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Financialization and the Employee Suicide Crisis at France Telecom

Author

Listed:
  • Nihel Chabrak

    (United Arab Emirates University)

  • Russell Craig

    (Victoria University)

  • Nabyla Daidj

    (Institut Mines Télécom)

Abstract

The privatization of France Telecom (FT) in 1997 led to the implementation of a profit-oriented financialization strategy. An unforgiving work environment was developed, which has unsettled many employees. Between February 2008 and October 2011, 69 employees took their own life. Many left notes blaming management for having privileged the interests of shareholders over those of employees. Through interviews with employees and professional practitioners associated with FT, we reveal that employees strongly resented the company’s use of financialization policies to maximize shareholder value. Pursuit of such policies led to the de-institutionalization of socially prescribed norms that were applied commonly in Continental European workplaces. Feelings of anomie, disgrace, futility and isolation ensued among employees. This case highlights an important effect of a modern corporation’s adoption of financialization policies. It points to the need to improve workplace sensitivities and the ethical dispositions of companies and their managers.

Suggested Citation

  • Nihel Chabrak & Russell Craig & Nabyla Daidj, 2016. "Financialization and the Employee Suicide Crisis at France Telecom," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 501-515, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:139:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2602-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2602-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Florence Palpacuer & Amélie Seignour, 2019. "Resisting via Hybrid Spaces : The Cascade effect of a workplace Struggle against Neoliberal Hegemony," Post-Print hal-02436750, HAL.
    2. Stefan Linder & Bernard Leca & Adrián Zicari & Veronica Casarin, 2021. "Designing Ethical Management Control: Overcoming the Harmful Effect of Management Control Systems on Job-Related Stress," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(4), pages 747-764, September.
    3. Aziza Laguecir & Bernard Leca, 2022. "Organized Decoupling of Management Control Systems: An Exploratory Study of Traders’ Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 153-169, November.
    4. Maxime Bellego & Virginia Doellgast & Elisa Pannini, 2023. "From Taylorism to teams: organisational and institutional experimentation at France Télécom," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(3), pages 355-370, August.
    5. Clare Jane M. Burns & Luke Houghton & Heather Stewart, 2020. "Sustainability – A key to Australian finance directors improving their organisation's CSR culture," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 1164-1176, March.

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