'Fit for the Job': A Programmatic Inquiry on Style and Aesthetics in the Workplace

Abstract

This article showcases a few main points of the theoretical frame in organizational communication I have been working on for my doctoral research on the aesthetic notion of “style”. Maxwell (2013) in his book on qualitative research methodology proposes to initiate a research design by considering the personal motivations that push us to work in the direction we designate ourselves. For my part, the moment that triggered my scientific interest in style is concretely certain experiences that I had in the restaurant business where I worked for several years, those of a form of selection of workers that seemed to be operated on the level of aesthetics. I present a brief autoethnographic overview of those experiences, then turn to theoretical approaches potentially helpful in making sense of them.