Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Human Relations, 72 (12), 2018, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2018 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Human Relations page: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/HUM on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Micro-political processes in a multinational corporation subsidiary
T2 - a postcolonial reading of restructuring in a sales department
AU - Hopkinson, Gillian Clare
AU - Aman, Asad
N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Human Relations, 72 (12), 2018, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2018 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Human Relations page: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/HUM on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
PY - 2019/12/1
Y1 - 2019/12/1
N2 - What shapes micro-political contest in the subsidiary of a multinational corporation? We use observational and interview data from a Pakistani subsidiary of a global company to address this question. We trace debate surrounding the entry of modern (self-service) retail through multiple voices. Following postcolonial theory, we show how top management create a narrative that combines the progressiveness of modern retail with the locally salient discourse of izzat/honour. This hybrid narrative defines the terrain and terms of micro-political contest for all others in the subsidiary. Our analysis shows how some workers adapt this hybrid story to support their interests, whilst the attachment of izzat to the modern restricts the possibility of resistance for others. We examine how the narrative enables the establishment of an elite and a dominated group. The postcolonial approach allows us to argue that the subsidiary is a specific site of micro-political struggle where both geo-political factors and relationships with other parts of the multinational corporation shape micro-political processes.
AB - What shapes micro-political contest in the subsidiary of a multinational corporation? We use observational and interview data from a Pakistani subsidiary of a global company to address this question. We trace debate surrounding the entry of modern (self-service) retail through multiple voices. Following postcolonial theory, we show how top management create a narrative that combines the progressiveness of modern retail with the locally salient discourse of izzat/honour. This hybrid narrative defines the terrain and terms of micro-political contest for all others in the subsidiary. Our analysis shows how some workers adapt this hybrid story to support their interests, whilst the attachment of izzat to the modern restricts the possibility of resistance for others. We examine how the narrative enables the establishment of an elite and a dominated group. The postcolonial approach allows us to argue that the subsidiary is a specific site of micro-political struggle where both geo-political factors and relationships with other parts of the multinational corporation shape micro-political processes.
KW - Discourse
KW - identity
KW - izzat
KW - modern retail
KW - multinational
KW - Pakistan
KW - postcolonialism
KW - power
KW - subsidiary
KW - sifarish
U2 - 10.1177/0018726718817818
DO - 10.1177/0018726718817818
M3 - Journal article
VL - 72
SP - 1869
EP - 1890
JO - Human Relations
JF - Human Relations
SN - 0018-7267
IS - 12
ER -