THE STRUGGLE FOR SPACE: A STUDY OF THE BEHAVIOR OF TOP MANAGERS TO MAINTAIN THEIR SPATIAL PRIVILEGE

Abstract

This article describes how the top managers of a large banking group behaved when confronted with the execution of a major spatial development project at the time of their settlement into new headquarters, and how it affected the whole business project established around it. Through a multidisciplinary literature review combining social geography, philosophy, and management sciences, and by mobilizing a methodology including numerous organizational archival documents and interviews with the project’s key actors, the authors unveil the reasons for their symbolic privileges: their personal place within this new space prevailed, even over the business project that they were supposed to support. From these observations, we put forward the idea that the concept of place—in the sense of one’s personal space within an organization’s space—should be further investigated as it appears to be an essential part of organizational life.