In the industry a look at the wwe through critical approaches
1. In the Industry: A Look
at the WWE through
Critical Approaches
By: Dylan Kirn
2. World Wrestling Entertainment and the Traditional Approach
In the traditional approach, power is a relatively stable
entity that people groups possess.
In the WWE, management has the control of this power
as long as they please the fans.
The fans have a lot of power because if they do not take
interest in the show then nobody will make money and
that will take the power away from management.
The management has always held the power and when
wrestlers are unhappy with their lack of a voice then will
generally leave the organization whether publicly or
privately is up to them.
3. World Wrestling Entertainment and Symbological Approach
The symbological approach power is a product of communicative interaction and
relationships.
In World Wrestling Entertainment this means that the most powerful wrestlers, which are
the ones that make the most money, are connected to the most people.
When an up and coming wrestler wants to make a name for themselves they must try and
connect with older wrestlers who are already established.
Some wrestlers that have been working in the business for a long time get to make more
decisions because they are connected to everyone from management to creative writers.
4. World Wrestling Entertainment and the Radical Critical Approach
The radical-critical approach states that theorists concerned with “deep
structure” that produce and reproduce relationships in organizational life. They
say there are contradictions between the “surface structure” and the “deep
structure” of power.
In World Wrestling Entertainment, the deep relationships are best displayed
when two wrestlers become enemies. They will start with the “surface
structure” of working together and then dissolve into a “deep structure” that is
the fighting between them.
5. World Wrestling Entertainment and Means of Production
Means of Production is the actual work process, how products are made and services rendered.
In World Wrestling Entertainment, the actual work process is wrestling and how the wrestlers
perform this job determines their success.
The service they provide is wrestling and sports entertainment, the way this has done has
evolved over the years to keep up with the times.
Wrestling has evolved from a slow technical process to a fictionalized mixed martial arts style
and now towards a more technical process with the speed of mixed martial arts.
This happy medium has been going on for years.
6.
7. World Wrestling Entertainment and Ideology
Ideology is taken for granted assumptions about reality that
influence perceptions of situations and events. Structures
our thoughts and controls over interpretation of reality.
In World Wrestling Entertainment, all wrestlers have the
same ideology when it comes to entertainment and fighting.
All wrestlers have different political ideology, but when it
comes to the company everyone has the same idea about
how to make the most money.
8. World Wrestling Entertainment and Hegemony
Hegemony is a dominant group that leads another group to accept subordination as the norm,
manufactured consent where employees willingly adopt and reinforce hierarchical power
structures.
In the WWE, the dominant groups can be looked at as the management and the wrestlers are
the ones accepting it.
Management leads the wrestlers to accept that they are to listen to them if they want to make
money.
They adopt the hierarchy in order to survive in the company, wrestlers who want to be creative
and independent will usually leave the company.
Some wrestlers submit to this just long enough to make a name for themselves and then leave.
9. World Wrestling Entertainment and Emancipation
Emancipation is the liberation of people from unnecessarily restrict traditions,
ideologies, assumptions, power relations, identity formations, that inhibit or distort
opportunities for autonomy, clarification of genuine needs and wants and thus greater
lasting satisfaction.
In the WWE, emancipation is retirement or quitting. The company is so heavily rooted
in a hierarchical system of ordering the only way to become liberated from their
ideology is to leave.
The wrestlers must commit to the satisfaction of their day to day life under the
oppression of the company to find satisfaction.
10. CM Punk a frustrated
underrepresented and underpaid
wrestler who left the WWE.
11. World Wrestling Entertainment and Control
Control is simple, direct authoritarian exertion of control in the workplace.
In World Wrestling Entertainment this is simply the exertion we see constantly in a
traditional business.
If a wrestler wishes to continue their career they will listen to the people above them as
long as they can.
The beauty of this sport is that no matter how much they listen they always must remember
that they have to be a great wrestler in the ring to have success outside the ring.
This is a very bureaucratic approach to the power and control balance in the WWE.
12.
