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1 – 10 of 97The purpose of this paper is to provide a coherent, comprehensive and complete philosophical framework that can not only validate but also guide the implementation of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a coherent, comprehensive and complete philosophical framework that can not only validate but also guide the implementation of the organisational development strategies proposed in Presence: Exploring Profound Change in People, Organizations and Society.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the paper situates the processes presented in the text within the overall context of current organisational development theory. Then, since no current widely supported philosophical framework can provide validation and support to the fundamental assumptions inherent within the text's proposals, a new philosophical framework is described. Finally, the unique insights gained from this new philosophical framework are used to offer prerequisite considerations for employing the processes proposed here.
Findings
Unless explicit and individualised attention is directed to helping each employee first develop deeply self‐reflective processes, the organisational insights and practices, as presented in the work cited above, cannot be attained.
Practical implications
Through applying the theoretical insights gained from the particular philosophical framework presented herein, the paper provides very clear and specific guidelines for the professional development of employees so that they can act according to the precepts presented in the work cited above.
Originality/value
The paper provides a unique perspective on the key understandings presented in the work cited above. It also provides practical ways for successfully engendering these within an organisation's culture.
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Rick Iedema, Carl Rhodes and Hermine Scheeres
To examine Hardt and Negri's discussions of immaterial labor in relation to personal identity and sociality at work in a context of the postmodernization of the global economy.
Abstract
Purpose
To examine Hardt and Negri's discussions of immaterial labor in relation to personal identity and sociality at work in a context of the postmodernization of the global economy.
Design/methodology/approach
Hardt and Negri's discussions of immaterial labor are reviewed in relation to their implications for social interaction and identity at work. Heidegger's idea of “presencing” is then used to examine the dynamic emergence of identity as an effect of the “affectualization” of work.
Findings
Global trends towards an informationalized economy have profound implications for identity at work in that the dynamics of identity are foregrounded and managerial and organizational power structures that seek to define an essential worker identity are destabilized.
Research limitations/implications
Suggests that research into identity at work should include a focus on the immaterial dimensions of work and should consider the implications of this for the dynamic emergence of identity and for future forms of organization and management.
Practical implications
Suggests that the emergence of immaterial labor might provide increasing, albeit complex and contested, opportunities for worker participation; this is on what management relies, and what at the same time has the potential of undermining the legitimacy of management.
Originality/value
Provides an innovative way of examining the dynamics of identity in contemporary organizations.
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The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize resonant co-creation as a framework for cultivating strategic innovation and organizational change; to delineate worldview…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize resonant co-creation as a framework for cultivating strategic innovation and organizational change; to delineate worldview transformation as central to resonant co-creation and overview the theoretical and practical foundations of this approach; and to offer a model on the facilitation of resonant co-creation in organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
Conceptual development with case illustration.
Findings
Resonant co-creation fosters strategic innovation through coaching and facilitation techniques that cultivate awareness, empathy, and advanced communication skills. This results in a fundamental shift in the engagement and interactions of teams, creating a new space for innovation.
Research limitations/implications
The framework offered herein brings conceptual clarity to specific approaches to and applications of resonant co-creation to achieve strategic innovation. By providing perspective on processes leading to innovation, it possible to be more precise about the relationships between consulting practices and stated organizational change outcomes.
Practical implications
The presentation and clarification of the theoretical model (the underlying grammar of facilitation) and specific techniques that can be used to drive worldview transformation can benefit coaches, facilitators, and leaders who wish to implement a co-creative organizational culture or improve outcomes of co-creative programs. By linking theory to practice, this paper can help change makers and managers better justify and implement resonant co-creation within their organizational contexts.
Social implications
Resonant co-creation facilitates an expansion of awareness that can lead to more sustainable business practices and workplace well-being. This benefits society at large through fostering more socially conscious and innovative organizations.
