TY - JOUR AU - O'Callaghan, Clare PY - 2016/01/09 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Book Review on "The Myth of Themanus...." by C. M. Conroy JF - Organizational Aesthetics JA - oa VL - 5 IS - 2 SE - Review DO - UR - https://oa.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/oa/article/view/69 SP - 68-70 AB - The Myth of Themanus presents workplace conversations amongst staff members from all levels of the "Olive Groove" company hierarchy which explain and challenge rationales for how staff regard and treat each other. The work primarily narrates the story of newly appointed manager Themanus, poached from the "Totally Stuffed Olives" company to manage and improve "Olive Grooves'" production. Themanus embodies dichotomous "them-and-us" relationships evident in modern workplaces characterised by questionably effective leadership programs and poor staff morale, related to perceived individual self-serving interests across organisational ranks. Team Leader, Serendipitus, demonstrates wisdom and grace by helping Themanus to reconsider his dictatorial ways of treating disaffected staff, despite also being a disaffected, belittled employee as a result of actions by Themanus. Conversations acted out depict styles of how people may individualistically survive and sometimes thrive in work environments, for example, by promising but not delivering employee incentives, transferring blame, obsequiousness, "parsimony", and undermining colleagues to garner personal promotion. ER -