Employee Objectification in Modern Organizations: Who Has Swept Personal Dignity Under the Carpet?

Background: Separately conducted studies on the phenomena of personal dignity and objectification at the workplace seek a common goal of ensuring psychological and physical wellbeing in the workplace. Objectives: Since the conception of dignity is highly important for a better understanding of the phenomenon of the person’s objectification, this scoping review explored how personal dignity was revealed in managerial studies on employee objectification. Methods: Using the algorithm selected for this study, a total of 192 articles were retrieved from the Scopus and Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics) databases, of which 12 theoretical and empirical studies were selected for further analysis. The study employed a modified PRISMA methodology, based on PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The data on authors, year of publication, study type, sample, main conclusions, and provided recommendations were extracted. Results: In order to achieve the purpose of the research, it explored how objectification and the dignity of employees were treated and what recommendations to practitioners were made. It was found that the themes examined in the studies covered two main categories: cultural (of the organization and society) and relational (vertical and horizontal relations, including the use of technologies). Conclusions: The research results show that, so far, a more general definition of employee objectification is lacking and that personal dignity, which would allow for the revision of this conception, remains unhighlighted.