Organizational researchers doing narrative and discursive research have three choices in how they... more Organizational researchers doing narrative and discursive research have three choices in how they approach a text: an ‘endotextual’ approach where the researcher works within a text, an ‘exotextual’ approach where the researcher works outward from a text to its context(s), or a combined exo/endotextual approach which embeds a textual analysis within contextual inquiry. Although all three methods are now widely used in mainstream organizational research, the merits of combining, sequencing, or separating them have never been systematically considered. After reviewing the advantages and limitations of each perspective, we discuss an experiment in which endo and exo methods were applied to a skit co-written by management and a communications company specializing in organizational theater. The finding that using one approach creates multiple, subtle blind spots towards the other, and even more significantly affects a researcher's capacity to effectively adopt a combined method, is u...
This text inquires in a poetic way the possibility of theatrical space by exploring the question ... more This text inquires in a poetic way the possibility of theatrical space by exploring the question "what space makes theatre possible?". The central argument is that threatre creates an intensive yet fragile space of possibility and the possible through creating affects. The text, written in between a prelude and an epilogue, approaches this space of desire and intensity indirectly by exploring the perspective of audience, actors and "angels" as they are seized by desire and awaiting the play in the wings. We argue through interweaving these three angles that every play presupposes a twilight zone, a connecting boundary which forms a transition into the magical where dream and desire can take over, where the virtual and the everyday can become connected and where new lines of flight might emerge. The aesthetic experience of theatre is characterised by participating in a clearing of openness where truth happens and where its practical implications might be heard. There is no change possible without engaging with the open-endedness when entering the wings of theatre. Prelude Enter: The caterpillar-Creeping up their sleeve-Looking for a space. Wrapped in expectation-Cocooning, soft and safe-Away, yet in it all. Exit: the butterfly-Feeling of being possible-Wings unfolding.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine an entrepreneur’s attempt to gain legitimacy an... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine an entrepreneur’s attempt to gain legitimacy and change institutions in a multiple institutions setting. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a qualitative case study to track an entrepreneur’s efforts to create a new financial instrument and get it accepted and traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Findings – The authors introduce the concept of institutional judo, analogous to the martial art where a fighter uses his opponent’s forces against him. While institutional theory has focussed on how institutional pressures force actors to conform, the term judo refers to an actor using institutional pressures to their advantage in changing those very institutions. Research limitations/implications – This qualitative research involves a single case study, but is most suited to revealing extensions of theory and subtle processes. Practical implications – The approach allowed the authors to provide a nuanced look at the actu...
Journal of Organizational Change Management, Aug 2015
The purpose of this paper is to examine an entrepreneur's attempt to gain legitimacy and change i... more The purpose of this paper is to examine an entrepreneur's attempt to gain legitimacy and change institutions in a multiple institutions setting. The authors conducted a qualitative case study to track an entrepreneur's efforts to create a new financial instrument and get it accepted and traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The authors introduced the concept of institutional judo, analogous to the martial art where a fighter uses his opponent's forces against him. While institutional theory has focussed on how institutional pressures force actors to conform, the term judo refers to an actor using institutional pressures to his advantage in changing those very institutions.
Entrepreneurs, when accounting for the origins of their venture, frequently describe a moment whe... more Entrepreneurs, when accounting for the origins of their venture, frequently describe a moment when they had a breakthrough insight. Such moments serve as critical trigger points in the opportunity recognition process, yet the sources of these moments have been given short shrift in the literature. Thus, the Aha! moment remains a black box in the opportunity recognition process that few
Page 1. http://lea.sagepub.com/ Leadership http://lea.sagepub.com/content/3/3/281 The online vers... more Page 1. http://lea.sagepub.com/ Leadership http://lea.sagepub.com/content/3/3/281 The online version of this article can be found at: DOI: 10.1177/1742715007079309 2007 3: 281 Leadership Ken W. Parry and Hans Hansen The Organizational Story as Leadership ...
Organizational research has long focused on the instrumental sphere with its questions of efficie... more Organizational research has long focused on the instrumental sphere with its questions of efficiency and effectiveness and in recent decades there has been interest in the moral sphere with its questions of ethics. Within the last decade there has also emerged a field that draws on the aesthetic sphere of our existence in organizations. In this review we look at the field of organizational aesthetics in terms of content and method, suggesting four broad categories of organizational aesthetics research: intellectual analysis of instrumental issues, artistic form used to look at instrumental issues, intellectual analysis of aesthetic issues, and artistic form used to look at aesthetic issues. We then suggest how organizational scholars might pursue artistic aesthetic organizational research.
