TY - JOUR
T1 - Bullshit and Organization Studies
AU - Christensen, Lars Thøger
AU - Kärreman, Dan
AU - Rasche, Andreas
N1 - Published online: 25. January 2019
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Bullshit is a ubiquitous communication practice that permeates many dimensions of organizational life. This essay outlines different understandings of bullshit and discusses their significance in the context of organization studies. While it is tempting to reject bullshit as corrosive to rational organizational practice, we argue that it is necessary to understand its organizational significance and performative nature more systematically. We outline different social functions of bullshit focusing on two particular types of managerial practices in which bullshit is likely to play a significant role: commanding and strategizing. On this backdrop, we consider bullshit in terms of the messages, senders and receivers involved, focusing especially on the dynamics between these dimensions in the context of organizations. The final part of this essay debates the reasons why bullshit, which is recognized by organizational members, is rarely called and rejected explicitly.
AB - Bullshit is a ubiquitous communication practice that permeates many dimensions of organizational life. This essay outlines different understandings of bullshit and discusses their significance in the context of organization studies. While it is tempting to reject bullshit as corrosive to rational organizational practice, we argue that it is necessary to understand its organizational significance and performative nature more systematically. We outline different social functions of bullshit focusing on two particular types of managerial practices in which bullshit is likely to play a significant role: commanding and strategizing. On this backdrop, we consider bullshit in terms of the messages, senders and receivers involved, focusing especially on the dynamics between these dimensions in the context of organizations. The final part of this essay debates the reasons why bullshit, which is recognized by organizational members, is rarely called and rejected explicitly.
KW - Bullshit
KW - Bullshit receptivity
KW - Communication
KW - Organization studies
KW - Bullshit
KW - Bullshit receptivity
KW - Communication
KW - Organization Studies
UR - https://sfx-45cbs.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/45cbs?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info:sid/sfxit.com:azlist&sfx.ignore_date_threshold=1&rft.object_id=954921376726&rft.object_portfolio_id=&svc.holdings=yes&svc.fulltext=yes
U2 - 10.1177/0170840618820072
DO - 10.1177/0170840618820072
M3 - Journal article
VL - 40
SP - 1587
EP - 1600
JO - Organization Studies
JF - Organization Studies
SN - 0170-8406
IS - 10
ER -