Conclusions

Abstract

My objective has been to examine the interrelationship between the (human) body, embodiment and the development of organisation studies as a disciplinary field. I argue that the body is an ‘absent presence’ in organisational theory. However, while the body is not seen explicitly as being relevant to the discipline, specific assumptions about the body have shaped the area of organisation studies, as part of a wider tradition of ‘western’ knowledge and rationality, and in particular as part of the development of social theory. Within organisation studies, the body is not theorised in its own right, but these implicit assumptions about the nature of the body have shaped the course and approach of organisation studies significantly.

… an organization is a body of thought thought by thinking thinkers. (Weick, 1979, p. 42)