Beyond Hope and Fear: The Effects of Organizational Theatre on Empowerment and Control
Organizational theatre interventions have become established as a pervasive and influential arts-based method of dialogic organizational development, yet their effects are controversial and contested. While they have been praised for their potential as a tool of empowerment, they have also been crit...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Sage Publications, Inc.
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/69474 |
| _version_ | 1848762050971435008 |
|---|---|
| author | Badham, R. Carter, W. Matula, L. Parker, Sharon Nesbit, P. |
| author_facet | Badham, R. Carter, W. Matula, L. Parker, Sharon Nesbit, P. |
| author_sort | Badham, R. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Organizational theatre interventions have become established as a pervasive and influential arts-based method of dialogic organizational development, yet their effects are controversial and contested. While they have been praised for their potential as a tool of empowerment, they have also been criticized for their possible use as a more or less insidious form of control. This article explores and evaluates such claims and counterclaims, supported by an in-depth longitudinal quasi-experimental field study of customer service staff in a regional Australian bank. The results of the field study not only indicate that organizational theatre interventions may increase both empowerment and control but also suggest that the outcomes may be more lightweight than supporters have hoped and critics have feared. The article outlines the implications of these findings for future research and practice. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:41:25Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-69474 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:41:25Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Sage Publications, Inc. |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-694742018-10-09T07:18:01Z Beyond Hope and Fear: The Effects of Organizational Theatre on Empowerment and Control Badham, R. Carter, W. Matula, L. Parker, Sharon Nesbit, P. Organizational theatre interventions have become established as a pervasive and influential arts-based method of dialogic organizational development, yet their effects are controversial and contested. While they have been praised for their potential as a tool of empowerment, they have also been criticized for their possible use as a more or less insidious form of control. This article explores and evaluates such claims and counterclaims, supported by an in-depth longitudinal quasi-experimental field study of customer service staff in a regional Australian bank. The results of the field study not only indicate that organizational theatre interventions may increase both empowerment and control but also suggest that the outcomes may be more lightweight than supporters have hoped and critics have feared. The article outlines the implications of these findings for future research and practice. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/69474 10.1177/0021886315573023 Sage Publications, Inc. restricted |
| spellingShingle | Badham, R. Carter, W. Matula, L. Parker, Sharon Nesbit, P. Beyond Hope and Fear: The Effects of Organizational Theatre on Empowerment and Control |
| title | Beyond Hope and Fear: The Effects of Organizational Theatre on Empowerment and Control |
| title_full | Beyond Hope and Fear: The Effects of Organizational Theatre on Empowerment and Control |
| title_fullStr | Beyond Hope and Fear: The Effects of Organizational Theatre on Empowerment and Control |
| title_full_unstemmed | Beyond Hope and Fear: The Effects of Organizational Theatre on Empowerment and Control |
| title_short | Beyond Hope and Fear: The Effects of Organizational Theatre on Empowerment and Control |
| title_sort | beyond hope and fear: the effects of organizational theatre on empowerment and control |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/69474 |