Consciousness and Organization

Abstract

This essay looks at the self-destructive and masochistic nature of action in organizations from the perspective of Kafka's Joseph K (The Trial) and Heller's Bob Slocum (Something Happened). Both Kafka's “Court” and Heller's “Company” impose corrosion, frenzy, and pain on awareness; and for the protagonists in these novels, the bureaucratic formations, rather than creating a healthy psychological space, contribute to a more general pathology. Further, the pathology of the bureaucracy mirrors an extensive sickness or derangement in the culture itself. K and Slocum represent this “sickness” and some of its implications. Consideration is given to the Hobbesian basis of action, particularly evident in Heller's account, and the connection of Hobbesian theories of action and human nature with Freudian interpretive models. It is argued that Freud provides useful analytical categories for understanding both the destructive impact of bureaucracy on the “self”, and for unraveling the difficult but very real contractions of a competitive and unfeeling universe (demonstrated through the thoughts, impressions, and reactions of figures like Joseph K and Bob Slocum).