Scapegoating in the Organization: Which Regulation Modes?

  • Mélia Djabi University of Paris Saclay, Sceaux, France
  • Oriane Sitte de Longueval University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Keywords: Scapegoat, Collective persecution, Ostracism, Regulation, Stigma, Violence at work

Abstract

Several studies have focused on scapegoating in the organizational context. However, most have tended to enclose the protagonists in predefined roles: scapegoats are relatively passive, their colleagues persecute them, and management quickly join the persecutors. According to this scenario, the outcome ends irrevocably with the scapegoat’s isolation. The literatures in related fields have nevertheless suggested other modes of regulation, and we might question whether our representation of the organizational scapegoating process, from passive actors to automatic outcome, offers a full account of this complex phenomenon as it unfolds and is lived. We in fact do not know how organizational actors regulate the scapegoating process, interfering with and influencing its trajectory and outcome. In this article, we conceptualize this complex process by examining the active and regulating roles of its protagonists and how they hinder or even avert the violence of scapegoating. In an exploratory and qualitative study of seven cases of scapegoating in a large French company, we describe the actions of the scapegoats (combating the persecution, struggling against stigma, avoidance, and departure) and management (support for persecutors, support for the scapegoat, and ambivalent support). The articulation of the protagonists’ actions ultimately leads to four types of resolution for the scapegoat: isolation, expulsion, cohabitation, and assimilation. Two modes of regulation emerge: the first mode strengthens and catalyzes the scapegoating process, whereas the second mode prevents and channels it. By detailing the actors’ actions and their capacities to co-regulate the scapegoating process, this study moves beyond a deterministic vision of scapegoating and underlines the role of its protagonists. A research agenda is discussed.

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Author Biographies

Mélia Djabi, University of Paris Saclay, Sceaux, France

Mélia Djabi is Associate Professor of Management at Paris Saclay University in Paris, France. Her research focuses on organizational change/crisis contexts. She is particularly interested in organizational socialization process, role strains and scapegoating mechanisms. 

Oriane Sitte de Longueval, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

Oriane Sitte de Longueval gained her PhD in Management at Paris-Dauphine University PSL in France and is now a post-doctoral fellow at Geneva University, Switzerland. Her research focuses on interactions in tense or risky contexts, following a situated approach and ethnographic method. Her work explores violence between clients and frontline staff, scapegoating in organizations and the negotiation of safety between separate occupational groups. 

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Published
2020-06-03
How to Cite
Djabi M., & Sitte de Longueval O. (2020). Scapegoating in the Organization: Which Regulation Modes?. M@n@gement, 23(2), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.37725/mgmt.v23i2.4871
Section
Original Research Articles