Organizational Implosion: A Case Study of Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan, is on the brink: Financial mismanagement, population exodus, increasing legacy costs, and out-of-control debt have driven it to bankruptcy. City actors, both administrative and elected, making politically driven decisions invited the disaster. This article uses the concepts of organizational implosion and image management to examine the degree to which the city indeed suffered organization implosion and how the city presented its image, internally and externally. The article synthesizes the administrative and communication literature streams to find that despite an overall rebranding effort, city actors still are falling short when generating positive narratives and trying to change organizational culture.