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‘Doublethink’ : The prevalence and function of contradiction in acccounts of organizational life
journal contribution
posted on 2009-01-23, 12:13 authored by Amal El-Sawad, John ArnoldJohn Arnold, Laurie CohenThose engaged in conducting qualitative research frequently acknowledge
the presence of contradiction in their data. However, within
the organization studies literature little attention is paid to teasing
out these contradictions and subjecting them to critical analysis. This
article advances our knowledge of contradiction in accounts of
organizational life. Drawing on new empirical evidence from a qualitative
interview study of employees working in a large blue-chip
corporation, we critically assess a number of instances of contradiction
or ‘doublethink’ within this particular organizational setting. We
challenge the assumption underpinning much of the existing literature
that individuals are uncomfortable with contradiction and seek
to resolve it whenever it arises. We argue that doublethink provides
a means of containing contradiction such that it is neither acknowledged
as contradiction nor experienced as uncomfortable. We
consider the findings in relation to notions of role positions which
reflect/constitute different ways of ordering an individual’s experience,
the mobilization of an overarching idiom to ‘contain’ the
contradiction, and the privileging of practice over reflexivity.
Funding
This article was published in the journal, Human Relations [© The Tavistock Institute] and the definitive version is available at: http://hum.sagepub.com
History
School
- Business and Economics
Department
- Business
Citation
EL-SAWAD, A., ARNOLD, J. and COHEN, L., 2004. ‘Doublethink’: The prevalence and function of contradiction in acccounts of organizational life. Human Relations, 57 (9), pp. 1179–1203Publisher
Sage / © The Tavistock InstituteVersion
- NA (Not Applicable or Unknown)
Publication date
2004ISBN
1741-282XISSN
0018-7267Language
- en