The Art of Joseph Cornell: Visual Reflections of the Debate on Bureaucratic and Post-Bureaucratic Organizations

Abstract With the shift from an industrial to a knowledge economy, organization theorists continue to address the role and nature of control in organizational structure. The continuing utility of bureaucracy in new organizational forms was a focal point for this discussion. Research on this shift contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of ethics in bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic organizations. This paper suggested that the work of the artist Joseph Cornell provides a visual representation of the dimensions of this debate. First, the paper introduced Cornell to the reader. Next, the paper reviewed the research on bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic organizations with a focus on ethics, control, and enchantment in organizations. To provide visual reflections of the literature, this paper embedded examples of Cornell’s works throughout the discussion. Cornell’s art not only provides representations of these organizational forms, but also demonstrates how conflicts of an artist capture the development of thought within this area of organizational analysis.