13. World Wrestling Entertainment and Discipline
Discipline is when work groups develop techniques to reward and punish behavior that
conforms with or deviates from the values identifies as important by the work group.
In World Wrestling Entertainment, positive discipline is when a group of wrestlers are
all succeeding in their respective field. Sometimes the group works together to defy
the authority and win the championships.
Negative discipline is when wrestlers are punished from their sport because they are
unable to follow the rules.
Some wrestlers will get suspended for drug use or legal violations.
14.
15. World Wrestling Entertainment and Feminism
The following slides will take a look at feminism in the WWE, liberal feminists,
radical feminists, standpoint feminists, postmodern feminists, and pluralists
feminism.
Feminism is the idea that bureaucratic organizations are inherently patriarchal.
This means that most of the companies today are ran by men at the center of
the company.
World Wrestling Entertainment is a company that has always been ran by men.
16. Liberal Feminists
The idea of a liberal feminist is one that believes remedies for female
subordination should come from within the system and that women
should work to gain their fair share of control in institutions currently
run by men.
Currently, the head of the WWE is a man, but the next one in the chain is
his daughter who has been with the company all her life.
Stephanie McMahon has spent her life in the WWE, as both a wrestler
and an authority figure.
Currently the Chief Brand Officer of the WWE, she has a lot of control in
the company for what stays and goes. She has spent her career as a
liberal feminist working to remedy the subordination of other women.
17. Radical Feminists
Radical feminists believe that emancipation for women can occur
only through the destruction of male-dominated institutions or
through the total separations of women from the institutions.
In 2015 the Diva’s Revolution began, this was an uprising of all the
women in the company to highlight the women’s division.
This was to popularize the women in wrestling and make it so they
were the most important part of the show.
They wanted to separate themselves from the male dominated part
of the program.
This revolution ended in 2016 and now the term diva division has
been replaced by the women’s division
18. Standpoint Feminists
Standpoint feminists work to enhance the opportunity
for a variety of marginalized voices to be heard
within societal dialogue.
This is the new direction of World Wrestling
Entertainment, they allow everyone to have a say
and the women’s division has been much more
successful.
A big critique of the WWE has always been the way
the treat women, which historically has not been a
pretty sight, today we see a more appropriate view
which allows everyone to feel more connected.
19. Postmodern Feminist
Postmodern Feminists, attempt to “deconstruct” male-dominated meaning
systems in order to highlight women’s perspectives.
Sports in general are a more male dominated place.
In the WWE, women becoming wrestlers is already an attempt to highlight
women’s perspectives in a different arena.
They look to bring women into the light and bring in more fans for the WWE
because they so often want new fans to continue their success.
20. Pluralists Feminism
Pluralist Feminism, pragmatic contingencies that constrain an idealistic view of feminism.
Ideally feminism is equality for both sexes.
This view is constrained because some people think that women should deconstruct the
patriarchy.
World Wrestling Entertainment, seeks to have equality amongst everyone but
acknowledges that not everyone will be pleased.
The current women’s division and the leadership of Stephanie McMahon will eventually
help everyone on the path to equality.
21. Conclusion
Over the past semester, I have taken an in depth look at World Wrestling Entertainment.
We have seen how they organize and communicate.
We have look at their human relations and resources approach.
We have looked at their systems approaches.
Finally we haven taken a look at critical approaches.
All of these show the intense diversity of the organization and how it functions.
One thing that is so fascinating about the WWE is how it has been able to stand the test of time.
22. Questions
How will developing a stronger women’s
division with the leadership of Stephanie
help this company?
Does the ideology of do what we say or
leave hinder evolution of the company?
Wrestlers that do not work for the WWE
always have the worst things to say about
the company, why?
23. Reference
Soberains, A. (2015, June 2). WWE and the critical approach. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from
http://cucpopculture.weebly.com/ashley-soberanis/wwe-and-the-critical-approach
Miller, K. (2011). Organizational communication: Approaches and processes (6th ed.). Boston, MA:
Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
