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The purpose of this paper is to explore the interrelation of form and meaning in arts-based research and in academic writing.

It draws on two arts-based projects: one a study of Shakespeare undertaken with undergraduate students; the other a play written to convey a young boy's experiences of Second world War in an Australian country town. Both projects were arts-based research, aimed at extending knowledge of individual experiences, and the ways in which individuals bring knowledge and interpretation to their worlds.

It is hoped by examining the experiences of individuals the authors also learn about collective experiences and ways of building and communicating understanding. The paper proposes that intuitive ways of knowing are of equal value to other ways of knowing, and the Arts provide a space where intuition can be valued and explored.

The paper is also an experiment in form, seeking to find forms which reflect the nature of the research. Consequently it is constructed primarily from a piece of iambic pentameter, a play script and a sonnet. These three forms are used, in conjunction, to reflect upon and explore the nature of arts-based research for individuals and collectively.

It may be daunting for those who do not know or care for Shakespeare, but Othello is a compelling case study of destructive emotions in an organizational setting. Iago's chilling words from The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice are the title of this chapter, “I am not what I am”. Passed over for promotion, Iago wreaks havoc in the personal and professional life of the General who chose not to appoint him. We use this play as a case study of destructive emotions – specifically jealousy, anger, and shame – in an organizational hierarchy. The premise is that those who are passed over present a special managerial problem, one that we address at the end of the chapter after carefully looking at how revenge came to manifest from the emotions of the principal characters in the play. In addition, this chapter contributes to the growing literature on specific emotions as experienced in organizational life as well as advancing the links between management and the humanities by using one of Shakespeare's best-known tragedies as a case study.

Drawing on Shakespeare, and in particular Hamlet's psychological crisis, this paper examines the relationship between emotions and meaning, a key theme in artistic work since Aristotle but, it is argued, largely ignored in psychology and the social sciences. Now, however, against a background of international terrorism, lessons are being learned from literature's insights.

Purpose – To develop a broader understanding of sense-making as an embodied process of social construction.

Methodology/approach – Extended conversational interviews (Seidman, 1991) were undertaken with 35 prominent theatre professionals in Canada, Finland and the United Kingdom exploring the events and relationships that shaped their relationship with Shakespeare and his work. Inductive analysis was carried out inspired by a variety of theoretical lenses, including Dervin's Sense-Making and Foucauldian discourse analysis.

Findings – Participants’ sense-making was quintessentially social in that it was not only linked to their social connections and relationships with other members of the company but also a process of social construction drawing on a variety of disparate, and sometimes contradictory, established discourses. In contrast to prevailing approaches in information behaviour, the findings emphasise the importance of understanding sense-making in a more holistic way: as a process involving emotions as well as rationality, bodies as well as minds.

Research implications – Information researchers need to adopt a more holistic approach to understanding the relationship between people and information: to recognise that atomistic approaches focussing on the purposive information seeking of individuals reflect an implicit systems-centrism rather than people's lived experience.

Practical implications – Information researchers and practitioners need to consider the social affective and embodied nature of sense-making and consider, for example the ways in which online social networking sites build on centuries-old communal knowledge-sharing practices.

Originality/value of paper – The study extends our understanding of the importance of affect and embodiment for people's sense-making, while at the same time demonstrating that they, like language, are the products of social construction, both the object and generator of discourse.

Hamlet, Shakespeare's Everyman, is used to describe how paying heed to disturbing emotions can be used as a starting point for ‘healing the soul’. With reference to the events of September 11 2001, the author explores how quick‐fix reactions are likely to bring only short‐term solutions, whereas resolving difficult problems requires a ‘blessed feeling of connectedness’ with deeper feelings.

This research aimed to investigate the impacts of the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble Prison Project (QSEPP) on the health and wellbeing of participants, specifically with regard to social support.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with prisoners participating in the project to gain insight into perceived sense of support within the QSEPP and across the prison context more broadly.

The QSEPP encouraged participants to foster a range of support networks through the development of relationships built on trust, respect and shared experiences. Participants also developed communication skills which may assist with establishing and maintaining supportive relationships inside and outside of prison.

This research highlights the inevitable challenges for researchers working within the prison context, including: correctional services’ limitations, time and space restrictions and small sample sizes. This research offers some potentially innovative ways to combat such challenges.

The study highlights the potential of theatre-based interventions in the prison context and their role in fostering social support and enhancing wellbeing.

The research explores the potential role theatre may play in improving the health and wellbeing of a disadvantaged and marginalised group, providing skills to enhance access to supportive networks inside and outside prison.

To the best of our knowledge this is the first research of its kind and provides valuable insights into the role that theatre may play in fostering social support in the prison context.

Managers as Actors Those of us who manage are playing on an organisational stage every day. We enter early every morning to take up our roles, whether it is as chief executive, marketing manager, personnel adviser, production executive or any of the numerous other roles that have to be performed if work is to be done effectively.

We often hear questions like “What must that leader have been thinking?” “What possessed her to do that?” “That leader needs to give his head a shake!” or “It is so disappointing to see the pain caused by one wrong-headed and self-serving leader!” This chapter describes how leaders may subtly fall into rationalization, self-justification, foolishness, and callous indifference through maleficent internal narratives. How is it that leaders who have found the favor of others in the service of a great cause (i.e., the education of children and youth) find themselves sucked into clearly wrong or unthinkably bad actions? In this chapter, vicious (non-virtuous) thinking, inner political churnings, unconscious reinforcement of systemic evil, and hurtful ways of influencing others are explored, named, and challenged.

In this chapter, we consider music as a tool for emotional regulation in relation to disability, which can be employed to counter the dehumanisation of disabled people that arises from unregulated emotional responses to disability. Responding to Julia Kristeva's presentation of non-disabled encounters with disability as causing a physical or psychical death, Alison Duncan Kerr's arguments on the rationality of regulating emotions in encounters where unregulated emotions have negative effects on the self and others are brought together through Rebecca Jiggens' cultural model of understanding the significance of disability to illustrate the irrationality and moral paucity of ableism. We argue that music can play a role in regulating the emotions typically felt towards the disabled. Kristeva's idea that disability wounds or even kills the abled is insightful, but if we are right, then the tight connection between death and emotional reactions to disability could be overcome through the process of emotion regulation.