The Lost Art of Banking (eBook)

Aisling Tuite graduated from Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), Ireland, with a MSc in Business, Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship and a PhD from the AIB Centre for Finance and Business Research, exploring the lives of workers in the Bank of Ireland between 1960 and 2000 through the vehicle of storytelling. As an interdisciplinary researcher, she is interested in the practical, historical, and transformational elements of work and careers, social interactions within organisations, and organisational change. She has been conducting research with the Waterford Unemployment and Employment Research Collaborative (WUERC) in WIT since 2012.  

Preface 6
Acknowledgements 8
Contents 10
Abbreviations 13
List of Figures and Image 14
Chapter 1: Introduction 15
The ‘Modern’ Banker? 15
The Draw of Banking Organisations 17
A Bank Like Any Other 19
A Unique Perspective of Banking Organisations 20
Developments in Banking 22
Breaking of Traditions and Initiating Change 24
The Decades of Sweeping Change 26
New Worker Demographics 27
Professionalisation and New Identities 28
Anomie and the Breaking of Traditions 29
Memories and Emotions 30
The GFC: An Unprecedented Crisis? 32
New Challenges: FinTech and RegTech 33
In Sum 35
Bibliography 35
Chapter 2: Making the Break 38
Introduction 38
Work and Modernity: A Changing Economic Environment 39
1930s–1960s: From Protectionist to Open Economy 40
The 1960s: Uneasy Transformations in Banking, the Economy and Society 42
Traditional Bank Life 45
New Thinking Towards Change: Taking Advice from an Outsider 49
Opening Up of the Culture 50
In Sum 54
Bibliography 54
Chapter 3: An Era of Transformation in the Banking Industry 56
Introduction 56
The Road to Change 57
Play: A Banking Social Life 59
Play in Organisations 61
From Play to Competition Among Friends 63
Game: A Competitive Form of Play 66
New Roles and Responsibilities 67
Work and Identity 70
The Rise of Managerialism as an Identity Cue 73
In Sum 75
Bibliography 75
Chapter 4: The Modern Bank Workers 77
Introduction 77
New Types of Workers: Education, Graduates and Outsiders 78
Breaking Down the Walled Garden 80
Recentralisation and ‘Freedom to Manage’ 82
Modern Bank Workers and Work Practices 84
From the Aspiration of a Professional Banker to a Professionalised Bank 86
A New Professional Identity 89
Challenges for the ‘Modern’ Organisation 92
In Sum 92
Bibliography 93
Chapter 5: Transformations of Care and Community 95
Introduction 95
From Community to Individual 96
From Loyalty to Care and Commitment 99
Labour and Community 101
Anomie and the Break-Up 105
Modernity and Iconoclasm 107
Mimesis, Modernity and the Organisation 111
The Future Challenges of Banking 114
In Sum 117
Bibliography 118
Chapter 6: On Memories and Rehabilitation 121
Introduction 122
Work, Culture and Performance 122
Expected and Accepted Performances 123
Convincing Performances 124
Idealised and Dramatic Performances 125
Performances and the Modernised Bank 126
Modernity and Regret 128
Reflections on Contemporary Banking 130
Reflections on Banking Careers 132
Litost, Shame and Anger 133
Litost and the Idealised Bank 135
Post-Crisis Remedies 137
Rehabilitating the Banks 140
Bibliography 142
Index 145