Organizational Misbehaviour in the Workplace Narratives of Dignity and Resistance

People need dignity and autonomy at work. If they are denied this, there will be a strong tendency to resist working conditions and misbehave at work. This book presents and analyses stories about people's resistance in working life that make us reflect upon how employees are treated at work and consequences thereof.

Jan Ch. Karlsson is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Working Life Science at Karlstad University, Sweden. Among his previous books in English are Commitment to Work and Job Satisfaction: Studies of Work Orientations; Flexibility and Stability in Working Life; Gender Segregation; and Explaining Society.

PART I: ORGANIZATIONAL MISBEHAVIOUR
Dignity and Autonomy at Work
Dignified Work
Problems in Organizing Work Processes
Organizational Misbehaviour – an Introduction
The Narratives
PART II: THE NARRATIVE ABOUT:
The Staircase
The Strippers' Music
The Recalcitrant Factory Workers
The Satisfied Department
Fair Exchange in Milanese Shops
The Disappointed Associates
The Employees Who Were Not on Brand
Careful Carelessness
The Teams That Drifted Apart
Two Aquatic Centres
Peer Review in the Factory of the Future
The Maids Who Did Not Want To Be Maids
Responsible Co-workers and Irresponsible Counter-workers
The Way of Doing Things
The Boiler Struggle
The Company in Trouble
Management Resistance to Change
The Plant Managers' Rational Resistance
The Janitors in Silicon Valley
Managing Out, Managing Up, and Managing Down
The Faulty Switches
Being Best
The Tool Crib
The Cocktail Waitresses
Forcing off Stiffs and Keeping Georges
The Evil Spirits
The Rules of the Restaurant
A Song against Monotony
Hebrew Slaves
The Adroit Middle Manager
The Workplace which Was to Be Like a Kindergarten
The Roaming Russian Dolls
The Surveillance Cameras and Regular Customers
Sticks and Rotten Carrots
The Team Meeting
Trying Again
The Docile and Loyal Cleaners
Compensating
One Minute
Tackling Time
The Broken Bar Shutters
The Kettle
Many Glasses
The Informal Rules
The Academics' Real Work
Machines, Pieces of Paper, and Rubber Bands
Combing One's Hair
How to Get Rid of a Critic
The Seagull Managers
Live Time, Wrap Time, and Idle Time
The Being Yourself Culture
The Employees Who Wanted to Be Taped
When Management Lets Go
Call Centre Vocabulary
The Dress Code
Promises, Customer Service, and Profit
Food for Stable Staff
The Diagram
Allen Smithee
Monitoring Creative Employees
A Heroine
Giving Face
Hot-desking and Family Photos
The View in Tasmania and the Influence in Queensland
Keeping up the Conversation
The Flight Attendant Who Did Not Smile
The Smile Strike
Writing Resistance
PART III: CONCEPTS
Organizational Misbehaviour
Rationales of Breaking Management Rules – an Empirical Example
The Study: Design and Methods
The Local Health Care Enterprises
Findings
Relations in the Workplace Power Hierarchy
Resistance
Abusive Supervision
Collective Discipline
Private Business
Conclusion