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1 – 10 of 342The purpose of this paper is to focus on arts-based interventions as a management tool for personal, team and organisational development. How have management teams implemented art…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on arts-based interventions as a management tool for personal, team and organisational development. How have management teams implemented art in their organisations, and toward what end? The literature has focused predominantly on a single case, creating many possibilities of constructing arts-based interventions. Yet, a typology is still missing. This paper examines various arts-based interventions and their underlying principles from a business perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a systematic review of the literature in English and German, with special consideration for articles and books within the field of business.
Findings
The typology presented in this paper, based on a mapping of the field, should contribute to a more coherent understanding of arts-based interventions. My goal is to provide researchers with a more structured perspective for approaching this academic area. Furthermore, the findings suggest that over and above the various types of arts that can be introduced to organisations, there are three basic principles for the achievement of this goal.
Research limitations/implications
This paper presents a mapping of the cases in literature on arts-based interventions and presents a coherent understanding of ways of bringing art into organisations.
Practical implications
The three underlying principles presented in this paper should assist practitioners in designing arts-based interventions for specific problems.
Originality/value
This paper provides assistance to consultants, business executives, leaders, managers, researchers and students for understanding the basics of arts-based interventions. Furthermore, it provides a structure for the body of literature on cases of arts-based interventions.
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The world of work is constantly evolving such that the Workforce in the previous era was driven by the need for stability and is now driven by the desire for creative disruption…
Abstract
Purpose
The world of work is constantly evolving such that the Workforce in the previous era was driven by the need for stability and is now driven by the desire for creative disruption. While firms must respond to the challenges and dynamics continuously, employees must be ready for any upcoming change to progress despite the turbulence and attain a competitive position. This paper's focal theme is Workforce agility – the ability of employees to respond to and make the most out of changes. Studies on the personal factors affected by changes, in turn, influencing Workforce agility have been scarce. The authors propose a conceptual model with propositions to address this gap. Additionally, the authors propose an employee-centric experiential training practice to foster agility.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have employed conceptual description methodology to build propositions about the personal factors influencing Workforce agility and an arts-based intervention to enhance it.
Findings
Intermodal arts-based intervention (IABI) can influence employees' epistemic curiosity, which aids with managing ruminative thoughts, thus enhancing Workforce agility, while dispositional joy moderates this relationship.
Practical implications
The proposed “Intermodal Arts-Based Intervention (IABI)” can help firms move from a traditional training-based approach to an experiential one to foster their Workforce's agile capacities. Considerations for its implementation are explained.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first attempts to integrate multiple art forms as a change management practice. The conceptualized model also brings out the adaptive and maladaptive aspects of epistemic curiosity and rumination and the role of joy in promoting agile behaviors.
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Arts-based cooperations between business and the arts create innovative solutions for companies by introducing artistic practices. Cooperations of this nature are predominantly…
Abstract
Purpose
Arts-based cooperations between business and the arts create innovative solutions for companies by introducing artistic practices. Cooperations of this nature are predominantly prepared and implemented by intermediaries who act as “matchmakers” and bridge the cultural clash. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
For the present study on the function of such intermediaries, qualitative data material from interviews and case studies on arts-based cooperations was collected and analysed.
Findings
This paper analyses the results from an institutional economics perspective. By drawing on transaction cost theory and information economics, the findings are transformed into an intermediation theory of arts-based cooperations. The theory postulates that intermediaries are able to reduce transaction costs as well as the risks which are contingent on asymmetric information. Involving an intermediary produces cost advantages compared to direct contact between companies and artists.
Originality/value
The analysis illuminates an important but heretofore neglected aspect of arts-based initiatives thus providing an indication for their successful implementation.
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Brandon A. Knettel, Anna Oliver-Steinberg, M.J. Lee, Hillary Rubesin, Naomi N. Duke, Emily Esmaili and Eve Puffer
The refugee journey is fraught with challenges before, during and after resettlement. There is a critical need for mental health support upon arrival, and refugees face language…
Abstract
Purpose
The refugee journey is fraught with challenges before, during and after resettlement. There is a critical need for mental health support upon arrival, and refugees face language, cultural and logistical barriers. Arts-based therapies are a promising approach to mitigating such barriers. The purpose of this study was to elicit professional stakeholder perspectives on mental health challenges among refugees, the value of arts-based programs and future directions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted three 90-min focus groups with 19 professional stakeholders in North Carolina, USA. This included mental health professionals, professors and community services/resettlement workers. Participants were identified from professional networks and snowball sampling. Each group was held by videoconference, audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed through a team-based approach using applied thematic qualitative analysis.
