The music of organising: Exploring aesthetic ethnography

Through a discussion of Ingarden’s phenomenology, this paper proposes an aesthetic ethnographic methodology. Aesthetic ethnography enables the researcher to view organisations as if they are works of art. This involves observing the continual oscillation between order and chaos, a quality Schiller terms as the play impulse. The shifts in focus from naïve outsider (Emotional Attachment) to critical insider (Cognitive Detachment) and then to informed outsider (Integrated Synthesis) are explored, followed by a case study of a symphony orchestra undergoing governance change

A tiger by the tail: The artistry of crisis management

This paper explores the reasons for the failure of local and national leaders to adequately deal with the crisis that resulted from Hurricane Katrina September 2005. It is argued that the failure of instrumentality demonstrates alternative management strategies are required. The aesthetic lens offers options that could have helped avoid many of the disastrous consequences of the flooding

The genesis of organisational aesthetics

Organisational aesthetics is a burgeoning field with a growing community of scholars engaged in arts-based approaches to research. Recent developments in this field have their origins in the works of early Enlightenment writers such as Vico, Baumgarten and Kant. This paper examines the contributions of these three philosophers and in particular focuses on Vico’s awareness of history and myth; Baumgarten’s notion of sensation and its relationship to rationality; and Kant’s investigations into form and content. By drawing on these ideas, the contemporary aesthetic researcher is informed by qualities such as an alert imagination, comfort with the chaotic, backward thinking, and attention to inner sensations and perceptions, which all work together to provide a coherent view of the organisation as a gestalt

Irony's architecture: Reflections on a photographic research project

This paper presents a research approach based on irony, rather than certainty. Using Richard Rorty's conception of irony, we contend that much traditional research in management presents a final language which is implicit in both the construction of a research method and its final presentation as findings. This paper suggests we should take irony more seriously, and deliberately construct research to allow and encourage re-description by our research's final arbiters - its readers, and even its subjects. Further, we advocate that by inviting irony into our work, we encourage greater identification between ourselves, our audience of readers, and the subjects of our work. We illustrate our argument by reflecting on a recent photographic research project which was a collaborative effort between management researchers and an artist. We show how the simple architecture of this project was built from doubt and how irony is communicated through the pictures. We then show how photography can be a useful technique that encourages readers to engage in re-description of petit récits (small stories), told through images. We discuss our reflections by focusing on the implications of our research for management education

Re-conceiving management education: Artful teaching and learning

Artists derive inspiration from daily life. According to John Dewey, common experiences are transformed into works of art through a process of compression and expression. In this paper we adopt this frame, showing how it is used within the pedagogical environment. Students were asked to reflect on their lives and offer an artful response to those experiences. Artfulness is defined here as a process which relies on the discursive practices of satire, and in particular irony and parody. We demonstrate the use of these rhetorical techniques as reflective tools, offering a service management class as an exemplar. In this class students were asked to consider their common experiences as both customers and service providers, and create an ironic artefact. We analyse a cartoon sequence produced by students in response to this assignment, where they parodied the fast-food service experience, illustrating how a business studies classroom can be transformed into an artful space

Series: Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability, Vol. 4 & 6

Corporate Social Irresponsibility: A Challenging Concept, Vol. 4 (Adrián Zicari) Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility Perspectives and Practice, Vol. 6 (Ralph Bathurst

The Music of Organisations: an Aesthetic Ethnography

Arts-based expressions are becoming an increasingly important for understanding and improving business practice. More specifically, drama, painting and music are all artistic tools being used as ways of helping leaders gain insights into organisational life. However, there is a gap between art as a consulting practice, and its theoretical underpinning. Organisational aesthetics is a relatively new theory of organisations that endeavours to close the gap between the theoretical underpinnings of art and its application as a consulting practice. This thesis contributes to the theory-building efforts of this rapidly expanding field by exploring and developing a novel research methodology: Aesthetic Ethnography. This method is a means whereby researchers work at the arts-business nexus to investigate the ever-changing landscape of organisational life. In order to show how this occurs, the Auckland Philharmonia is offered as an exemplar. Its developments are observed during a time of governance restructure. As an aesthetic ethnography, the case study positions the orchestra as a work of art and describes how it is intentionally presenced as an artistic piece. Its concretisation is described as a construct by both the researcher and the stakeholders within the enterprise, occurring in three ethnographic movements: Emotional Attachment, Cognitive Detachment and Integrated Synthesis. The thesis concludes that the aesthetic lens can be turned on other artistic enterprises, and indeed beyond these, to the wider organisational world. To do this, further research is proposed into the music of organisations. Specifically, it is suggested that the nature of ensemble be explored and that the artistry of composition be used as a way of further teasing out the musicality of organisational life. Furthermore, music's temporality and its reliance on both fixed structure and sensitivity to the moment make it an apt tool to reflect on management practice