yet practically materialized in ethico-political acts of positive resistance and networked solidarity. Considering ethics in this way turns our attention to how people’s conduct and interactions might be ethically informed in the context of, and in resistance to, the masculine rationality of dominating organizational power relations in which they find themselves. Pullen and Rhodes outline the ways in which ethically grounded resistance and critique can and do challenge self-interested organizational power and privilege. They account for how corporeal ethics serves to destabilize the ways that organizations reproduce practices that negate difference and result in oppression, discrimination, and inequality. The book is suitable for students, scholars, and citizens who want to learn more about the radical possibilities of how political actions arising from corporeal ethics can strive for equality and justice.

Gaining Influence in Public Relations explores how professionals can increase their influence in practice to help their organizations achieve success. This provocative book explores the largely uncharted territories of power, resistance, dissent, and activism in public relations, arguing that practitioners can increase their power and social legitimacy by developing and using a wider range of influence resources, strategies, and tactics. Authors Bruce K. Berger and Bryan H. Reber talked with hundreds of practitioners, analyzed original survey data, and examined a detailed case study to develop a theory of power relations. Ultimately, the book seeks to advance the ethical and effective practice of public relations. Intended for scholars and graduate students in public relations, it also has much to offer practitioners, as well as scholars and students in organizational communication, organizational theory, human resources, and leadership.

The literature on Change Management works from the premise that management possesses the power to achieve change and this is evident in that resistance is little more than a footnote in most textbooks. This assumption sits uneasily, however, with the high failure rate of Change Management interventions. This book seeks to explain this paradox by providing a critical ‘relational’ approach towards Change Management. What would a book on Change Management look like that takes resistance seriously? This book attempts precisely this by exploring how resistance is as much a part of change as the strategies of those that seek to enact it. The findings are drawn from a qualitative study of organizational transformation in a Local Government Authority in the UK. Its detailed empirical insights enable readers to explore organizational change from many different perspectives considering issues such as the strategic use of metaphor and counter-metaphors; management and employee resistance; organizational politics and cynicism. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students interested in change management, organizational studies, human resource management, and critical management studies.