Toward a Phenomenology of Work
(December 2005)
This research seeks to make room for a phenomenology of work within
industrial relations. My research begins with the observation that
despite their potential contributions (both practical and explanatory)
to the domain, industrial relations theory has largely excluded
phenomenological approaches and inferences, deriding them as
insufficiently empirical or associating them with other disciplines
(e.g., psychology and organizational behaviour). At the same time,
however, Marx's concept of the alienated worker (a reasonably well
accepted part of IR theory) bears remarkable similarity to the view
elucidated by the philosopher and phenomenologist Martin Heidegger that
the essence of modern technology reduces workers to "standing reserve".
Moreover, a small body of literature on the philosophy of work has
linked Hegelian and Marxian notions to questions of meaning and
(particularly) identity, questions which in my view beg to be taken up
in phenomenological inquiry. Some empirical studies of work (most
notably the fieldwork informing Shoshana Zuboff's well-known In the Age
of the Smart Machine) have adopted a phenomenological approach; however
these studies are not at all well integrated into the industrial
relations domain. It is my objective to tie these disparate threads
together into a coherent rationale for a phenomenology of work within
industrial relations.
Ace Technologies Change
Initiative (March 2005)
An experimental corporate intranet designed for use in human resources
training (targeted to engineers and industrial designers) at a
prosthetics
firm.