TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Financialization and the Employee Suicide Crisis at France Telecom
JO  - Journal of business ethics
A1  - Chabrak, N.
A1  - Craig, R.
A1  - Daidj, N.
SP  - 501
EP  - 515
VL  - 139
IS  - 3
N2  - 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. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0167-4544
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2602-8
ID  - ref1
ER  -