Career Pressures and Organizational Evil: A Novel Perspective on the Study of Organized Violence
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Career Pressures and Organizational Evil : A Novel Perspective on the Study of Organized Violence. / Scharpf, Adam; Gläßel, Christian.
I: International Studies Review, Bind 24, Nr. 3, viac009, 2022.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Career Pressures and Organizational Evil
T2 - A Novel Perspective on the Study of Organized Violence
AU - Scharpf, Adam
AU - Gläßel, Christian
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Dictators, rebel commanders, and mafia bosses frequently delegate gruesome and immoral tasks to their subordinates. However, most individuals want to avoid such work. This analytical essay proposes an institutional logic to understand how dictatorships, insurgent organizations, and criminal gangs get their evil work done nonetheless. We argue that common features of organizations produce mundane career pressures that incentivize subordinates to zealously execute reprehensible tasks. Subordinates may come under pressure for six distinct reasons: incompetence, misconduct, origin, isolation, organizational backlog, and shrinkage. Superiors, in turn, can exploit that pressured subordinates hope to improve their prospects for advancement by loyally executing the organization’s evil tasks. Empirically, we illustrate how Nazi Germany utilized each of the suggested career pressures to staff the units in charge of the Holocaust. We highlight that our logic might also apply to less extreme forms of organizational evil. Together, the essay offers a novel perspective to demystify radical behavior in state and non-state organizations with important implications for our understanding of transnational terrorist violence and underworld crimes.
AB - Dictators, rebel commanders, and mafia bosses frequently delegate gruesome and immoral tasks to their subordinates. However, most individuals want to avoid such work. This analytical essay proposes an institutional logic to understand how dictatorships, insurgent organizations, and criminal gangs get their evil work done nonetheless. We argue that common features of organizations produce mundane career pressures that incentivize subordinates to zealously execute reprehensible tasks. Subordinates may come under pressure for six distinct reasons: incompetence, misconduct, origin, isolation, organizational backlog, and shrinkage. Superiors, in turn, can exploit that pressured subordinates hope to improve their prospects for advancement by loyally executing the organization’s evil tasks. Empirically, we illustrate how Nazi Germany utilized each of the suggested career pressures to staff the units in charge of the Holocaust. We highlight that our logic might also apply to less extreme forms of organizational evil. Together, the essay offers a novel perspective to demystify radical behavior in state and non-state organizations with important implications for our understanding of transnational terrorist violence and underworld crimes.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - bureaucracy
KW - hierarchy
KW - promotions
KW - recruitment
KW - terrorism
KW - crime
KW - Holocaust
U2 - 10.1093/isr/viac009
DO - 10.1093/isr/viac009
M3 - Journal article
VL - 24
JO - International Studies Review
JF - International Studies Review
SN - 1521-9488
IS - 3
M1 - viac009
ER -
ID: 317452080