Findings
Interviewees described a need for targeted, culturally compatible mental health services for refugee families, including trauma-informed, family-focused services with language interpretation. Arts-based therapies were viewed as highly acceptable and culturally responsive approaches for understanding distress and building resilience and less stigmatizing than traditional mental health services. Services in schools and community settings would further reduce stigma and minimize logistical barriers. Participants identified needing strong, culturally sensitive assessment tools to measure treatment progress as a key future direction.
Originality/value
The study offers novel insights into the value of arts-based approaches and considerations for program development. The next phase of the project will obtain the perspectives of refugee parents and children to understand client preferences for arts-based therapies.
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Sarah Atayero, Kate Dunton, Sasha Mattock, Amanda Gore, Sarah Douglas, Patrick Leman and Patricia Zunszain
Interdisciplinary approaches to health education are becoming increasingly common. Here, the authors describe an arts-based approach designed by academics and artists to both…
Abstract
Purpose
Interdisciplinary approaches to health education are becoming increasingly common. Here, the authors describe an arts-based approach designed by academics and artists to both supplement the study of mental illness and support the individual mental health of undergraduate and postgraduate university students, by raising the visibility of mental illness in an innovative way.
Design/methodology/approach
Through workshops, university students were guided in a sensory and physical way to discuss psychological health and vulnerability. This was followed by the creation of physical representations of mental distress through art pieces.
Findings
Students were able to design their own art pieces and discuss mental health issues in an open and creative way. Students reported that the arts-based initiative was beneficial to their practice as future professionals and provided a holistic learning experience. At the same time, artists were able to generate powerful images which facilitated further discussions within the faculty.
Practical implications
This project provides an innovative model for workshops which could be employed to raise the visibility of common mental health disorders among university students while providing a safe space to discuss and support wellbeing. Additionally, variations could be implemented to enhance the teaching of affective disorders within a university curriculum.
Originality/value
This paper presents the results of collaboration between academics and artists, who together generated an innovative way to both support students' mental health and provide an alternative way to supplement experiential learning about common mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.
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The purpose of this paper is to consider the potential use of creative, arts-based methods to address child sexual exploitation (CSE) through connecting with and supporting young…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the potential use of creative, arts-based methods to address child sexual exploitation (CSE) through connecting with and supporting young people affected by CSE; and engaging the wider community through awareness-raising and education to help keep young people safe. The use of the arts in building understanding, promoting agency, educating and countering negative portrayals of those affected by CSE are also explored.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review identified that there is currently a limited evidence-base surrounding the use of arts in addressing the negative outcomes for young people affected by CSE and promoting the inclusion and safety of young people in the community. To explore the potential use of the arts in engaging young people and the communities they inhabit, this paper draws from research with other “hard to engage” and stigmatised groups, and learning from efforts to tackle other sensitive and challenging issues that impact on communities.
Findings
The paper suggests that despite the relatively young evidence base concerning the role of creative, arts-based methods to tackle CSE, there is relevant transferable learning that suggests that there is potential in utilising the arts to help prevent CSE and promote community safety.
Research limitations/implications
There is a clear need to consider the ethical implications of this work and to further examine how the arts may be utilised to tackle CSE and bring about positive outcomes for both individuals and for the wider community.
Originality/value
The paper brings together bodies of literature from other fields to explore the potential use of creative arts-based methods to tackle a significant contemporary issue of community safety.
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Eleanor Longden, Philip Davis, Janine Carroll, Josie Billington and Peter Kinderman
Although there is a growing evidence base for the value of psychosocial and arts-based strategies for enhancing well-being amongst adults living with dementia, relatively little…
Abstract
Purpose
Although there is a growing evidence base for the value of psychosocial and arts-based strategies for enhancing well-being amongst adults living with dementia, relatively little attention has been paid to literature-based interventions. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of shared reading (SR) groups, a programme developed and implemented by The Reader Organisation, on quality of life for care home residents with mild/moderate dementia.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 31 individuals were recruited from four care homes, which were randomly assigned to either reading-waiting groups (three months reading, followed by three months no reading) or waiting-reading groups (three months no reading, followed by three months reading). Quality of life was assessed by the DEMQOL-Proxy and psychopathological symptoms were assessed by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire.
Findings
Compared to the waiting condition, the positive effects of SR on quality of life were demonstrated at the commencement of the reading groups and were maintained once the activity ended. Low levels of baseline symptoms prevented analyses on whether the intervention impacted on the clinical signs of dementia.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations included the small sample and lack of control for confounding variables.
Originality/value
The therapeutic potential of reading groups is discussed as a positive and practical intervention for older adults living with dementia.
