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International audience ; For more than a decade, organizations have slowly added a new vocabulary to their daily operations. They call themselves « accountable », « supportive » or, at least, « sustainable», and stand for « ethical » values, if not for « social justice ». Some of them even claim to be « democratic » and « citizens ». This evolution occurred under the pressure of harsher and harsher critics against corporations, but also thanks to the will of emerging actors looking to innovate through new models and values. The aim of this article is not to judge, validate or reject these initiatives, but rather to take them seriously. Since it is the vocabulary of political sciences that is used, we will use its references and concepts in order to clarify the notion of democracy, and thus contemplate the expectations, drifts and consequences it could have when applied to organizations. We will confront these analysis to a specific model that is progressively institutionalizing in France: SCOPs. It is not the prescription of an organizational model that we are developing here, neither is it a critic of this desire (and claim) of democratic spirit, but an academic imperative of rigorous,and systematic examination of what it would imply. ; Depuis une dizaine d'années, les organisations ont peu à peu intégré un nouveau vocabulaire dans leurs activités quotidiennes. Elles se disent « responsables », « solidaires » ou, a minima, « durables » et défendant des valeurs « éthiques », « équitables », voire de « justice sociale ». Certaines se disent même « démocratiques » et « citoyennes ». Cette évolution s'est faite à la fois sous la pression de critiques de plus en plus fortes vis-à-vis des grandes entreprises et par la volonté d'acteurs émergents cherchant à entreprendre selon de nouveaux modèles et de nouvelles valeurs. L'objectif de cet article n'est pas de juger, de valider ou de rejeter ces initiatives, mais plutôt de les prendre au mot. Puisque c'est le champ lexical des sciences politiques qui est mobilisé, nous ...

Purpose
– The aim of this paper is to give an account of how the author aims to engage with his new appointment as co-editor-in-chief of the Society and Business Review (SBR) and to reflect on why an academic journal like the SBR is relevant – if not absolutely necessary.


Design/methodology/approach
– By drawing on a synthesis of past publications in the journal, academic roots and editorial trends of the SBR are presented.


Findings
– Three promising areas of research in the "business
&
society" field are identified for the future: monitoring the expansion of managerialism, analysing the role and impact of management education in society and conceptualising the politicisation of corporations.


Research limitations/implications
– Although these trends are promising and subjectively identified, the journal will obviously not restrict its scope to these three topics alone and will continue to welcome all submissions that fall into its mission statement.


Originality/value
– This paper provides insights into how the editors evaluate not only articles but also special issue proposals and book reviews that are submitted to the SBR.

Purpose
– This paper aims to open up dialogue between several popular non-fiction books written on Lehman Brothers – and its chief executive officer (CEO) Dick Fuld in particular – and the academic literature on leadership and organizational culture.


Design/methodology/approach
– Vicky Ward's book The Devil's Casino is examined closely to understand the influence of the bank's CEO on the organizational culture.


Findings
– A notable instance of coupling is highly recurrent in the book, linking the personality of Dick Fuld with his top management team and Lehman Brothers' employees.


Originality/value
– Focusing on the CEO's personality, this article engages with the academic literature allowing for a distinct problematization of the issue, and a potential resolution: the importance of changes in leadership to trigger an evolution in Wall Street's culture.

Purpose
– The aim of this article is to open a dialogue between several books written on Goldman Sachs and the academic literature.


Design/methodology/approach
– Greg Smith's "Why I Left Goldman Sachs" and the French investigation of Marc Roche entitled "THE Bank: How Goldman Sachs Rules the World" are closely studied to identify recurring topics regarding the investment bank.


Findings
– Three major dynamics are identified: the intense socialisation that every new employee encounters (almost an indoctrination), the cultural paradigm shift that Goldman Sachs underwent during the 1990s and 2000s and the intensity of the revolving doors between Goldman Sachs' managers and the public regulatory sector.


Originality/value
– Focusing on revolving door dynamics, this article opens a dialogue with the academic literature allowing for a problematization: the constant circulation of personnel between regulatory institutions and regulated organisations generates a convergence of actors' habitus that weakens regulation as a whole.

For the last decade, organizations have slowly incorporated a new vocabulary in their daily activities. They are becoming "sustainable" and "responsible"; they support "ethical" and "fair" values; they even sometimes defend "social justice". Some define themselves as "citizen", or "democratic". This evolution has occurred both under stronger and stronger pressures made on corporations by social movements, and by the will of emerging actors trying to develop businesses based on new models. The aim of this article is not to judge, to validate, nor to reject these initiatives but to take them at their word. Since this vocabulary is drawn from political sciences, we will use references and concepts from this field to clarify the notion of democracy, and examine the requirements, drifts and consequences that it could have when applied within organizations. It is not the prescription of a model that is sought in this essay, neither is the critic of this democratic will (and pretention), but rather the imperative of a scientific analysis of what it implies. ; Depuis une dizaine d'années, les organisations ont peu à peu intégré un nouveau vocabulaire dans leurs activités quotidiennes. Elles deviennent " responsables ", " solidaires " ou, a minima, " durables " et défendent des valeurs " éthiques ", " équitables ", voire de " justice sociale ". Certaines se disent même " citoyennes " voire " démocratiques ". Cette évolution s'est faite à la fois sous la pression de critiques de plus en plus fortes vis-à-vis des grandes entreprises et par à la volonté d'acteurs émergeants cherchant à entreprendre selon de nouveaux modèles. L'objectif de cet article n'est pas de juger, de valider ou de rejeter ces initiatives mais plutôt de les prendre au mot. Puisque c'est le champ lexical des sciences politiques est mobilisé, nous irons aussi y puiser les références et concepts nécessaires pour clarifier la notion de démocratie, et ainsi envisager les exigences, dérives et conséquences qu'elle pourrait avoir lorsqu'on cherche à ...

