Work & Organising
The chair of Work and Organising (previously Organisation Studies) of the Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 School of Governance, conducts critically oriented research on contemporary work, organisations and organising processes. To create public value and foster open institutions, in our work, we unpack how norms, structures, meanings, processes, formal and informal practices shape organisational realities. We pay particular attention to how such realities are imposed, contested and renegotiated, leading to just and equal relations and outcomes for those who inhabit them.
Empirically, we study organisations and organisational processes through various qualitative methods including in-depth case studies, ethnography, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, visual methods, participatory action research, art-based research, and document-based analyses. The group also has expertise in mixed methods and various forms of quantitative research. Conceptually, we rely on theoretical traditions ranging from (post)Marxism to feminist theory, critical discourse analysis, theories of embodiment and affect, new materialism, social movements, ethical leadership; psychological safety and street-level bureaucracy theories.
We conduct engaged research with the explicit ambition to support (non)institutional organisations and organisational practices that foster equality and create collective, as opposed to enclosed and privatised, value. As reflexive practitioners, we see ourselves as part and parcel of the social reality we study, interpret, represent, and contribute to change. We translate this vision in all our educational activities guiding students in critically assessing organisations and organising processes and encouraging them to engage and reflect on their own role as agents of social change.
Our research is organised along three research themes: Diversity, and (in)equalities; Work, ethics and power; Alternative organising .
Diversity and (In)equalities
Diversity, and (in)equalities deals with the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in contemporary organisations and organisational practices e.g. in relation to gender, race, ability, size and other forms of intersectional and embodied difference. Diversity (management) in contemporary fragmented organisations is also a focus within this theme.
Work, Ethics and Power
Work, ethics and power considers the dynamics of power and resistance in contemporary organisations; practices and ethics of employment law enforcement; tackling labour exploitation; whistleblower protection; algorithmic control and precarious employment; professional identity; health and control at work.
Alternative Organising
The theme alternative organising focuses on social movements and the mobilisation of precarious workers, social movements and public governance; learning from and working with/for (activist) communities; informal ways of organising support and care for and by citizens; alternative ways of being, knowing and doing in academic education; post-capitalist organising forms and alternative notions of value.
