The (re)embodied organization: four perspectives on the body in organizations

Abstract

This paper aims at discussing the notion of the body in organization theory. The postmodern and the linguistic turns in social theory have focused all forms of lexical, linguistic, semiotic and symbolic theories of organizations. This paper argues that these positions have contributed substantially to organization theory but that there are considerable, embodied activities of organizations that are excluded, marginalized or overlooked. Therefore, it is important to rethink and problematize the use of human bodies in organizations. Four different perspectives on embodiment are examined in the text: phenomenology, feminist theory, theories of practice and postmodern theory. The paper concludes that organization theory needs to integrate the human body to fully understand how organizations operate.

Keywords:

• embodiment
• phenomenology
• theories of practice
• feminism
• postmodernism
• organization theory