Originality/value
Resonant co-creation is a needed nuance to the very generalized notion of co-creation spread throughout organizations today. Clarifying this approach is useful to both practitioners and researchers who seek to understand or facilitate innovation and organizational change. The originality of this paper lies in the combination of the idea of co-creation with the psychological concept of worldview transformation. By creating shifts in individual and collective (organizational) worldview, resonant co-creation transforms the way people interact and ideate. This paper introduces a grammar of facilitation and specific techniques that shift worldview and create a space for strategic innovation.
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An unspoken issue of increasing priority in architectural education is the under developed differentiation between architecture and technology. Almost all of the qualifications…
Abstract
An unspoken issue of increasing priority in architectural education is the under developed differentiation between architecture and technology. Almost all of the qualifications whereby an architect is prepared for and is permitted to practice professionally are technological parameters. But architecture is not technology. Architecture is, however, both protected by and obscured thru technology being in the forefront that means it is both of benefit and a hindrance.
Architecture being undifferentiated from technology and named in terms of technology thus allows the issue to stay safely within the pragmatic assertion of professionalism that is set up during an education mainly controlled by the profession. Within that is a nascent architectural impulse that resides largely unspoken but which is nonetheless evolved and evolving and shared. The unrevealed architecture generates an aura of the mysterious and the radical which that contributes a greatly to the intensity of mundane and well known work.
This paper examines how architectural technology obviates a space of differentiation within architecture, which may be examined phenomenologically in terms of the essence of humanity, whereby architecture has an original ontological correlation with human aspiration. This will be supported with the well known — for brevity — theoretical and practical examples around the work of Heidegger, Louis I. Kahn. Along with phenomenology, we will introduce philosophies of spiritual practice collectively called rajayoga. The latter is a millennia long experiment with well documented research into human aspiration. The paper concludes with examples of architecture presencing this space of differentiation and suggests the implications on the profession of an education that scan develop the super-ordinate program that is architectural practice.
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There are many challenges to be addressed in today's world. Futurists have a process, methods and skills to submit to a positive advancement of these challenges, which is the…
Abstract
Purpose
There are many challenges to be addressed in today's world. Futurists have a process, methods and skills to submit to a positive advancement of these challenges, which is the purpose of this paper.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is the author's synthesis and reflection of the more positive aspects of addressing the problems facing contemporary society.
Findings
The author concludes the visioning operation needs to be near the beginning of the future's practice with the focus on presencing “what does the future want from us in this matter?” How can people serve “it” instead of their ego? This will take maturity, being conscious, and having an attitude of gratitude and service to something bigger than ourselves.
Originality/value
When futurist practitioners practice the approach of foresight planning, the viewpoint examined here is that the vision exercise should be placed at the beginning of the process. The priority of the visioning activity should include an inquiry of what wants to emerge from the “evolutionary integral future.” This consideration widens the perspective to include the well‐being of the whole ecosystem, with the possible benefits of resilience, waking up, growing up, and showing up.
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Alexis A. Halley and Bayard L. Catron
This study examines the significance of time as a paradoxical factor and value in 21st century public policy, management, and planning. Five areas are considered: (1) time as a…
Abstract
This study examines the significance of time as a paradoxical factor and value in 21st century public policy, management, and planning. Five areas are considered: (1) time as a strategic and moral concern, (2) examples of planning and time in public environments ranging from the individual level to the agency, policy, process, and contextual levels, (3) time in recent social and administrative theory, (4) time as a cognitive capability, and (5) the connection between time, planning, and learning. Conclusions and implications are developed to highlight the paradoxical status of planning and time in todayʼs public environment, and to suggest that, for public administrators, serving the public interest, near-term and long-term, is the heart of assuring that time becomes a central strategic and moral concern for public administration today.
The purpose of this paper is to explore change leadership in the context of traumatically experienced change. “Being-centeredness” is proposed as a change leadership paradigm…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore change leadership in the context of traumatically experienced change. “Being-centeredness” is proposed as a change leadership paradigm, with the leader becoming a facilitative instrument who assists restoration of a healthy working environment, healed emotions and change transitioning.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a conceptual research paper. Conceptualizations of being-centeredness are developed by building on the discourse of change emotions in organizations and research on change leadership.
