Oedipus in the Land of Organizational Darkness

Abstract

The story of Oedipus has been discussed by many scholars from different disciplines, from literary criticism to ethnography and from folklore to psychology. In addition to being the foundational myth of psychoanalysis, Oedipus stands as a critical case of what a myth is, how it works on our minds and how it reverberates across cultures, across generations and across literary genres. It is a story about which many interesting and fantastical things have been said and written. Trying to extract a new layer of meaning or discover a new line of interpretation for Oedipus would seem to be a foolhardy venture. Yet, such is the fecundity of the story that it keeps attracting researchers and commentators. In this paper, I will seek to use a rarely noted element of the story of Oedipus to shed light on certain dysfunctions that afflict organizations from time to time. In this respect, the chapter remains within the broad agenda of using myths and stories from the past to illuminate certain aspects of modernity that may otherwise pass unnoticed (Gabriel, 2004a).