What follows is a collectively improvised story that emerged as four authors set out to explore t... more What follows is a collectively improvised story that emerged as four authors set out to explore their experiences and thoughts concerning organizational stories. The story is a reflection of our collective, creative, improvisational sensemaking via the construction of a narrative. The authors were selected because of their experience in the fields of organizational storytelling, narrative theory, and improvisation. We began by asking ourselves 'What would happen if we engaged in improvisation to collectively create a story that makes sense of organizational research?' After several rounds of reviews, we have added reader voices, along with our own insights gained from our experience in constructing 'Truth or Consequences.'
In this article, we explore the relation between theatrics and metatheatre and attempt to demonst... more In this article, we explore the relation between theatrics and metatheatre and attempt to demonstrate how metatheatre might act to resolve theatrics. We look at the case of Enron theatrics and the multiple conflicting stories that came to confrontation on the Enron stage. We synthesize several perspectives on metatheatre and suggest two ways that methatheatre mediates theatrics.
We introduce aesthetic leadership as a promising approach in leadership studies. Two current move... more We introduce aesthetic leadership as a promising approach in leadership studies. Two current movements in leadership research, the inclusion of followers in leadership models and the exploration of subjective leadership qualities, make taking an aesthetic perspective in leadership especially attractive and timely. Aesthetics relates to felt meaning generated from sensory perceptions, and involves subjective, tacit knowledge rooted in feeling and emotion. We believe the aesthetics of leadership is an important, but little understood, aspect of organizational life. For example, while we know followers must attribute leadership qualities such as charisma and authenticity to leaders to allow for social influence, we know little about how these processes operate. We propose that followers use their aesthetic senses in making these assessments. We relate aesthetic leadership to several current topics in leadership research, and outline the assumptions and methods of aesthetic leadership.
Organizational researchers doing narrative and discursive research have three choices in how they... more Organizational researchers doing narrative and discursive research have three choices in how they approach a text: an ‘endotextual’ approach where the researcher works within a text, an ‘exotextual’ approach where the researcher works outward from a text to its context(s), or a combined exo/endotextual approach which embeds a textual analysis within contextual inquiry. Although all three methods are now widely used in mainstream organizational research, the merits of combining, sequencing, or separating them have never been systematically considered. After reviewing the advantages and limitations of each perspective, we discuss an experiment in which endo and exo methods were applied to a skit co-written by management and a communications company specializing in organizational theater. The finding that using one approach creates multiple, subtle blind spots towards the other, and even more significantly affects a researcher's capacity to effectively adopt a combined method, is u...
This text inquires in a poetic way the possibility of theatrical space by exploring the question ... more This text inquires in a poetic way the possibility of theatrical space by exploring the question "what space makes theatre possible?". The central argument is that threatre creates an intensive yet fragile space of possibility and the possible through creating affects. The text, written in between a prelude and an epilogue, approaches this space of desire and intensity indirectly by exploring the perspective of audience, actors and "angels" as they are seized by desire and awaiting the play in the wings. We argue through interweaving these three angles that every play presupposes a twilight zone, a connecting boundary which forms a transition into the magical where dream and desire can take over, where the virtual and the everyday can become connected and where new lines of flight might emerge. The aesthetic experience of theatre is characterised by participating in a clearing of openness where truth happens and where its practical implications might be heard. There is no change possible without engaging with the open-endedness when entering the wings of theatre. Prelude Enter: The caterpillar-Creeping up their sleeve-Looking for a space. Wrapped in expectation-Cocooning, soft and safe-Away, yet in it all. Exit: the butterfly-Feeling of being possible-Wings unfolding.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine an entrepreneur’s attempt to gain legitimacy an... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine an entrepreneur’s attempt to gain legitimacy and change institutions in a multiple institutions setting. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a qualitative case study to track an entrepreneur’s efforts to create a new financial instrument and get it accepted and traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Findings – The authors introduce the concept of institutional judo, analogous to the martial art where a fighter uses his opponent’s forces against him. While institutional theory has focussed on how institutional pressures force actors to conform, the term judo refers to an actor using institutional pressures to their advantage in changing those very institutions. Research limitations/implications – This qualitative research involves a single case study, but is most suited to revealing extensions of theory and subtle processes. Practical implications – The approach allowed the authors to provide a nuanced look at the actu...
