Organizational Dehumanization and Employee Dynamics

Organizational dehumanization occurs when employees perceive that their organisation treats them as instruments or objects rather than as autonomous individuals with intrinsic value. This phenomenon arises through managerial practices that prioritise efficiency, control and uniformity at the expense of empathy, fairness and recognition of personhood. Such dehumanising strategies can induce stress, diminish work engagement and erode trust, precipitating a cascade of adverse outcomes for both individuals and organisations. Employees who experience dehumanisation often report heightened anxiety, reduced affective commitment and a weakened sense of professional identity. In response, they may engage in withdrawal, self‐objectification or deviant behaviours such as knowledge hiding and time theft. Conversely, when organisations foster a culture of dignity, autonomy and justice, they mitigate the harmful effects of dehumanisation and promote adaptive dynamics, including enhanced collaboration, innovation and wellbeing. Understanding these processes is vital to designing interventions that balance organisational objectives with the preservation of human dignity, ensuring sustainable performance and positive employee experience across sectors.

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Organizational Dehumanization and Employee Dynamics publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in organizational dehumanization and employee dynamics across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Organizational dehumanization: The subjective experience of being treated as a tool or object rather than as a full human being within the workplace.

Work engagement: A positive, fulfilling state characterised by vigour, dedication and absorption in one’s work activities.

Occupation insecurity: Employees’ fear that their job may disappear or that its content may radically change due to external forces such as automation.

Self‐objectification: The internalisation of an objectified identity, whereby individuals view themselves as instruments for organisational ends rather than as autonomous agents.

References

1. The relationship between organizational dehumanization and work engagement: the mediating effect of nurses’ work stress. BMC Nursing (2024).
2. Conceptualization and Validation of the Occupation Insecurity Scale (OCIS): Measuring Employees’ Occupation Insecurity Due to Automation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2023).
3. Perceived unequal and unfair workplaces trigger lower job satisfaction and lower workers’ dignity via organizational dehumanization and workers’ self‐objectification. European Journal of Social Psychology (2023).
4. Organizational Dehumanization Impact on Knowledge Hiding and Employee Theft Time: Moderating Effect of Psychological Capital. Journal of Asian Development Studies (2024).
5. Organizational Culture, Justice, Dehumanization and Affective Commitment in French Employees: A Serial Mediation Model. Europe’s Journal of Psychology (2023).