Men, Mammals, or Machines? Dehumanization Embedded in Organizational Practices

Tuure Väyrynen () and Sari Laari-Salmela ()
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Tuure Väyrynen: University of Oulu
Sari Laari-Salmela: University of Oulu

Journal of Business Ethics, 2018, vol. 147, issue 1, No 8, 95-113

Abstract: Abstract The present study combines dehumanization research with the concept of organizational trust to examine how employees perceive various types of maltreatment embedded within the organizational practices that form the ethical climate of an organization. With the help of grounded theory methodology, we analyzed 188 employment exit interview transcripts from an ICT subcontracting company. By examining perceived trustworthiness and perceived humanness, we found that dehumanizing employees can deteriorate trust within organizations. The violations found in the empirical material were divided into animalistic and mechanistic forms of dehumanization and linked to perceived integrity and benevolence, respectively. Based on the results, a model describing the link between dehumanization and trust is presented and discussed in relation to the ways in which perceptions of humanness become rooted in practices and affect the basic assumptions underlying (un-)ethical organizational behavior.

Keywords: Humanness; Trustworthiness; Dignity; Ethical climate; Grounded theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2947-z

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