Paterson, Tanya (2011) Disenfranchised workers : a view from within the public service. PhD thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

This research examines the experiences of disenfranchised workers in the Australian Public Service. The best methodology for my study is a hybrid. A hybrid that takes the wisdom of ethnographic case studies, phenomenology, feminist post-structuralism and narrative theories to make sense of the stories of people working within organisations that have failed, traumatised, belittled, ignored, bullied and destroyed them. The study looks at the experiences of twenty disenfranchised workers who labelled themselves as disenfranchised. This thesis is about the abused, the mistreated, and the disenfranchised. Of opportunities lost and perceived injustices. I believe the voices of the disenfranchised public servants are silenced by supervisors, colleagues and the system itself. This study aims to give legitimacy to their complaints, document their stories and chronicle their mistreatment at the hands of public supervisors who are often brutalised themselves. The Public Service workplace becomes like a violent family. We all learn what we see, not what we read or are told. And so the culture of dysfunction is passed from underling to boss and workers suffer. These actions ripple throughout public servants’ lives. Literature around the disenfranchised worker is growing. This study documents the experiences of disenfranchised workers and unmutes their voices. These experiences are important and contemporary issues to enable people to live a life of consequence.

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