Rhetoric, Ritualism, and Totemism in Human Resource Management
采用解释主义视角，通过分析肯尼亚一家公司关于团队合作的陈述，揭示了团队合作是组织成员在日常中创造的图腾工具，管理层通过语言游戏的变化来构建和合法化权力与社会关系。
This paper posits an interpretivist approach to the study of human resource management (HRM) by examining how organizational members construct meanings of HRM in everyday life through ritualistic behavior and the use of language. Concepts from language philosophy and socio-anthropology are brought together to develop an analytical premise upon which we can begin to appreciate the seemingly complex issues associated with expressive and ritualistic behavior in organizations. Propositions are posited and subsequently examined through an analysis of statements about teamwork in a Kenyan firm. A thematic analysis reveals that teamwork is a totemic device created by organizational members in everyday life. Through shifts in language games ranging from rhetoric to plain speaking, management uses the totem of teamwork to create and legitimize the desired pattern of power and social relations.