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Collaboration between creative professionals (artists and designers) and companies has become more prominent. In so-called “crossovers,” indicated with the acronym CoCreaCO…
Abstract
Purpose
Collaboration between creative professionals (artists and designers) and companies has become more prominent. In so-called “crossovers,” indicated with the acronym CoCreaCO (collaboration of creative professionals with companies) when they concern specific crossover of creative professionals with companies, societal and organizational challenges such as becoming more innovative are addressed through multidisciplinary collaboration that increasingly embraces and exploits the distinctive way of thinking and working of artists and designers. Over the past years, several scholars focused their research on the effect of artistic interventions or arts-based initiatives (ABIs) and design thinking in organizations. Hardly any research has been done on the conditions (organizational and individual factors) that are conducive to ABIs in organizations, such as trust and common ground. The central question for this study is which conditions foster successful collaboration between creative professionals and organizations in crossovers. For this study, the conditions for collaboration between creative professionals and four Dutch organizations were studied by interviewing ten creative professionals, project managers and employees who worked together, following which a survey of 60 questions was filled in by 41 Dutch respondents. This study shows that despite the differences between the disciplines of creative professionals and employees for this type of crossover, both disciplines requested quite similar conditions for collaboration. Both creative professionals and employees should realize and encourage trust and common ground by focusing on an open process and outcome, a shared creative process started with a shared problem. Experience with this type of collaboration, art disciplines, the role and qualities of the artist (individual factors) as well as the organization's sector seem to influence neither expectations of collaboration nor the intention to engage in this type of cooperation in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
Both ten employees (project managers) and creative professional(s) with whom the organization cooperated were interviewed (four case studies, semistructured interviews). Thereafter, 41 respondents have been filled in a survey.
Findings
Successful cooperation can be explained by six concepts of determinants, which are briefing, qualities of creative professionals, organizational qualities, organization factors and common ground. More particular, creative professionals' independency and their ability to render observations and to reflect of these and organization's role by informing employees and organizing a clear work process need to be addressed before or during collaboration.
Originality/value
past years, many scholars focused their research on the effects of artistic interventions or ABIs and design thinking in organizations. There is hardly any research on the conditions that are conductive to artistic interventions in organizations such as trust and common ground.
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Teresa Heath and Caroline Tynan
The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of integrating material from the arts into postgraduate curricula to deepen students’ engagement with marketing phenomena…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of integrating material from the arts into postgraduate curricula to deepen students’ engagement with marketing phenomena. The authors assess the use of arts-based activities, within a broader critical pedagogy, for encouraging imaginative and analytical thinking.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors devised two learning activities and an interpretive method for studying their value. The activities were an individual essay connecting themes in song lyrics to marketing, and a group photography project. These were applied, within a broader, critical approach, in postgraduate modules on sustainability, ethics and critical marketing. Data collection comprised diaries kept by the teachers, open-ended feedback from students and students’ assignments.
Findings
Students showed high levels of engagement, reflexivity and depth of thought, in felt experiences of learning. Their ability to make connections not explicitly in the materials, and requiring imaginative jumps, was notable. Several reported lasting changes to their behaviour. Some found the tasks initially intimidating or, once they were more engaged, stressful or saddening.
Research limitations/implications
This adds to scholarship on management education by showing the usefulness of an arts-based approach towards a transformative agenda.
Practical implications
It offers a template of how to draw from the arts to strengthen critical engagement upon which marketing teachers can build. It also contains practical advice on the challenges and benefits of doing so.
Social implications
The authors provide evidence that this approach can enhance sensitivity and reflexivity in students, potentially producing more ethical and sustainable decisions in future.
Originality/value
The pedagogical interventions are novel and of value to lecturers seeking to enhance critical engagement with theory. An empirical study of an attempt to integrate arts into teaching marketing represents a promising direction, given the discipline’s creative nature.
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Mary‐Ellen Boyle and Edward Ottensmeyer
Business leaders, in increasing numbers, are looking to the creative power of the arts in their efforts to manage strategic change, to enhance innovation, or to strengthen…
Abstract
Purpose
Business leaders, in increasing numbers, are looking to the creative power of the arts in their efforts to manage strategic change, to enhance innovation, or to strengthen corporate cultures. In this case study, we focus attention on what is widely regarded as one of the world's most extensive corporate arts‐based learning initiatives, the Catalyst program at Unilever.
Design/methodology/approach
In a wide‐ranging interview with James Hill, now a group vice‐president and Catalyst's leading executive sponsor, this paper explores the origins, operations, and outcomes of this innovative program.
Findings
Finds that Catalyst came about as a result of savvy leadership and a corporate willingness to take risks in developing an “enterprise culture;” it now flourishes in three divisions due to ownership at multiple levels of the organization as well as its ability to stimulate new product development, attract and retain creative people, and boost the company's marketing efforts; and it persists because its starting points are always actual business problems, the solutions to which improve financial performance and shareholder returns.
Originality/value
To management scholars, this case provides an additional data point in the ongoing study of strategy implementation and organizational change. To corporate executives seeking fresh ideas, the Unilever/Catalyst story offers a novel and intuitively appealing approach to the vexing challenges of leading strategic change, told from the perspective of an experienced executive.
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