Journal of Organizational Change Management, Aug 2015
The purpose of this paper is to examine an entrepreneur's attempt to gain legitimacy and change i... more The purpose of this paper is to examine an entrepreneur's attempt to gain legitimacy and change institutions in a multiple institutions setting. The authors conducted a qualitative case study to track an entrepreneur's efforts to create a new financial instrument and get it accepted and traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The authors introduced the concept of institutional judo, analogous to the martial art where a fighter uses his opponent's forces against him. While institutional theory has focussed on how institutional pressures force actors to conform, the term judo refers to an actor using institutional pressures to his advantage in changing those very institutions.
Entrepreneurs, when accounting for the origins of their venture, frequently describe a moment whe... more Entrepreneurs, when accounting for the origins of their venture, frequently describe a moment when they had a breakthrough insight. Such moments serve as critical trigger points in the opportunity recognition process, yet the sources of these moments have been given short shrift in the literature. Thus, the Aha! moment remains a black box in the opportunity recognition process that few
Page 1. http://lea.sagepub.com/ Leadership http://lea.sagepub.com/content/3/3/281 The online vers... more Page 1. http://lea.sagepub.com/ Leadership http://lea.sagepub.com/content/3/3/281 The online version of this article can be found at: DOI: 10.1177/1742715007079309 2007 3: 281 Leadership Ken W. Parry and Hans Hansen The Organizational Story as Leadership ...
Organizational research has long focused on the instrumental sphere with its questions of efficie... more Organizational research has long focused on the instrumental sphere with its questions of efficiency and effectiveness and in recent decades there has been interest in the moral sphere with its questions of ethics. Within the last decade there has also emerged a field that draws on the aesthetic sphere of our existence in organizations. In this review we look at the field of organizational aesthetics in terms of content and method, suggesting four broad categories of organizational aesthetics research: intellectual analysis of instrumental issues, artistic form used to look at instrumental issues, intellectual analysis of aesthetic issues, and artistic form used to look at aesthetic issues. We then suggest how organizational scholars might pursue artistic aesthetic organizational research.
What follows is a collectively improvised story that emerged as four authors set out to explore t... more What follows is a collectively improvised story that emerged as four authors set out to explore their experiences and thoughts concerning organizational stories. The story is a reflection of our collective, creative, improvisational sensemaking via the construction of a narrative. The authors were selected because of their experience in the fields of organizational storytelling, narrative theory, and improvisation. We began by asking ourselves 'What would happen if we engaged in improvisation to collectively create a story that makes sense of organizational research?' After several rounds of reviews, we have added reader voices, along with our own insights gained from our experience in constructing 'Truth or Consequences.'
In this article, we explore the relation between theatrics and metatheatre and attempt to demonst... more In this article, we explore the relation between theatrics and metatheatre and attempt to demonstrate how metatheatre might act to resolve theatrics. We look at the case of Enron theatrics and the multiple conflicting stories that came to confrontation on the Enron stage. We synthesize several perspectives on metatheatre and suggest two ways that methatheatre mediates theatrics.
We introduce aesthetic leadership as a promising approach in leadership studies. Two current move... more We introduce aesthetic leadership as a promising approach in leadership studies. Two current movements in leadership research, the inclusion of followers in leadership models and the exploration of subjective leadership qualities, make taking an aesthetic perspective in leadership especially attractive and timely. Aesthetics relates to felt meaning generated from sensory perceptions, and involves subjective, tacit knowledge rooted in feeling and emotion. We believe the aesthetics of leadership is an important, but little understood, aspect of organizational life. For example, while we know followers must attribute leadership qualities such as charisma and authenticity to leaders to allow for social influence, we know little about how these processes operate. We propose that followers use their aesthetic senses in making these assessments. We relate aesthetic leadership to several current topics in leadership research, and outline the assumptions and methods of aesthetic leadership.
Uploads
Papers by Hans Hansen