Amanda Merryman

Graduate Student in Organizational Behavior / Sociology

07/16/2010

Research Interests

Dissent in Organizations, Employee and Stakeholder Voice, Social Movements and Organizations, Sociology of Work and Professions

Prospectus Title

Mutiny in the Workplace: When Leaders Are Challenged From Within

Committee

Joshua Margolis, Amy Edmondson, Peter Marsden, Chris Winship

Abstract

My dissertation focuses on the rarely studied phenomenon of mutiny in organizations. Based on three recent cases of mutiny in professional organizations, I examine the process by which employee dissatisfaction transforms into collective mobilization against the organization’s leader. The dissertation contains three sections. In the first I rely on participant interviews and archival materials to construct detailed accounts of mutinies that took place at an investment bank, a newspaper, and a university. The second part applies a social movement perspective to dissect the mutiny process more closely, and highlights five key elements of the mutiny process: rules, risks, tactics, frames and recovery. The third section of the dissertation focuses on participants’ motivations. I argue that participants experience tension between their professional and organizational loyalties. They are motivated to act by threats that simultaneously challenge professional autonomy and organizational norms. This study contributes to the literature on voice and dissent in the workplace by examining how collective dissent occurs within organizations. It builds upon prior work on employee voice by broadening the focus from individual to collective voice behavior. Additionally, it contributes to literature on social movements and organizations by improving the understanding of how collective voice processes unfold within organizations. Given the costly damage that results from such organizational crises, a better understanding of how to gauge and manage internal dissatisfaction is significant for both organizations and their leaders.

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