Fire and Ice: Flaming Passion, Reified Structure, and the Organizing Body

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Christopher N. Poulos, Associate Professor & Department Head (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: In this paper, I engage methods of critical phenomenology and personal narrative in the investigation of a commercial organization. My aim is to come to a richer understanding of embodied organizing, through exploration of some key metaphors that might guide us in our understandings of life at work. With this aim in mind, I will probe the possibilities inherent in two new metaphors related to organizing praxis: fire and ice. Thus, the essay deals with the central role of passion (fire) and of the countervailing energy of reified structures of command-and-control (ice). My interest is in the dialectical interplay of these forces in the ongoing life of an organization.

Additional Information

Publication
American Communication Journal Vol. 6:2 (Winter).
Language: English
Date: 2003
Keywords
Control, Passion, Management, Organization, Analysis

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