Understanding shame as a means of control and self-regulation in organizational life: A study on sales representatives

This research aims to determine the effect of shame on organizational structure and functioning. While the potential of shame to motivate work and establish authority is recognized in the existing literature, inquiries into the changes or destruction it causes in personality are limited. This thesis aims to critically examine both the functional aspect of shame from an administrative logic perspective and the individual processes and consequences of this functionality. Within this scope, the study employed a phenomenological approach, one of the qualitative research methods, which focuses on revealing individuals' subjective experiences regarding a specific phenomenon and the essence of these experiences. In accordance with the purpose and methodology of the research, in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with 19 sales representatives working at a shopping mall in Alanya. Participants were selected using snowball sampling, a purposeful sampling method. A set of semi-structured open-ended questions was used in the interviews. The data obtained has been classified using thematic analysis methods. The results show that shame in organizational life is patterned under three themes. The first theme, Burden of Shame, aims to understand the factors that cause sales representatives to feel shame at work and the extent to which they experience this feeling. The theme of shame burden consists of two sub-themes: "work-related shame" and "customer relationship-related shame." The second main theme is "The Functionalization of Shame." This theme focuses on understanding how the shame experienced by sales representatives is transformed into a functional element within the structure and operation of the business and organization, in line with sales and performance-oriented management logic. This main theme consists of two sub-themes: "sectoral logic that instrumentalizes shame: disciplinary shame" and "suspending shame." The third and final main theme is "The Changing Self." This main theme discusses how adapting to working conditions centered on shame and related emotions leads to a transformation in individual and professional identities, and how sales representatives experience different emotional states in their work processes, even if these are contradictory. The third main theme consists of two sub-themes: "character erosion" and "emotional labor." The results provide critical insight into how organizational understanding and managerial logic instrumentalize emotions and the individual causes and consequences of this situation.