Emotion Seduction and Intimacy: Alternative Perspectives on Organisation Behaviour [Paperback]

In this book, Rory is a man who has deliberately chosen the left-hand path of progress. He does not shun the moral maze of human desires and passions but brings greater understanding to that very facet of life - the forbidden fruit that made us fall from grace - and its role in our emancipation. --Dr. Poonam Thapa, a campaigner for sexual and human rights for over 30 years

Rory's work is insightful and helps to redress some of the imbalances in the feminist theory of patriarchy while simultaneously introducing the concepts of gender and intimacy to the subject of enterprise governance. --Professor Phil Johnson, Head of HRM and Organisational Behaviour, Sheffield University

"Rory's work is insightful and helps to redress some of the imbalances in the feminist theory of patriarchy."

Do you sometimes feel life is an endless search for a satisfying relationship? Do you ever feel that gut desire that inclines you to indulge in flirtation at work? Now take this indulgence one step further to understand how employers seduce employees, salespeople seduce customers, advertisers seduce consumers and writers seduce readers. This book is for those who seek to understand how organisations, as well as individuals within them, use seduction to build successful relationships.

What can I say? This book is a natural evolution for me after finishing a study on which I worked full-time for three years. It was written to take a break from academic writing but as it developed I found more secrets of life revealing themselves to me and I quickly got hooked. My emotions were fired as everything else stopped to finish the text.

The content of the book is purposely aimed at working people, particularly managers and professionals, who want to understand how seduction and sexuality are continually used to develop the relationships upon which business (and families) depend. It may find favour with a secondary group studying or teaching business, psychology, philosophy, gender studies, governance, sociology, human rights, politics and law.

Life is an endless process of probing and searching for satisfying relationships for the purpose of economic and social gain. We constantly try to seduce each other for different reasons. Beyond seduction to satisfy our sexual desires, there are employers seducing employees (and vice versa), salespeople seducing customers, consultants seducing clients, advertisers seducing consumers, writers seducing readers, musicians seducing listeners, and academics, scientists, religious leaders and politicians presenting seductive versions of "the truth".

I have adopted techniques common in social science to minimise authorial bias. One method is to focus on conversations taking place around us, rather than relying on one-off interviews. Nevertheless, I have my own biases. I write about issues that interest and concern me first and foremost. One purpose of the book introduction, therefore, is to set out my concerns to you so that you the reader can assess the extent to which this impacts on what I say in the book.

My own interest is the way emotion and intimacy drives the way we govern each other and to organise ourselves into social groups. By looking at conversations, it is possible to discover that productive relationships, generally, are far more equitable than we realise. Only when one party wants to punish the other do relationships change dramatically. When hostility is triggered, one party cuts off or alters the way they communicate. Sometimes they start shaping situations so they can hurt those who they think have hurt them. When this happens, we discover how power is organised, because one party is usually able to punish "the other" more completely and effectively than the other way around.

The desire to punish is rooted in emotional hurt so a key objective of this book is to show where emotional hurt comes from, and the ways that people punish each other when it occurs. The results, I have no doubt, will shock you and perhaps even rock your world a bit - at least I hope it does.

Dr Rory Ridley-Duff combines the world of practitioner and academic. As the director of two companies, Rory is active as a writer and publisher of books and music. Since 2003, he has been on the staff of Sheffield Hallam University where he lectures in Organisation Behaviour, Equal Opportunities and Employee Relations. He continues to research gender issues and social enterprise governance.