The exclusion of deviant employees: A Foucauldian analysis of disciplinary power in organizations
基于福柯的规训权力理论，研究组织如何通过逐步升级的纠正、控制和最终排斥来处理持续偏离期望的员工，揭示排斥是规训权力的延伸而非失败。
While studies of disciplinary power have largely focused on how employees conform, resist, or adapt to organizational norms, less attention has been paid to what happens when normalization efforts fail, leading to exclusion. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of disciplinary power, this article examines how top management handles employees who persistently deviate from organizational expectations. Based on an empirical study of managerial responses to two types of deviant employees—underperformers and socially nonconforming individuals—we reveal how exclusion emerges as an escalating process. Initially, managers employ corrective measures aimed at normalization, yet when these efforts prove unsuccessful, they shift toward intensified control, documentation, and ultimately, exclusion. Our findings demonstrate that exclusion is not a failure of disciplinary power but rather its extension, reinforcing organizational norms through the removal of those deemed irredeemably deviant. By conceptualizing exclusion as an active disciplinary mechanism rather than a passive outcome, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of power dynamics in contemporary organizations.