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Portrait of Mats Alvesson. Photo.

Mats Alvesson

Professor

Portrait of Mats Alvesson. Photo.

Honorable Surrender : On the Erosion of Resistance in a University Setting

Author

  • Mats Alvesson
  • Betina Szkudlarek

Summary, in English

This article addresses the temporality of resistance in the work context. We focus on the challenge of increasingly diminishing professional autonomy in higher education institutions as well as the vulnerability of staff subjected to academic managerialism. A case where a lecturer is exposed to the requirements to revise grading by senior administration is investigated. Power is understood from the “target’s” perspective and viewed as the erosion of resistance. We introduce the concepts honorable surrender and smoothers to capture the process of giving up of resistance. We argue that these concepts are of special significance in autonomy-espousing work contexts where multiplicity of power resources are employed to subordinate employees and influence their professional identities. We contend that de-subjectification is key in understanding the erosion of resistance.

Department/s

  • Organizational Studies

Publishing year

2021-10-01

Language

English

Pages

407-420

Publication/Series

Journal of Management Inquiry

Volume

30

Issue

4

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Topic

  • Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Keywords

  • careers
  • education
  • power and politics

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1056-4926