As my readers know, my Friday posts are about the weird and obscure stuff I find in economics and finance research. And since it is Bastille Day in France, I have to tell you about a finance professor who seems to be as French as they come. Not only does he publish articles both in English and in French, but he also does it with lots of references to continental philosophy: Bernard Leca from Essec Business School.
To be clear, I am not making fun of Mr. Leca. For that, I would have to understand what he is going on about, which is exceedingly difficult.
Here is the abstract of his latest paper in the journal Accounting Auditing Control:
Rhizomic digitized surveillance, contradictions, and managerial control practice: Insights from the Société Générale scandal
Research suggesting that digitization entails a rupture in MCSs towards rhizomic forms remains focused on MCSs’ formal aspects, and is speculative about related managerial control practices. We examine how digital surveillance systems are enacted in practice, focusing on their potential complexities, ambiguities, and shortcomings in contemporary organizational settings. We conceptualize our empirical inquiry using Foucault’s approach of the exercise of power, distinguishing surveillance systems (observation and norms) from control practices (examination). Our analysis provides a nuanced account of the evolution of MCSs and suggests that organizational surveillance digitization remains part of the disciplinary episteme. Although digital surveillance systems exhibit some rhizomic characteristics, we found contradictions within the norms (i.e., risk control and profit), outlining the importance of control practices in managing these contradictions. We question whether these contradictions are unintentional or deliberately designed to reduce control efficiency in digitized contexts and preserve certain operational practices.
Or this from a book he helped edit:
Materiality in Institutions – Spaces, Embodiment and Technology in Management and Organization
This book aims at clarifying the role of materiality, spaces, digitality and embodiment in institutional dynamics from the perspective of Management & Organization Studies. Presenting a rich set of theoretical, methodological and epistemological advances on materiality and institutions, it also gives voice to distinctive and diverse perspectives on materiality in institutions, structuring chapters into four major topics: artefacts and objects, digitality and information, space and time, body and embodiment. This book sparks discussion and debate about ontological dimensions of Management & Organization Studies, including post-discursive, visual, phenomenological and material.
Huh? I consider myself to be pretty well educated, but chapeau to Mr. Leca for showing me the limits of my knowledge.
I have to admit that this English summary is not very clear. But the French one reads rather well ! Leca should select a better translation software.
Rhizom: ein dicker horizontaler unterirdischer Stängel von Pflanzen, deren Knospen neue Wurzeln und Triebe entwickeln. But no! 'A rhizome is a concept in post-structuralism describing a nonlinear network that connects any point to any other point with no apparent order or coherency, establishing "connections between semiotic chains, organizations of power, and circumstances relative to the arts, sciences and social struggles" (Wiki). This is a good descriptor for surveillance apparat and the rest looks very typical of French philosophy speak?