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Erik My­gind du Plessis

Associate Professor

Emner
Management Ledelse Organisation Trivsel Identitet Sociologi

Primary research areas

Whistleblowing hotlines

My research on whistleblowing hotlines explores what happens when critique is sought institutionalized and regulated in an organizational context. I am particularly interested in the tensions, ambivalences and democratic implications of this relatively novel technology of management.

Mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness meditation is becoming increasingly common in organizations, often implemented as a measure for improving well-being and reducing stress. While some critics have described mindfulness as the perfect ideological supplement to late-capitalism, and noted how it individualizes structural problems, others have pointed to its inherently transformative potential and application in activist movements such as Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter. My research revolves around his ambivalence and how it relates to the recent (neuro-)scientification of mindfulness meditation.

Alternative Organization

I study how certain organizations seek to challenge established ways of organizing. This means that I explore how organizations such as political parties, social movements, and worker cooperatives experiment with new modes of governance and decision-making in an attempt to escape the constraints of the dominant order.

I am interested in power, subjectivity and ‘the good life’ in contemporary organizations

My research revolves around the relationship between power and subjectivity, and how it relates to ‘the good life’ in contemporary organizations. I have studied these dynamics in diverse settings - from oil rigs and surgery wards to coffee shops, retail banks, prepper forums and meditation halls - to understand how people are shaped by, and resist, different managerial logics and organizational forms. 

I investigate how subjects are governed, how they govern themselves, and how they respond to or ignore managerial logics, and I link these processes to wellbeing and ethical practice at work and beyond. My work helps organizations design policies and practices that strengthen accountability, support worker wellbeing, and enable more democratic and responsible forms of organizing — for example, through the implementation of whistleblowing hotlines, mindfulness courses or the pursuit of alternative orgainzation. 

Outside activities

2025

No outside activities to report