My research studies how social norms are established or contested, with particular attention being drawn to the practices of corporations. How come certain practices are seen as 'natural' and 'acceptable' whereas others raise concern and resistance? And what are the effects of normative changes on people's power and sense of identity?
I tackle these questions from a perspective that mixes philosophical questioning and ethnographic participant observation. My interest in normativity has brought me to study (and publish) in the fields of business ethics; management learning; organisational studies and social theory.
I worked as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group in the early 2000s, before doing a PhD in Cambridge (2002-06) and joining academia. After my thesis, I worked as Associate Professor at the University of Reading (UK), Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Ontology (EPFL, Switzerland) and Reader at Cardiff Business School (UK). I have also been active with the Occupy movement that purports to limit the contemporary excesses of capitalism.
I am open to PhD projects that consider the effects of contemporary organisations on society and that are anchored in the social sciences and humanities.
- Social Changes
- Ethics
- Ethnography
- Corporate Governance
- Mindfulness
- Normativity
- Power and resistance within organizations
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Social theory
- Violence (physical, economic & symbolic)
- Galazka A. M., Al-amoudi I., 2025.Managing stigma together: Relationality in the wound clinicOrganization, 32, 5: 672-694
- Srinivas N., Vijay D., Alakavuklar O. N., Shymko Y., Böhm S., Van Laer K., Alamgir F., Al-amoudi I., Barros M., Zulfiqar G., 2025.Facing the facts of the Gaza genocide: Refusing complicity, organizing solidarityOrganization, 32, 8: 1089–1102As a collective, Organization has a strong commitment to exposing and challenging domination and oppression, to amplifying scholarly activism, and to standing in solidarity with the oppressed, the dispossessed, and the Indigenous peoples of the world. Therefore, we cannot remain silent observers of the genocide in Gaza, of the oppression of the Palestinian people, and of the political, academic and organizational systems that are complicit in it. In this editorial, we call on MOS scholars to approach and study the genocide in Gaza and the oppression of the Palestinian people as a form of organized violence rooted in settler colonialism and processes of racialization that render Palestinian life disposable, and sustained by corporate, state, and academic infrastructures. Careful analysis exposes how the systematic targeting of health, education, and knowledge infrastructures is entangled with organizational processes involved in arms production, digital platforms, finance, universities, and humanitarian logistics. Building on the critical tradition of the journal, this editorial calls on Organization’s epistemic community to act in solidarity with the people of Palestine through constructing alternative knowledge infrastructures and instituting an academic boycott of Israeli institutions. We urge scholars, editors, and students to reconfigure professional practices and mobilize their work against genocidal, colonial and oppressive organizing.
- Tyler M., Butler J., Cutcher L., Milroy T., Lloyd M., Riach-Externe K., Kenny-Externe K., Al-amoudi I., Guschke B. L., Harding N., Smolovic-Jones N., 2024.Strangers in conversation: Judith Butler with gender, work and organizationGender, Work and Organization, 31, 4: 1444-1462
- Al-amoudi I., 2024.Ontological unpredictability: what can realists say about unpredictability, contingency and catastrophe?Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 54, 3: 290-300This paper introduces the original research articles that constitute the present Forum issue on unpredictability, contingency and catastrophe. In doing so, it also identifies and discusses the specificity of realist approaches to the above questions. It is argued that attentiveness to the ontological dimension of (un)predictability opens promis-ing avenues for reflexive approaches to social science and collective action.
- Al-amoudi I., 2023.The politics of post-human technologies: Human enhancements, artificial intelligence and virtual realityOrganization, 30, 6: 1238-1245
- Al-amoudi I., Varman R., Skalen P., 2023.Workplace Humiliation and the Organization of Domestic WorkOrganization Studies, 44, 11: 1853–1877
- Al-amoudi I., 2023.Inde : l’humiliation, une technique de management malheureusement efficaceThe Conversation: OnlineSelon le discours officiel, l’humiliation n’a pas sa place dans une entreprise bien gérée. Pourtant, ce principe ne s’applique malheureusement pas dans tous les contextes. Pour mieux comprendre le lien entre humiliation au travail et productivité, j’ai mené un projet de recherche collectif avec mes collègues Rohit Varman et Per Skålén. Après de longs entretiens sociologiques menés auprès d’employées domestiques et de leurs employeurs dans la ville de Calcutta en Inde, nous avons documenté des cas d’humiliation particulièrement visibles et cherché à établir des liens entre humiliation et productivité. Au-delà des spécificités liées au contexte indien, notre travail de recherche nous enseigne que l’humiliation des travailleurs peut malheureusement constituer une stratégie très rentable, dès lors que l’employeur bénéficie d’une main-d’œuvre abondante, précaire et peu organisée. En effet, même si la qualité du travail n’est pas optimale, un employé humilié devient docile, silencieux et craintif. Il travaille de longues heures et se contente du salaire qu’on veut bien lui verser.
- Al-amoudi I., 2022.Are post-human technologies dehumanizing? Human enhancement and artificial intelligence in contemporary societiesJournal of Critical Realism, 21, 5: 516-538
- Al-amoudi I., 2022.L'Utilisation du "nudge" intensifiée par l'intelligence artificielleLes Affiches de Grenoble: x
- Al-amoudi I., 2022.Le danger tient à l'autorité accordée à l'intelligence artificielleLes Affiches de Grenoble: x
