Chapter 14 Polyvocal Organizing: An Exploration

Abstract

Mary: To begin, I think it is important that we take into account some milestones in the development of multivoiced organizing. This will also set the stage for our extension into the realm of polyvocality. For example, we owe a debt here to work that René Bouwen did with Chris Steyaert (1999) on global organizing. They were among the first to promote multivoicedness in describing how an organization might be affected through the inclusion of many voices. They distinguished four metaphors that were useful in exploring how multivoicedness could influence global organizing: “building the Tower of Babel,” “dialogical imagination,” “polyphonic chorus,” and “strangers’ meeting.”

Citation

Gergen, K. and Gergen, M. (2010), "Chapter 14 Polyvocal Organizing: An Exploration", Steyaert, C. and Van Looy, B. (Ed.) Relational Practices, Participative Organizing (Advanced Series in Management, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 261-273. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1877-6361(2010)0000007018