Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Company Rituals: A Valid Management Tool in the Organizational Field

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Personal and Organizational Transformation

Abstract

Interpersonal relationships are fundamental both in the private and in the organizational sphere. They must be managed with a strong respect since people can remain wounded as well as blessed by the other. In companies, there are specific organizational tools that can contribute to transform personal wounds into relational blessings, i.e., the organizational rituals. Rituals, indeed, are able to strengthen relational bonds and to increase the sense of cohesion among people belonging to the same organization. However, companies are not always aware of rituals’ presence, or are not able to adequately manage their own rituals. This could happen when – rather than facilitating the transformation of a wound into blessing – control mechanisms exercised within companies generate manipulation practices which ruin relationships. Given this picture, we think that recognizing spontaneous rituals within an organization – through specific managerial leverages – could help to overcome relational wounds and to create an environment favorable to people’s well-being.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agamben G (2013) Opus Dei: an archaeology of duty. Stanford University Press, Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Alvesson M, Spicer A (2012) A stupidity-based theory of organizations. J Manag Stud 49(7):1194–1220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aquinas ST (1947) Summa Theologica. Benzinger Brothers, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bains G (2007) Meaning Inc: the blueprint for business success in the 21st century. Profile Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Bardon T, Borzillo S (2016) Communities of practice: control or autonomy? J Bus Strateg 37(1):11–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell CM (2009) Ritual theory, ritual practice. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Berne E (1964) Games people play: the psychology of human relationships. Grove Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks AW, Schroeder J, Risen JL et al (2016) Don’t stop believing: rituals improve performance by decreasing anxiety. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 137:71–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruni L (2020) Critique of managerial reason. Human Manag J. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41463-020-00100-y

  • Burkert W (1996) Creation of the sacred: tracks of biology in early religions. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunliffe AL (2014) A very short, fairly interesting and reasonably cheap book about management. Sage, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Dierksmeier C, Pirson MA (2010) The modern corporation and the idea of freedom. Philos Manag 9(2):5–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Durkheim E (1961) The elementary forms of the religious life. Collier Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Eriksson-Zetterquist U (2008) Gendered role modelling—a paradoxical construction process. Scand J Manag 24(3):259–270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferris R (1988) How organizational love can improve leadership. Organ Dyn 16(4):41–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleming P, Sturdy A (2011) ‘Being yourself’ in the electronic sweatshop: new forms of normative control. Hum Relat 64(2):177–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox A (1974) Beyond contract. Faber, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud S, Freud A (2001) Totem and taboo and other works. New York: Random House

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman E (1967) Interaction ritual. Essays in face-to-face behavior. Double Day Anchor Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Islam G, Zyphur MJ (2009) Rituals in organizations: a review and expansion of current theory. Group Org Manag 34(1):114–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jassawalla AR, Sashittal HC (2002) Cultures that support product-innovation processes. Acad Manag Perspect 16(3):42–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kinnie N, Hutchinson S, Purcell J (2000) ‘Fun and surveillance’: the paradox of high commitment management in call centres. Int J Hum Resour Manag 11(5):967–985

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klikauer T (2015) Critical management studies and critical theory: a review. Cap Class 39(2):197–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kunda G (1992) Engineering culture: control and commitment in a high-tech corporation. Temple University Press, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Longoni A, Golini R, Cagliano R (2014) The role of new forms of work organization in developing sustainability strategies in operations. Int J Prod Econ 147:147–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malinowski B (1948) Magic, science and religion and other essays. The Free Press, Glencoe

    Google Scholar 

  • McGregor D (1960) Theory X and theory Y. Org Theory 358:374

    Google Scholar 

  • Menger C (1963) Problems of economics and sociology. University of Illinois Press, Urbana

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker M (2002) Against management: organization in the age of managerialism. Polity Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell WW, Colyvas JA (2008) Microfoundations of institutional theory. In: Greenwood ER, Oliver C, Suddaby R, Sahlin K (eds) Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism. Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp 276–298

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rappaport R (1999) Ritual and religion in the making of humanity. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ren H, Gray B (2009) Repairing relationship conflict: how violation types and culture influence the effectiveness of restoration rituals. Acad Manag Rev 34(1):105–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmemann A (1973) For the life of the world: sacraments and orthodoxy. New York: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Secchi D, Bardone E (2009) Super-docility in organizations: an evolutionary model. Int J Org Theory Behav 12(3):339–379

    Google Scholar 

  • Sferrazzo R, Ruffini R (2021) Are liberated companies a concrete application of Sen’s capability approach?. Journal of Business Ethics, 170(2), 329–342

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon HA (1947) Administrative behavior (republished in 1957, 1976, 1996). Macmillan, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sitkin SB, Cardinal LB, Bijlsma-Frankema KM (2010) Introduction and history. In: Control in organizations: new directions in theory and research. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Smith A (1976[1759]) The theory of moral sentiments. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Söderlund J, Borg E (2018) Liminality in management and organization studies: process, position and place. Int J Manag Rev 20(4):880–902

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sosis R, Ruffle BJ (2004) Ideology, religion, and the evolution of cooperation: field experiments on Israeli Kibbutzim. Res Econ Anthropol 23:89–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tagliaferri R (2006) La “magia” del rito: saggi sulla questione rituale e liturgica. Messaggero Ed, Padua

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor FW (1911) The principles of scientific management. Harper & Brothers, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Trice HM, Beyer J (1984) Studying organizational cultures through rites and ceremonials. Acad Manag Rev 9:653–669

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner V (1988) The anthropology of performance. PAJ Publications, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner V (1991) The ritual process: structure and anti-structure, 7th edn. Cornell University Press, Ithaca

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Gennep A (1961) The rites of passage. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Watzlavick P (1967) Pragmatics of human communication: a study of interactional patterns, pathologies, and paradoxes. W.W. Norton & Company, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber M (1963) The sociology of religion. Beacon Press, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehouse H (2002) Modes of religiosity: towards a cognitive explanation of the sociopolitical dynamics of religion. Method Theory Study Religion 14(3–4):293–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Organization Studies & Ethics, Nantes, France

    Roberta Sferrazzo

  2. Department of Juridical Sciences “Cesare Beccaria”, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Renato Ruffini

Authors
  1. Roberta Sferrazzo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Renato Ruffini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberta Sferrazzo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fayetteville, AR, USA

    Judi Neal

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Sferrazzo, R., Ruffini, R. (2022). Company Rituals: A Valid Management Tool in the Organizational Field. In: Neal, J. (eds) Handbook of Personal and Organizational Transformation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29587-9_88-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29587-9_88-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-29587-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-29587-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Business and ManagementReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation