The case of the preferred worker - three guidelines to a decolonial research agenda on meaningful work
Abstract Coloniality is an epistemological process that regards European modernity as the pinnacle of all civilizational trajectories on the planet. This process, in turn, creates the colonial difference between the knowledge and life practices of the West and other civilizations. After World War II...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Fundação Getulio Vargas, Escola Brasileira de Administração Pública e de Empresas
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Cadernos EBAPE.BR |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1679-39512024000600503&lng=en&tlng=en |
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| Summary: | Abstract Coloniality is an epistemological process that regards European modernity as the pinnacle of all civilizational trajectories on the planet. This process, in turn, creates the colonial difference between the knowledge and life practices of the West and other civilizations. After World War II, coloniality entered a new stage centered in the U.S., where organizations and business schools became disseminators of knowledge and praxis of living based on neoliberal values. Research on meaningful work has contributed to this endeavor by constructing an image of preferred work that aligns with neoliberal values. This essay presents three guidelines for establishing a decolonial research agenda on meaningful work: examining the dynamics of acceptance and re-existence against the preferred worker archetype, revealing the voices of subaltern individuals about what work means to them, and expanding the ontological structure of meaningful work. Through these guidelines, scholars can examine how subalterns are oppressed in the organizational milieu and their strategies of acceptance or re-existence. Furthermore, these guidelines enable scholars to explore opportunities for understanding meaningful work beyond the archetype of the preferred worker. The findings from this study can guide efforts to develop decolonized workplaces that free subalterns from conforming to the preferred worker archetype and contribute to the economic and social goals of countries in the Global South. |
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| ISSN: | 1679-3951 |