Poststructuralism, organizational analysis, and business ethics

Abstract

The chapter presents the poststructuralist philosophical tradition in relation to business ethics and philosophy of management. The poststructuralist tradition involves many philosophers who take their point of departure from a criticism and development of some of the structuralist ideas, but interprete them in their own direction. In particular, poststructuralist approaches combine the transgression of structuralist perspectives with broader analysis of social phenomena and social institutions. These approaches can therefore have important relevance for philosophy of management, business ethics, and the ethics of organizations. Among different poststructuralist approaches, the following philosophies will be considered: Michel Foucault (power and governmentality), Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guatteri (capitalism, desire, and control society), and Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy (deconstruction of business ethics and corporate social responsibility). These constitute some important very distinct approaches to organizations and business in society. Foucault developed his own project of analysis that situates structures in historical genealogies and considers power as an important element of the formation of structure. Deleuze and Guattari situated structure from the perspective of a general theory of capitalist society. Derrida and Nancy open the possibility for a deconstruction of the implicit metaphysics of structuralist analysis that focuses on movements of differentiation and dissemination within the systems of structures and signs. Accordingly, the chapter presents these theories and their consequences for business ethics and organizations.