Drinking beer and understanding organizational culture embodiment

Bibliographic Data

ID5849396
AuthorsMaria Tereza Flores-Pereira (Catarinense Plateau University (UNIPLAC), Brazil), Eduardo Paes Barreto Davel (0000-0003-0610-6474, Université TÉLUQ), Eduardo Davel (Télé-université (TELUQ), the distance learning university within the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Canada), Neusa Rolita Cavedon (School of Management at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS))
Year2008
Volume61
Issue7
Pages1007-1026
Publication date2008-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-7267 • E-ISSN: 1741-282X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0018726708093906
OpenAlexW1964461535
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited38

Although organizational researchers have gained in terms of different perspectives of thought and reflexivity regarding the subject of organizational culture, they have neglected studying the embodied dimension of organizational culture. The purpose of this article is to use embodiment perspective to enlighten understanding of organizational culture. We do that by giving special attention to: a) a pioneering empirical anthropological study that deals with the culture-embodiment relationship and b) an organizational ethnography in which work colleagues engage in the after-work beer drinking ritual. This double emphasis suggests that organizational life become first meaningful in the experiential immediacy of employees and organization. In this very moment organizational culture signification is not yet representational, but perceptual. Thus, the main contribution of this research is to show that organizational culture is more than a cognitive-representational abstraction: it is also a perceptual-embodied experience

Immediacy · Reflexivity · Management and Organizational Studies · Management Theory and Practice

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Open DOISci-HubOpen Access