TY - JOUR

T1 - Manufacturing conformity

T2 - Leadership through coercive persuasion in business organisations

AU - Tourish, Dennis

AU - Collinson, David

AU - Barker, James R.

PY - 2009/5/1

Y1 - 2009/5/1

N2 - This paper critically examines the neglected importance of employee conformity in organisationsMore specifically, it addresses the ways in which coercive persuasion can manufacture conformity through contemporary leadership processes and corporate culture practicesDrawing on the foundational work of Schein (1961), we illustrate how the nine techniques of coercive persuasion that he identified can serve as a framework for understanding the exercise of power and the manufacture of conformity in modern organisationsIn particular, we discuss this framework in relation to the phenomenon of 'corporate culturalism' (in which powerful leaders determine constraining norms and values for others, in the form of compelling ideologies)We argue that ideology, when embraced with sufficient vigour, can function as an invisible internal eye, ensuring that subjects themselves become the instruments of their own subjugationThe paper concludes by discussing the implications of coercive persuasion in organisational discourse.

AB - This paper critically examines the neglected importance of employee conformity in organisationsMore specifically, it addresses the ways in which coercive persuasion can manufacture conformity through contemporary leadership processes and corporate culture practicesDrawing on the foundational work of Schein (1961), we illustrate how the nine techniques of coercive persuasion that he identified can serve as a framework for understanding the exercise of power and the manufacture of conformity in modern organisationsIn particular, we discuss this framework in relation to the phenomenon of 'corporate culturalism' (in which powerful leaders determine constraining norms and values for others, in the form of compelling ideologies)We argue that ideology, when embraced with sufficient vigour, can function as an invisible internal eye, ensuring that subjects themselves become the instruments of their own subjugationThe paper concludes by discussing the implications of coercive persuasion in organisational discourse.

KW - Coercive persuasion

KW - Employee conformity

KW - Power and ideology

U2 - 10.3917/mana.125.0360

DO - 10.3917/mana.125.0360

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84858414740

VL - 12

SP - 360

EP - 383

JO - Management

JF - Management

SN - 1286-4892

IS - 5

ER -