Organizational Aesthetics

Exploring culture and collective identity with the Radio Ballads

by Stephen Linstead

Ch. 14 In Pullen, A. Beech, N. And Sims, D. (2007) Exploring Identity: Concepts and Methods London: Palgrave Macmillan pp 251-73.

The understanding of culture depends on the dynamic understanding of cultural processes, not on their abstraction and... more The understanding of culture depends on the dynamic understanding of cultural processes, not on their abstraction and rationalization – on those things that, precisely because they are intuitive, unconscious and taken for granted, respondents cannot always readily make available for discussion. In this chapter I explore how one form of performance ethnography – and the methods it used - can be applied to hold up a mirror to organization as a means of facilitating more sensitive understandings of culture, identity and change. I introduce the Radio-Ballads as a dramatic form that draws upon ethnographic research and presents ethnographic data in a powerful and compelling way. Drawing on writings by Ewan MacColl and Charles Parker that discuss their methods, and on some transcriptions from the programmes, I will discuss five of the most salient aspects of this work for the study of collective identity – recording the background culture; listening to language (rather than discourse); intermittent interrogative methods; collective identity and narrative myth; collective self-discovery and catalytic interviewing. I will conclude by addressing some potential criticisms of the approach.

Interview of Ariane Berthoin Antal by the artist Armin Chodzinski 2011

by Ariane Berthoin Antal

Armin Chodzinski interviewed me about my research program on artistic interventions in organizations, methods and some... more Armin Chodzinski interviewed me about my research program on artistic interventions in organizations, methods and some findings--in German.

Managing artistic interventions in organisations. A comparative study of programmes in Europe, 2nd edition, updated and expanded.

by Ariane Berthoin Antal

Research report, 168 pages
in collaboration with R. Gómez de la Iglesia and M. Vives Almandoz,
TILLT, Gothenburg 2011

This report documents how organizations and artists are learning to learn together in new ways. It draws on... more This report documents how organizations and artists are learning to learn together in new ways. It draws on experiences in France, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Traditionally interactions between the world of the arts and other worlds, especially business, have been arm's length relationships, taking the form of philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. Over the past few decades more instrumental relationships have emerged in the form of sponsoring and corporate identity activities. In addition, there has recently been a growth of short-term artistic interventions embedded in corporate training or organisational change programmes, often organised by consultants. Only recently has a qualitatively new possibility been conceived: medium-term projects lasting several months, in which people from the world of the arts and the world of organisations seek to learn from each other and create new knowledge together. This report describes and compares six such artistic intervention programmes in five European countries. On the basis of interviews with the multiple stakeholders involved as well as site visits, the report shows that bridging between the two worlds requires numerous functions and processes that are often complex and time-consuming. They require persistence, flexibility and vision in order to create new kinds of "values-added" in organisations and for the arts. The need for bridge-building has engendered the emergence of intermediary organisations. The review documents that these new actors come in various organisational forms, and they have each developed their own approaches to initiating and enabling potential learning relationships between artists and organisations in other spheres. This comparative study therefore offers diverse models that can instruct and inspire other actors seeking to engage in artistic interventions.

The impact of arts-based initiatives on people and organizations: research findings, challenges for evaluation and research, and caveats

by Ariane Berthoin Antal

co-authored with Brigitte Biehl-Missal
published in
Creative Partnerships – Culture in Business and Business in Culture,
Documentation & Brochure, ed. Narodowe Centrum Kultury, Warsaw, Poland 2011.

The impact of arts-based initiatives on people and organizations: research findings, challenges for evaluation and research, and caveats

by Brigitte Biehl-Missal

Co-authored with Ariane Berthoin Antal
published in: Creative Partnerships – Culture in Business and Business in Culture, Documentation & Brochure, ed. Narodowe Centrum Kultury, Warsaw, Poland

This presentation illustrates the impacts, on people and organizations, which might be expected from artistic... more This presentation illustrates the impacts, on people and organizations, which might be expected from artistic interventions in organizations. It needs to be emphasized that this area of research is still very young. Research findings are limited: in particular there is not much empirical evidence of the complex and indirect impacts of arts-based initiatives. However, there are a few studies which observe and describe a range of beneficial impacts that they have had at the organizational level and on the development of individual employees. It is also likely that arts-based interventions may lead to unforeseen results whose nature and genesis require further academic study.

Review of Leadership Insight (Adler 2011)

by Ariane Berthoin Antal

in European J. International Management, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2012
http://www.inderscience.com/search/index.php?action=record&rec_id=45011&prevQuery=&ps=10&m=or

“Manifeste, corporel et imprévisible: l’apprentissage organisationnel de la Résidence d’artistes”,

by Ariane Berthoin Antal

in: La Résidence d’artistes Eurogroup Consulting, Catalogue  rétrospectif
2011

Research Framework for Evaluating the Effects of Artistic Interventions in Organizations

by Ariane Berthoin Antal

research report, 81 pages
TILLT, Gothenburg 2009

The past decades have witnessed the emergence of a multitude of ways to stimulate innovation and organizational... more The past decades have witnessed the emergence of a multitude of ways to stimulate innovation and organizational learning in response to changes in society and economic pressures. Among these are “artistic interventions” - when some form of art is brought into an organization for several hours, days, or months, to trigger or support a learning and change process at the individual, group, or organizational level. The underlying assumption of practitioners is that bringing people, processes, and products from the “foreign culture” of the arts into the workplace helps to stimulate new ways of thinking and acting by irritating routines, challenging established mindsets, and developing new skills. Artistic interventions in organizations are
conducted with high expectations of a multitude of positive outcomes. Research has not kept pace with these developments in practice. Very few empirical studies have been conducted to establish whether the high hopes placed on these interventions are justified. This report presents a research framework designed to start closing the gap between research and practice by enabling an analysis of the values that artistic interventions add in organizations. It is based on our past
research, on existing literature, and on a series of three “Artful Research” workshops conducted in Berlin in September 2009, at which thirty three artists, people from companies and from intermediary organizations, consultants, and researchers shared their knowledge about the effects they have observed in connection with artistic interventions in organizations. The report answers two questions: 1) Where should attention be
directed to find the kinds of value that artistic interventions add in organizations? 2) And how should the research be conducted?

