Work Alienation: A Relevant Theoretical Framework for Examining Management Practices?

This paper discusses the relevance of a work alienation framework for examining management practices within large Australian organisations. A review of the relevant literature is used to build a theoretical framework of work alienation grounded in a radical-humanist work paradigm. The paper concludes by highlighting resistance to change problems associated with unitarist management control mechanisms that deny employees autonomy, participation and self-expression in the workplace.