Critical Approaches to Organizations

Metaphors and Cultures Web Lecture

In Critical Approaches to Organizations “researchers are interested in how domination is legitimized as normal and power relationships are accepted without question by organization members.” It is stated goal of these critical researchers to free the workplace of domination by management or the top of corporate hierarchy. The Domination Metaphor looks at how an organization’s actions can sometimes destroy the communities they reside in. The example brought up in the online lecture is that of Roger and Me, Michael Moore’s documentary about the closing of the General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan and the subsequent economic devastation it wrought.

The most frequent critique of Critical Approaches is just that; it is too critical of corporations and sees them only as tools of oppression, ignoring the technological advances gained through their commitment to research and progress. I believe this is a one sided view of critical approaches. While apologists for corporate greed argue that scholars wish to demonize their profit-centric approach, critical approach researchers wish only to expand dialogue from intra-managerial to intra-corporation. Involving lower level workers in the decision making process is a way of making sure that domination is not pervasive in the organization. Involving lower level workers can also mean that the community is more intimately involved in decisions that directly affect them, as these workers will normally work in the immediate area in which they reside.