Liminal Space in a State-Owned Company

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to determine how liminality can be applied to the specific legal and organizational forms of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Poland. Using van Gennep’s and Turner’s anthropological perspective and based on our experience with such companies, we reveal these organizations’ motives for taking liminal actions, particularly actions that determine the relationships among the management and supervisory board members, shareholders and employees. Our aim is to identify such actions and organizational spaces for dealing with particular problems in organizations.