Mimetic Theory for Organizational Analysis. Sugar Agroindustry in Colombia

Abstract

This article aims to apply the mimetic theory developed by the anthropologist René Girard in contexts of violence, experienced by workers in a business organization in the agroindustrial sugar sector, located in a municipality in the center of Valle del Cauca - Colombia. The research methodology included the review of secondary sources corresponding to three categories: master's degree works, sector news and articles resulting from scientific research. The qualitative content analysis aligned with the mimetic mechanism, made possible the breakdown into four parts, fundamental to understand the reasons for the dismissal experienced by 302 workers in 2009. The sacrificial violence applied by the managers of this representative company of the region, which They executed the directive to end the employment relationship of more than 30% of their workers. A year earlier, eight of the thirteen sugar mills had a blockade by nearly 1,500 cane cutters, to avoid the loss of jobs, due to the labor substitution program through mechanization processes. The directors argued that the company was going through an economic crisis; paradoxically, the media reported an investment of US$10 million for modernization to cogenerate energy and ethanol.