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Presencing identity: organizational change and immaterial labor

Rick Iedema (Centre for Clinical Governance Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia)
Carl Rhodes (School of Management, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia)
Hermine Scheeres (Centre for Organizational, Vocational and Adult Learning, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia)

Journal of Organizational Change Management

ISSN: 0953-4814

Article publication date: 1 August 2005

2095

Abstract

Purpose

To examine Hardt and Negri's discussions of immaterial labor in relation to personal identity and sociality at work in a context of the postmodernization of the global economy.

Design/methodology/approach

Hardt and Negri's discussions of immaterial labor are reviewed in relation to their implications for social interaction and identity at work. Heidegger's idea of “presencing” is then used to examine the dynamic emergence of identity as an effect of the “affectualization” of work.

Findings

Global trends towards an informationalized economy have profound implications for identity at work in that the dynamics of identity are foregrounded and managerial and organizational power structures that seek to define an essential worker identity are destabilized.

Research limitations/implications

Suggests that research into identity at work should include a focus on the immaterial dimensions of work and should consider the implications of this for the dynamic emergence of identity and for future forms of organization and management.

Practical implications

Suggests that the emergence of immaterial labor might provide increasing, albeit complex and contested, opportunities for worker participation; this is on what management relies, and what at the same time has the potential of undermining the legitimacy of management.

Originality/value

Provides an innovative way of examining the dynamics of identity in contemporary organizations.

Keywords

Citation

Iedema, R., Rhodes, C. and Scheeres, H. (2005), "Presencing identity: organizational change and immaterial labor", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 327-337. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534810510607038

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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