Critically discuss the significant contribution of Michel Foucault’s early and later work to the ethical in organizations.
In my opinion, Foucault’s works make a significant contribution to the business ethical theory, business practice and pedagogy. Firstly, in his early work, Foucault explored the relationship between freedom and business ethics in a number of different ways. Foucault never denies that we are free. He saw freedom not as a right approved by managers, but as a human condition that freedom is not absolute and it must be exercised in areas of discipline and control (Michel Foucault, 1982). In discipline and punishment, Foucault indicates the ways in which we are not as free as we think, and it is the specific form of power that makes us less free rather than the general power. Discipline is a form of domination of power that creates asymmetrical power relationships in which one can control one’s mind and body. (Crane, A., Knights, D. & Starkey, K. 2008). Foucault ignores the mutually reinforcing and productive relationship between power and freedom and instead sees discipline as an image of conquest, leading some to restore the dualism between power and freedom(Sverre Raffnsøe, Andrea Mennicken, Peter Miller, 2017).
Secondly, in his later works, Foucault provided another way for the traditional normative ethical theory. Foucault’s ethics defines morality as the practice of the self, and explains under what conditions organizations can realize freedom, trying to link the understanding and criticism of power with self-engineering. Therefore, he proposed the subjectivity theory, which has potential guiding significance for the reconstruction of contemporary theory of virtue ethics, value management and teaching of business ethics (Crane, a , Knights, d. & Starkey, k. 2008).
However, due to the diversity of Foucault’s works, it is difficult to describe how Foucault views these two concepts. In Foucault’s works, the concept of subject and power is closely related. For example, Foucault pointed out in his famous essay “subject and power” (Michel Foucault, 1982) that it is impossible to study subjects or the way in which people become subjects without studying the relationship between power and power. Therefore, it can be said that in Foucault’s works, subject and subjectivity can only be formed through power, which indicates that they are generated in history through certain words and certain desires (Valikangas, Anita and Seeck, Hannele, 2011). Foucault defined the technique of the ego as “those voluntary and intentional ACTS by which one not only establishes a code of conduct for oneself, but also seeks to transform oneself and change one’s single existence”. In ancient societies, these practices of self-discipline included abstinence, memory and examination of conscience, meditation, silence, and listening to others. Therefore, through the form of self-restraint and self-definition, people through training transform themselves into moral beings and see themselves as a work of art, not given to us but created by ourselves (Rabinow, 1984:351).
Number of words: 460
References:
1. Aquino, Magno Geraldo De. 2019. Notions of subject and power in Foucaultian readings and their influence in organization and people management studies. Cadernos EBAPE.BR.
2. Crane, A., Knights, D., & Starkey, K. 2008. The conditions of our freedom: Foucault, organization, and ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18(3), 299-320.
3. Michel Foucault. 1982. The Subject and Power. Critical Inquiry, The University of Chicago Press. Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 777-795.
4. Rabinow, P. (ed.) 1984 The Foucault Reader, Harmonsdsworth, Penguin.
5. Raffnsøe, Sverre , Mennicken, Andrea and Miller, Peter. 2017. The Foucault effect in Organization Studies. Organization Studies.
6 Sverre Raffnsøe, Andrea Mennicken, Peter Miller.2017. The Foucault Effect in Organization Studies. Perspectives: The Foucault Effect. SAGE.
7. Välikangas, Anita, Seeck, Hannele. 2011. Exploring the Foucauldian interpretation of power and subject in organizations. Journal of management and organization, 17 (6). pp. 812-827.y*
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