Organizational Hauntology: Monuments as Expressions and the Source of Adoration of Organizational Ghosts

Abstract The ideas of organizational hauntology and organizational ghosts serve as the epistemological background of this article, in which the phenomenon of monuments erected by enterprises garners our attention. In this study, the following research question has been addressed: What connects monuments to enterprises and organizational ghosts, and in what manner do these ghosts come into play via these monuments and capture the attention of the surrounding community and their milieu? In order to receive an answer, the research material that has been collected here refers to four monuments built by Polish enterprises. It includes desk research about the monuments and primary data from the interviews and field research conducted in the places where these monuments are located. The material gathered has been thoroughly analyzed using six interpretative categories: recollection of ghosts in tales; creation of myths about these ghosts; creation and distribution of symbols; creation of literary and artistic works; attention to and care for monuments; and pilgrimages to the places where the monuments have been erected.