Purpose
Studies on cosmopolites often focus on expatriates or entrepreneurs. Although intentional cosmopolites do exist, and surely represent an important part of those individuals who define themselves as citizens of the world, the author suggests that a les-explored and darker variant also exists: reluctant cosmopolites.


Design/methodology/approach
The author reviews Olivier Geai's book "La parole est aux migrants", which presents first-person narratives of migrants from their childhoods to the point of their intentions of migrating, their journeys and their arrivals in France. Following the established logic of reviews in the society and business review, the author will place this book in tension with the academic literature on cosmopolitanism, mostly through the excellent "The Cosmopolitan Ideal" edited by Sybille de la Rosa and Darren O'Byrne.


Findings
Exploring cosmopolitanism through the perspective of reluctant cosmopolites leads to understanding the phenomenon as a process (cosmopolitanization) rather than a state, and to engage with the idea of cities of refuge.


Originality/value
Developing the notion of cities of refuge, which are not utopias or ideals – but revolutionary – radical inspirations to rethink a world that cannot be constructed tomorrow based on the yesterday's blueprints.

L'objet de cet article est double. D'abord s'interroger sur la manière dont nos outils pédagogiques peuvent participer, ou nuire, à la formation et à la motivation des étudiants, à la stimulation de leur envie d'apprendre. Au-delà du classique « de toute façon ils en font le moins possible... », nous voudrions déplacer le regard vers nos méthodes, en particulier les très traditionnelles études de cas et les examiner de manière critique. Le second objet de cet article est de partager la manière dont la première auteure a peu à peu développé une nouvelle méthode d'enseignement dans son cours de Gestion des Ressources Humaines pour finir par proposer une réelle innovation pédagogique. L'usage de l'étude de cas est intéressant s'il n'est pas confondu avec l'expérience réelle de management, mais plutôt s'il contribue à la motivation et donc à l'apprentissage des étudiants en illustrant des concepts et en valorisant la multiplication des points de vue ancrés dans un contexte historique. Le cas est un outil pédagogique intéressant mais dont l'utilisation doit être pensée avec un certain recul critique pour éviter certains effets négatifs. Il nous semble que les jeux pédagogiques et les fictions historiques, présentés dans cet article, peuvent justement permettre d'éviter certains effets pervers en ce qu'ils suscitent une curiosité tant pour l'apprentissage de la théorie que pour la connaissance du contexte historique. De plus, en étant détachés du monde de l'entreprise, ils évitent le risque d'en faire des expériences réelles de management fondées sur l'unique prise de décision découplée de la mise en œuvre. D'autre part, ces derniers favorisent le processus motivationnel des étudiants et leur permettent de développer un ensemble de compétences qui facilitera leur insertion dans la vie professionnelle.

Purpose
– This study aims to investigate a declaration of the principles of the Société de Philosophie des Sciences de Gestion/Society for the Philosophy of Organisation sciences (SPSG). Organisation sciences still need to be questioned and rendered more complex, even mistreated, and the concepts they apply have yet to be clarified, mastered and organised to go beyond management ideologies that obscure the project to develop a genuine science, with pseudo-rationalisation replacing real thought.


Design/methodology/approach
– This task could be accorded to a philosophy of organisation sciences that should be understood as a "philosophy of science of organisation sciences".


Findings
– The aim of such a philosophical programme is twofold: to expose the presuppositions and predispositions of organisation scholars and to analyse and clarify their scientific theories and concepts.


Originality/value
– The ambition of the SPSG is to contribute to the development of that philosophical programme.

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the phenomenon of dress codes in professions. Since they can be considered as carriers of both organizational communication and individual identity, they will be central in professions as communities and through the professionalization process. Therefore, we will ask the following question: what is the role of understanding and complying with dress codes in becoming a professional?


Design/methodology/approach
– The empirical study consists in a series of ethnographic interviews and observations aiming at understanding dress codes' roles and dynamics in financial professions.


Findings
– Exploring dress codes in three typical professions in finance, we have discovered that they also are mediums of communication within the group, strengthening a certain aesthetic sense of belonging and of presenting the self.


Originality/value
– In this, becoming a professional can be understood as an aesthetic experience through which all senses are involved. Considering professions as being also aesthetic communities shifts the focus – or rather enlarges it – toward symbolic, corporeal and sensorial elements.

Purpose
– This paper aims to open a dialogue between academic accounts of the subprime crisis and The Life of Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare.


Design/methodology/approach
– Andre Orlean's analysis of the crisis published in 2009 is closely examined to trace the ways in which it echoes this seventeenth-century play on issues of debt, gift, trust and belief.


Findings
– Shakespeare's play provides an astonishingly relevant description that can account for and provide a new reading of most of Orlean's (2009) detailed and in-depth academic analysis.


Originality/value
– Following the chronology of a literary piece, this article opens a dialogue with the academic literature to allow for gaining a particular perspective, namely, beyond specific elements, the underlying dynamics of the subprime crisis are sadly classic in terms of trust and beliefs. As we will see, Shakespeare had already seen everything […].