Why bother?

Labels are often flashy conduits for hasty assumptions and partial truths. At the time when I was writing Action and Existence: Anarchism for Business Administration in the late 1970s, the term anarchism served as a handy synonym for mess, chaos, and disorder. In this context the word cropped up in public debates about the Baader-Meinhof terrorism in Germany in the aftermath of Paris 68, for example. In putting my book together, I set out to explain what I had learned through my own reading and discussion about this often shortchanged term. In the research and writing process I discovered that the word anarchism carried more concrete meaning than what I had first thought

Empirical Challenges in Organizational Aesthetics Research: Towards a Sensual Methodology

Despite growing scholarly interest in aesthetic dimensions of organizational life, there is a lack of literature expressly engaging with the methodological mechanics of 'doing aesthetics research'. This article addresses that gap. It begins with an overview of the conceptual idiosyncrasies of 'aesthetics' as a facet of human existence and maps out the challenges these pose for empirical research methodology. A review of methodological approaches adopted to date in empirical studies of organizational aesthetics is then presented. The remainder of the article draws on the author's experiences and suggests methods and techniques to address both conceptual and practical challenges encountered during the execution of an organizational aesthetics research project. The article calls for a firmer focus on the aesthetic experiences of organizational members in addition to those of researchers and concludes with some suggestions as to the future of such 'sensual methodologies' </jats:p

Creativity out of chaos

Creativity is said to be highly desired in post-modern and post-industrial organizations Creativity and anarchy on the one hand, and managerialism, on the other, can be seen as different forms of knowledge, two opposed ideals. In many organizational as well as societal reforms we currently observe it is the managerialist ideal that wins over the anarchic. In this paper, we wonder if people fear anarchy? We reflect on the possible reasons for the fear, and we also try to explain why we believe that anarchic organizing should not be avoided or feared

Den synliga foten och osynliga handen

Vad håller konstnärer på med; egentligen? Late Marcel Duchamp spelade schack, passionerade Pablo Picasso hängde på tjurfäktning och liderlige Salvador Dali onanerade ideligen; allt enligt egna romantiska utsagor. Tro´t den som vill, idag har konstnärs-Svensson inte tid för sånt trams; hon är nämligen en entreprenör. I alla fall om man skall tro Mikael Scherdin, som i en autoetnografisk forskningsrapport1 ger en detaljerad beskrivning av en svensk konstnärs vedermödor för att nå en plats vid kreativitetens köttgrytor. Som lokalt komplement till en växande internationell konstsociologisk litteratur målar Scherdin ett svenskt porträtt av konstnären som entreprenör, fullt nedsänkt i våra lokala kulturekonomiska realiteter

Esthétique du management public

Guillet De Monthoux Pierre. Esthétique du management public. In: Politiques et management public, vol. 9, n° 2, 1991. La souveraineté éclatée : les nouveaux cadres de l'action publique. Actes du Quatrième Colloque International Bruxelles - 11/12 octobre 1990 - (Première partie) - Mutation des principes : du régalien aux politiques publiques. pp. 27-34

Modernism and the dominating firm--on the managerial mentality of the Swedish model

Rationalism, modernism and managerial thought dominate action in Swedish social life. The study of management education provides a way of understanding the workings of the Swedish model. Swedish managerialism is reproducing old collectivist and corporativist values with German rather than Anglo-Saxon intellectual roots. The task of the manager is to realize capitalism without capitalists. The concept of the "firm" has taken on the meaning today that was previously given to "Nature" or "People". Families and the state are both simply seen as different types of firm, to be run by loyal managers. This Swedish version of the "firm" has therefore become a dominant institution, entrenched in a mentality beyond political facts and fashions.Management education mentality planning ideology modernism rationalization Sweden Swedish model

The power of daydreaming : the aesthetic act of a new beginning

What can we learn from a better understanding of the process of daydreaming in an organizational context? That is the main question underpinning this study. Based on a field study with a rural entrepreneur that uses daydreaming as her main strategic tool in the development of her farm, and a reading of Bachelard's work on the phenomenology of 'reverie,' we come to understand daydreaming as an embodied act that emerges at the intersection between relational materiality, vertical temporality and aesthetic space. This conceptualization of daydreaming reminds us that rather than focusing on how to make dreams come true, which is the traditional way of relating to dreams in organizational life, there is a need to enable people to dream anew, because that is when new beginnings can be born, and the particular will to act, through daydreaming, can be released

The poetic teaching space: Gaston Bachelard and a third realm in management education

How to make students and teachers stop Stop and think and feel Reading slow Reading aloud Savouring silence Being there with all our emotions and bodies An experiment Not a social experiment Not a psychological experiment But a poetic Accompanied by a French philosopher Gaston Bachelard was always there in the atmosphere Our classroom practice With our master’s students In sustainable management We searched for poetic moments Turned into a conversation Turned into a paper A paper about the poetics of teaching Phenomenologizing philosophy Rupturing classroom