Thomas V. Maher Friday, October 11, 2013 12:30-1:45 in 248 Townshend Hall " Bureaucracy, Chaos, and Surveillance: An Organizational Analysis of Nineteen Nazi Concentration Camps” Abstract: Organizational research has often neglected issues of power and coercion, particularly in a comparative context (Clegg 2007; Cooke 2003). In this paper, I address these issues by comparing the organizational characteristics of nineteen Nazi concentration camps using data collected from 249 Holocaust testimonies, as well as primary and secondary sources on the camps. Drawing on comparative case methodology and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), I find that the camps drew on both bureaucratic and chaotic organizational characteristics and specific methods of control (such as surveillance and structural violence) in order to assert power over prisoners in the camps. Further, how these conditions intersected influenced mortality rates. Camps with chaotic and bureaucratic control or chaotic conditions and surveillance were associated with high mortality, while labor camps with absent or negligent bureaucratic controls were associated with low mortality. These results demonstrate that bureaucracy and chaos are separate, yet related, forms of control, and that the combination of the two can be particularly threatening for subordinates. These findings contribute to organizational theory and studies of power by broadening theoretical scope conditions and re-centering issues of coercion, chaos, and bureaucracy. I conclude with a broader discussion of how these factors are present in less extreme organizational conditions.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 18:46:47 +0000
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