When arts enter organizational spaces: Implications for organizational learning

by Ariane Berthoin Antal

forthcoming in P. Meusburger, A. Berthoin Antal, M. Ries (Eds.), Learning Orga¬nizations: The Importance of Place for Organizational Learning. Dordrecht, Springer

This chapter addresses a new approach to organizational learning, namely artistic interventions, which encompass a... more This chapter addresses a new approach to organizational learning, namely artistic interventions, which encompass a variety of ways that people, products, and practices from the world of the arts enter the world of organizations. Although the field has grown rapidly, little empirical research has been conducted on what actually happens inside organizations during and after artistic interventions. The chapter argues that to close gaps and correct for biases in existing work, future research will need to engage multiple stakeholders (employees, artists, managers, intermediaries, policy-makers), address multiple ways of knowing, especially the neglected bodily senses, and draw on concepts and methods from diverse disciplines.

Using artistic form for aesthetic organizational inquiry: Rimini Protokoll constructs Daimler's Annual General Meeting as a theatre play

by Brigitte Biehl-Missal

Culture and Organization

This paper reviews and analyses an artistic intervention in the context of aesthetic organizational inquiry and... more This paper reviews and analyses an artistic intervention in the context of aesthetic organizational inquiry and theatre in organizations. Having served as inspiration and as a tool within organizations, theatre now has returned the favour: Rimini Protokoll, a group of directors, used Daimler's 2009 Annual General Meeting in Berlin as a ready-made and constructed it as a theatre play entitled Hauptversammlung. Two hundred theatre spectators were channelled into the event via the purchase of shares. This study focuses on the aesthetic experience of the event and underlines the potential of artistic forms for aesthetic organizational inquiry. Implications suggest that a so-called postdramatic, nonlinear aesthetic form can be most promising for enabling critical interpretations of organizational issues.

Business is Show Business: Management Presentations as Performance

by Brigitte Biehl-Missal

Journal of Management Studies

While there is continual scholarly interest in the ‘organization as theatre’ metaphor, extant dramaturgical... more While there is continual scholarly interest in the ‘organization as theatre’ metaphor, extant dramaturgical perspectives limit the ability to account for aesthetic experiences in theatrical situations. This study provides a different methodological lens for looking at ‘theatre’ in organizations and illustrates that an inclusion of performance theory can be particularly valuable for understanding aesthetic techniques which are increasingly employed in organizations. Responding to calls for aesthetic studies, this article analyses large-scale management presentations such as annual general meetings, press conferences, and analyst meetings ‘as performance’ instead of re-labelling them as if they were drama. Drawing on the latest theatre theory and introducing a tool for performance analysis, the study accounts for the aesthetic experience and describes the complex interplay of scenography, lighting, clothing, managers' performance style, rhetoric, and audience interaction, showing that these organizational events are co-created and contested theatrical performances with a potential for resistance and possible change as well as for persuasion.

Wirtschaftsästhetik: Wie Unternehmen die Kunst als Inspiration und Werkzeug nutzen

by Brigitte Biehl-Missal

book

Dieses erste deutsche Standardwerk zur „Wirtschaftsästhetik“ analysiert, wie
Unternehmen Ästhetik und Kunst als... more Dieses erste deutsche Standardwerk zur „Wirtschaftsästhetik“ analysiert, wie
Unternehmen Ästhetik und Kunst als Inspirationsquelle nutzen und als Werkzeug zur
Wertschöpfung einsetzen. Im globalen Zeitalter hilft Kunst, Produkte und Manager zu
inszenieren, Mitarbeiter zu motivieren und Kunden anzulocken. Sie unterstützt die
Entwicklung von Führungskräften, Mitarbeitern und Strategien.
Das Buch geht Fragen nach wie: Was haben Manager und Künstler gemeinsam? Warum
werden Unternehmen als Theater oder Jazzband verstanden? Wie wird Kunst, von der
Bildersammlung über die Firmenhymne bis zum Theaterworkshop, in Unternehmen
eingesetzt? Wie wirken Managerauftritte und Firmenarchitektur? Und schließlich: Wie
reagieren kritische Künstler auf diesen Trend?
Das Buch bereichert die wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Forschung um interdisziplinäre
Ansätze der Kultur-, Kunst- und Sozialwissenschaften und eröffnet neue Herangehensweisen
für dieses immer wichtiger werdende Feld.
Inhalt
Ästhetik und Unternehmen
Ästhetische Phänomene in der Wirtschaft
Metaphern aus der Welt der Kunst
Einsatz von Kunst in Unternehmen
Künstlerische Kritik

Ashes and madness: The play of negativity and the poetics of organization

by Stephen Linstead