Title: The forest of mirrors: mimesis and the doctrine of management control in a French multinational

Authors: Elen Riot

Addresses: Strategy and Entrepreneurship Department, NEOMA, Reims Campus, 59 rue Pierre, Taittinger, 51100 Reims, France

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to point at the complementary dimensions of the doctrine of management control and mimesis (the imitative display of cultural norms and conventions by employees) in shaping everyday interactions in multinationals. On the basis of an extended fieldwork analysis, the specific case-study of controllers' yearly seminars in a French construction company is being presented focusing on socio-material dimensions such as time, space and artefacts to describe mimesis in action. An interpretation of the specific role of organisational mimesis is then proposed, allowing a more general view on imitation and face-value professional involvement at work. We finally reflect upon actors' awareness of the difference between nature and artifice in their everyday life at work.

Keywords: organisational mimesis; management control; French multinationals; nature; artifice; employee interactions; MNEs; multinational enterprises; imitative display; cultural norms; conventions; imitation; construction industry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWOE.2014.059432

International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 2014 Vol.6 No.1, pp.58 - 91

Published online: 24 May 2014 *

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