Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/10071/7756
Author(s): | Lopes, H. |
Date: | 12-Sep-2014 |
Title: | Individuals, persons and agency theory – contrasted views on social interactions at work |
Collection title and number: | Working Papers DINÂMIA’CET – IUL |
Keywords: | Individuals’ vs persons Agency theory Cooperation Contemporary work Management paradoxes Social interactions at work |
Abstract: | The paper draws on the distinction between the concepts of individual and person to show how management rhetoric addresses workers as persons whereas actual management practices organize work as if workers were opportunistic individuals. We argue that this paradox is partly due to the widespread influence of agency theory whose conception of the firm, based on the agency costs generated by the supposedly non-cooperative workers’ behavior, became an influential normative model. Our argument is that agency theory’s basic assumption powerfully contributed to further and legitimize the ongoing power shift from labor to capital. Major institutional changes in corporate governance regulation are required to make firms’ behavior consistent with their rhetoric. |
Peerreviewed: | Sim |
Access type: | Open Access |
Appears in Collections: | DINÂMIA'CET-WP - Working papers com arbitragem científica |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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DINAMIA_WP_2014-04.pdf | 909,63 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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