Managerial pedagogy and organizational power dynamics in the context of neoliberal organizational transition

This paper explores power dynamics and symbolic power struggle in organizational transition in a Scandinavian telecommunications company. Our ethnographic study examines middle-managers’ efforts filling their allotted role as leaders of neoliberal transformation in a competition of force with their subordinates and the trade union. We develop a Bourdieu-inspired conceptualization of managerial pedagogy as a mode of control and reality definition to advance knowledge on how we can understand subtle uses of power and managers’ struggles gaining control, while simultaneously foregrounding how power is multidirectional when subordinates successfully attain and use power. Our results highlight neglected aspects of managerial power use and power deficits as we show how power dynamics in organizational change are anchored in institutions of the field.