The Aesthetic Turn in Management

[16]Playing the Part: Reflections on Aspects of Mere Performance in the Customer-Client Relationship

HEATHER HÖPFL

University of Northumbria

Address for reprints: Heather Höpfi, Northumbria University, Business School, Ellison Building, Ellison Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NEI 8ST₃ UK ([e-mail]).

Abstract

The paper seeks to address the ways in which organizations are selective in the aspects of employees which they want and value, and those which are implicitly rejected by the organization. As such, the paper considers Diderot’s famous comparison between acting and whoring in order to give emphasis to what might be termed ‘performed synedoche’ in the employee role. The paper draws on a range of examples from service occupations in ...