PhD Thesis - Dignity and Organisation

While dignity is an ideal aim for many, recent research has contended that the opportunities presented in contemporary work are few and far between (e.g. Bolton 2007). These works take an approach which argues that dignity can be achieved when the appropriate factors are in place, such as just reward, job security, employee voice and so on (ibid). This view of dignity, which I present as distal, depicts it as an invisible object, to be inferred from the presence or absence of these factors. I present an alternative approach to the numerous problems endemic to this view, instead presenting dignity as an ongoing accomplishment of organizational members. The theme of members is fundamental to taking a proximal view of dignity, and instead conceiving of dignity as practice. There is significant support for this underlying the existing claims. This approach is first tested for explanatory power using a classical ethnographic study as a source; Donald Roy’s Banana Time (1959). Themes of membership, ritual behavior, and performance emerge.

The thesis builds upon existing work by conducting empirical study through ethnographically inspired methods of non-participant observation through to participative observation in three separate sites. The first site, a study of IT network specialists, strongly emphasized the element of membership and facilitated further exploration of this notion with regards to how members hold each other to account, and how the nature of membership as an underdetermined phenomenon is connected to the competency to act – a key element of understanding how dignity is enacted. The second site is the headquarters of an International Shipping Company (ShippingLtd) based on the island of Cyprus. A more diverse workplace, the theme of membership in understanding the performance of dignity, often in quite difficult circumstances, was expanded through application of Erving Goffman’s analytical insights towards performance and social interaction (1959, 1967). Strong connections were developed regarding objects and embodiments of performance in coming closer to an understanding of how dignity is done. Finally, the third site presented a counterfactual case in moving away from work organizations, focusing instead upon the work involved in the performance and cultural construction of worlds through a leisure pursuit: live action roleplay. Here, it was possible to explicitly explore the aspect of performance to the full, while also considering a social situation separate from the traditional restraints of the study of employment.

Preliminary conclusions to the thesis suggest that while it presents its own drawbacks, a shift to understanding dignity as a performative endeavour in social life also allows for a richer interpretation of work situations. There is also evidence for an argument that the very emergence of dignity as a key concern at this time is part of greater social and cultural shifts stemming from the early modern era regarding how we conceive of the individual, though this would be advanced by further research.

Mitchell, L (2007) Excavating Dignity: Can the concept be applied in the contemporary workplace, Paper presented at Postgraduate Conference "Changes and Challenges for Contemporary Organisations", Lancaster.

Mitchell, L and Ó Scolaí, P (2008) The Negotiation of Dignity; Some Paradox and 'Other', ILPC Conference Paper, Dublin

Mitchell, L (2008) Dignity: An Invisible City? SCOS Conference Paper, Manchester

Mitchell, L (2009) Performances of Dignity, SCOS Conference Paper, Copenhagen. Available online SCOS 2009 Proceedings

Mitchell, L (2010) Taking Dignity on Board: The case of Shipping Ltd SCOS Conference Paper, Lille

Mitchell, L (2010) Doing Dignity: A Performative View of Worth in Employment WES Conference Paper, Brighton

Bolton, S (2007) Dimensions of Dignity Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford

Hodson, R (2001) Dignity at Work Cambridge University Press

Lamont, M (2000) The Dignity of Working Men Harvard University Press