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Exploring the Visual in Organizations and Management
Edited by Jane Davison, Christine McLean and Samantha Warren
Introduction: the dilemma of method
Jacques Derrida is closely associated with one of the most influential approaches to texts of the twentieth century - that of deconstruction. Derrida was wary of laying down a rigid set of rules which would culminate in a deconstructive "method"- "[deconstruction] was in no way meant to be a system but rather a sort of strategic device, opening onto its own abyss, an unclosed, unenclosable [non clôturable], not wholly formalizble ensemble of rules for reading, interpretation and writing" (Derrida, 1983, p. 40, in [46] Jones, 2003). Despite this, various critics have formulated "steps" in the deconstructive process, while at the same time disavowing them as inadequate and not to be taken rigidly (e.g. [67] Stern, 1996; [5] Boje and Dennehy, 1994; [50] Martin, 1990; also see [15] Culler, 1983/2003, pp. 227-8).
Deconstruction proposes a radical rethinking not just of western philosophy - but of everyday thought, language and signs. Usually confined to literary theory, this paper suggests that Derridean deconstruction is visual. This is important because Derrida's work has only rarely been influential in investigating images in organisations (for exceptions, see [44] Kates, 1999; [67] Stern, 1996; [64] Scott, 1992). In general, Derrida's work has been preoccupied with written texts; perhaps it is no accident that his most extensive analysis of the visual arts is devoted to the theme of blindness ([24] Derrida, 1993; also see [68] Taylor, 2003). The use of Derrida's work for image investigation in other disciplines is also rare (for exceptions, see [6] Brunette and Willis, 1994; [7] Brunette and Wills, 1989 for their treatment of Derrida in film theory and art history). However, in recent decades it has been extensively acknowledged that images create and reflect political and ethical regimes ([58] Rancière, 2007), and there is an urgent need to develop critical approaches to investigate them.
Derrida's thinking helps us take images seriously as philosophical artefacts. The organisational image is the aesthetic ambassador for the organisation; it visualises it and gives aesthetic value to it. Deconstruction poses powerful questions of such images. In this paper, I am going to bring certain aspects of deconstruction to bear on the...