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

Development of user guidelines for ECAS display design. Volume 2: Tasks 9 and 10

Lay-oriented speakers aids, articles, a booklet, and a press kit were developed to inform the press and the general public with background information on the space transportation system, Spacelab, and Spacelab 1 experiments. Educational materials relating to solar-terrestrial physics and its potential benefits to mankind were also written. A basic network for distributing audiovisual and printed materials to regional secondary schools and universities was developed. Suggested scripts to be used with visual aids describing materials science and technology and astronomy and solar physics are presented

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

Theft as “Involuntary Gifting” among the Tacana of Northern Bolivia

It has been well established in the anthropological literature that reciprocity, in its various cultural forms, is simultaneously produced by and productive of social relationships; it both comments upon social relationships and plays a role in creating them. However, this has generally been demonstrated using positive forms of reciprocity. In this paper I examine how theft, as a form of negative reciprocity, fit with a wider set of positive reciprocal obligations among the Tacana in northeastern Bolivia in 2001-2002. Theft, I argue, was part of a coherent cultural system in which a material basis, social norms, and values and beliefs reinforced one another. Within this system, theft functioned as a leveling mechanism that discouraged the accumulation of possessions, redistributed goods, and reinforced egalitarian practices and values. Se ha establecido en la literatura antropológica que la reciprocidad de cualquier tipo simultáneamente se produce y está producido por relaciones sociales, pero esto ha sido notado primeramente con respeto a la reciprocidad positiva. Aquí, analizo como el robo, como una forma de reciprocidad negativa, se incluye en un grupo mas amplio de obligaciones de reciprocidad positiva entre los Tacana del Bolivia nordeste en 2001-2002. El robo era parte de un sistema cultural en cual el base material, las normas sociales, y los crecimientos y valores reforzaron uno a otro. Adentro del sistema, el robo funcionó como un mecanismo de nivelación para suprimir el acumulación de posesiones, redistribuir bienes, y reforzar practicas y valores igualitarias

STAFF RESPONSES TO CHALLENGING BEHAVIOUR: AN EVALUATION OF BEHAVIOUR ANALYTIC CONCEPTS AND INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

This research project is divided into two studies. Study 1 considers the proposition that where the challenging behaviours of learning disabled people are sensitive to social reinforcement, the responses of unit staff may be counter-habilitative. This was investigated using a questionnaire-based self-report study involving 43 unit staff. The questionnaires covered staff emotional reactions to, attributions for and responses to challenging behaviours. In addition key aspects of the staff sub-culture were considered. Results confirmed the possible counter-habilitative nature of staff responses. These responses appeared to be influenced by both contingency effects related to high levels of stress and counter -habilitative beliefs within staff sub-cultures. Study 2 had two aims. First, to gather qualitative data with regard to both contingency and sub-culture effects. Secondly, to evaluate a training package designed to ameliorate counter-habilitative influences upon staff responses. The qualitative data gathered was strongly suggestive of an interaction between contingency and culture effects, reinforced by aspects of the wider service culture. Key issues appeared to be high levels of stress related to challenging behaviours, highly counter-habilitative beliefs in which staff feel that they have to 'deal with anything' and a perceived lack of support from the wider service itself For example, only a minority of staff had access to a consistent debriefing procedure. The training package proved to be largely ineffective in changing key counter-habilitative beliefs and responses. It is argued that future intervention strategies and research may need to consider wider service issues if habilitative changes are to be acheived. The implications of these findings for clinical psychologists working with learning disability services are also discussed.Exeter Community Health Services Trus