Transient transfusion; or the wearing‐off of the governance of the soul?

This paper critically examines an approach to employee development which breaks with the tradition of systematic training. The training event discussed here, Transfusion, was a dramatic and evangelical experience which aimed to impact on “the whole person” rather than specific training needs. It used a number of unconventional techniques and was reported by participants to have a high impact. However, despite its innovative qualities and apparent success, the approach can be criticised, both theoretically and on the basis of data gathered from participants and non‐participants. The criticisms highlight tensions around the integration of employees into the organization, and the potential displacement of systematic training by post‐modern development events.

[1]  H. Willmott STRENGTH IS IGNORANCE; SLAVERY IS FREEDOM: MANAGING CULTURE IN MODERN ORGANIZATIONS* , 1993 .

[2]  Barbara Townley,et al.  FOUCAULT, POWER/KNOWLEDGE, AND ITS RELEVANCE FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT , 1993 .

[3]  Barbara Townley,et al.  Reframing Human Resource Management: Power, Ethics and the Subject at Work , 1994 .

[4]  Anselm L. Strauss,et al.  Basics of qualitative research : techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory , 1998 .

[5]  Emmanuel Okechukwu Ogbonna,et al.  Employee responses to culture change efforts , 1998 .

[6]  Tracy Kidder,et al.  Soul of a New Machine , 1981 .

[7]  Jürgen Habermas,et al.  The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures , 1987 .

[8]  R. I. Sutton,et al.  The Stigma of Bankruptcy: Spoiled Organizational Image and Its Management , 1987 .

[9]  Nancy Fraser,et al.  Unruly Practices: Power, Discourse and Gender in Contemporary Social Theory , 1989 .

[10]  Martin Parker Post-Modern Organizations or Postmodern Organization Theory? , 1992 .

[11]  J. R. French,et al.  The bases of social power. , 1959 .

[12]  Ferdinand de Saussure Course in General Linguistics , 1916 .

[13]  P. Feyerabend Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge , 1976 .

[14]  B. Bass,et al.  Improving Organizational Effectiveness through Transformational Leadership , 1993 .

[15]  K. Thomas,et al.  Cognitive Elements of Empowerment: An “Interpretive” Model of Intrinsic Task Motivation , 1990 .

[16]  Rosemary Harrison Training and Development , 1988 .

[17]  Albert Rothenberg,et al.  The Emerging Goddess: The Creative Process in Art, Science and Other Fields , 1979 .

[18]  K. Legge Human Resource Management: Rhetorics and Realities , 1995 .

[19]  R. I. Sutton,et al.  Functions of Parting CEremonies in Dying Organizations , 1986 .

[20]  Emmanuel Okechukwu Ogbonna,et al.  Managing Organisational Culture: Fantasy Or Reality? , 1992 .

[21]  E. Goffman Encounters; Two Studies in the Sociology of Interaction , 1962 .

[22]  N. Rose Identity, genealogy, history , 2000 .

[23]  Jürgen Habermas,et al.  The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures , 1987 .

[24]  E. Schein Organizational Culture and Leadership , 1991 .

[25]  Paul K. Feyerabend,et al.  Farewell to Reason , 1987 .

[26]  N. Rose Governing the Soul: The Shaping of the Private Self , 1991 .

[27]  L. Harris,et al.  A three‐perspective approach to understanding culture in retail organizations , 1998 .

[28]  P. Hawkins Book Review: Organizational Culture: Sailing Between Evangelism and Complexity , 1997 .

[29]  Christopher S. Mabey,et al.  Structure and Culture Change In Two Uk Organisations: A Comparison of Assumptions, Approaches and Outcomes , 1994 .

[30]  M. Foucault,et al.  Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977 , 1980 .

[31]  M. Foucault The History of Sexuality , 1976 .

[32]  A. Strauss,et al.  The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research aldine de gruyter , 1968 .

[33]  P. Hawkins Organizational Culture: Sailing Between Evangelism and Complexity , 1997 .

[34]  C. Grey Career as a Project of the Self and Labour Process Discipline , 1994 .

[35]  John Coopey,et al.  Managerial Culture and the Stillbirth of Organisational Commitment , 1995 .

[36]  Christine M. Beckman,et al.  An Alternative to Bureaucratic Impersonality and Emotional Labor: Bounded Emotionality at the Body Shop , 1998 .

[37]  T. Watson,et al.  In Search of Management: Culture, Chaos and Control in Managerial Work , 1996 .