The ‘yawning abyss’ between surface and substance : Organizational life as ‘pseudo-reality’

Summary, in English

Organizational scholars have long studied and theorized the apparent divergence of discourse and practice in organizational settings, and how it affects leadership, management, and professional work. In this article, we review this work and connect it to an hitherto unexplored philosophical line of thought from the writings of the late Czech playwright, dissident and president Václav Havel. In 1978, Havel published an essay that discussed the consequences of the disconnect between official discourse, promoted by the communist regime, and the everyday life of Czechoslovak citizens. His ideas about the ‘yawning abyss’ between the two, and the resulting ‘pseudo-reality’, are explored in this article, as food for thought about organizational life in late modern capitalism.

• Author: Olof Hallonsten
• Department/s: Organizational Studies
• Publishing year: 2022-06
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Scandinavian Journal of Management
• Volume: 38
• Issue: 2
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scaman.2022.101210
• Document type: Journal article (comment)
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Topic: Business Administration
• Keywords: Corporate bullshit; Corporate myths; Management fashions; Philosophy
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0956-5221