Neoliberal subject and organizational management: new tensions and articulations

Abstract

Initial formulations of “organizational culture” referred to the specific cultural production of each organization. Scholars assigned this culture a function of amalgamation, which maintained the social fabric and enabled the emergence of shared practices. In recent years, however, this notion seems to have lost its meaning in the face of a neoliberal ideology that conceives collective action as the sum of individual actions. Neoliberalism challenges people since it presents them with an ideal that comprises a subject made up of social imperatives—such as being a self-entrepreneur, constantly reinventing oneself and being resilient—to which they perhaps cannot or do not want to adapt. Neoliberalism also challenges management by considering the “organizational we” as a simple sui generis identity. Strengthening organizational culture—which is necessary to confront current environments—requires critical learning that reorients the focus toward collective action.