Operationalising Love within Austerity. Can Love Become an Organisational Asset?

This paper considers the emotion of love as a response by small voluntary and community organisations to austerity, whilst also recognising the symbolic violence implicit in a requirement of staff and volunteers to offer such an emotional attachment. In the context of this paper austerity is considered as the consistent reduction of funding to public and civil society organisations, by successive governments since the 2008 financial crash, in order to address the national deficit of the United Kingdom.

In considering the negotiation of love and power within a British small voluntary and community organisation (VCS), this paper argues that in order to offer a distinct, innovative and alternative response to austerity; the VCS needs to address its strengths, to utilise the love that exists within an organisation and to embrace the emotional. To build love as a response to austerity.

This paper considers the emotion of love, as key to a small VCS organisations’ response to austerity policy. This love was evidenced in the solidarity of the organisations’ staff, its collective values and mutual support. The research with this small VCS organisation revealed that key charismatic, committed and passionate individuals within the wider local VCS and within the organisation were integral to it’s organisational response to austerity. Research findings identified the role of key individuals in building the organisational environment and responding to the challenges posed by austerity. Within this organisation these key individuals operated using what this paper agues to be a key organisational capital, love. In considering the negotiation of love and power within the organisation, this paper argues that it was able to offer a distinct, innovative and alternative response to austerity. This paper argues for love as an organisational asset.