Findings
Change interventions are experienced more traumatic than often believed. Healing of these emotions is essential to avoid stuckness. Becoming an instrument of change enables being-centered leaders to assist the emotional healings of victims and survivors when change is experienced as traumatic, promoting individual transitioning, restricting resistance to enhance change readiness and resilience.
Research limitations/implications
Although conceptualizations are supported by an abundance of research and practical experience, as with any conceptual research, it lacks direct empirical evidence to support the conceptualizations.
Practical implications
Being-centeredness is an untapped inner capacity in many change leaders and change interventions. Explicitly normalizing and promoting being-centeredness and the further development of this capacity in leaders will allow this latent capacity to surface from its suppressed state, to be applied overtly.
Originality/value
The paper provides a new paradigm on leaders can and should deal with acute emotions that are often experienced from change, which focus more on the way of being of leaders, than competencies or change activities that must be done. This is likely to further emotional healing, change transitioning, resilience and ultimately change success.
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This paper critically analyses the urban memory and heritage interpretation of postcolonial Harbin, a city in China that was founded by the Russians in 1898. It investigates the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper critically analyses the urban memory and heritage interpretation of postcolonial Harbin, a city in China that was founded by the Russians in 1898. It investigates the role and making of Russian colonial heritage in contemporary Harbin with a detailed case study of the Harbin Railway Station
Design/methodology/approach
Research methods include archival analysis, observation and semi-structured interview. In-depth interviews were conducted with local people, architect/urban planners and officials.
Findings
Local people of different generations with different backgrounds have different interpretations of the recently made colonial heritage of the Harbin Railway Station. The urban memory of Harbin has been consistently re-forming with both nostalgia and amnesia. Younger generations tend to regard the colonial heritage as their own heritage and a symbol of Harbin's cultural character without considering much about its related colonial history. In today's Harbin, colonial heritage as the “colonial past presencing” is more about a feel of the Europeanised space rather than the actual historical events of the period, and colonial heritage making becomes a tool for urban development and revitalisation at the institutional level. However, due to the paradigm shift in China's urban development, Harbin is facing new challenges in dealing with its colonial heritage.
Originality/value
Harbin is an under-researched case in terms of urban heritage studies. This paper offers a new entry point for understanding the westernisation and colonial heritage making in the contemporary China more deeply and thoroughly and helps to see the trend of China's urban development more clearly.
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C. Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaeufer
The paper asks how leaders in organizations address complex situations or challenges where past experiences are no longer helpful or might pose an obstacle for success. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper asks how leaders in organizations address complex situations or challenges where past experiences are no longer helpful or might pose an obstacle for success. The authors use the metaphor of the blank canvas to describe the work of entrepreneurs or innovators who connect to an emerging future possibility. Based on their research, the authors argue that social technologies allow actors in organizations to connect to an emerging future, and break through habitual patterns of the past.
Design/methodology/approach
Underlying this paper, are action research projects in change management and organizational learning. While social science methods tend to be based on observational data, the founder of action research, Kurt Lewin, and his successors, including Ed Schein, Chris Argyris, Peter Senge, and Bill Torbert, claim that we have to use more than just observation (third‐person views) to get meaningful data about social reality. According to Bill Torbert organizational researchers need to access third‐, second‐, and first‐person knowledge – that is, observational data (third person), conversational data (second person) and experiential data (first person) that stem from participative action inquiry.
Findings
The paper concludes that organizational innovation and change processes cannot be outsourced. Profound innovation and change are only sustainable and successful when connected to the knowledge of the individuals involved, and when created by the people who will use them and be responsible for the results they produce.
Originality/value
Any social action can originate from different inner places; every actor, an individual or a group, even an organization, can choose between different places from where their action originate. How we choose to attend to the world is the leverage we have to determine the outcome of our actions. The arts provide processes that allow actors in organizations to access this quality of knowledge and leverage it.
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