Charlotte Gilmore

Arresting moments in engaged management research

We contribute to the literature on the production of knowledge through engaged management and organisational research. We explore how relational practices in management and organisational research may interpenetrate and change one another, thereby potentially producing new knowledge. We demonstrate the importance of the disruptive qualities of arresting moments in this process. We present data from within ongoing engaged management and organisational research at an arts festival involving related music, management and research practices, during which two arresting moments arose: one in our own core research practice, the other in related music and management practices. We found arresting moments were preceded by increasingly intense divisions between practices, when practitioners experienced increasingly entrenched views and heightened emotions. Arresting moments sometimes followed, producing an empathetic connection between practitioners, so that they could suddenly see situations from a new perspective. In this way, arresting moments could produce opportunities for (self-) reflexivity and the possibility of reconstructing knowing in relational practices.

Identity-in-the-work and musicians’ struggles : the production of self-questioning identity work

Identity work is widely regarded as a process through which people strive to establish, maintain or restore a coherent and consistent sense of self. In the face of potential disruptions of, or threats to, their identities, people seek to salvage their sense of self by resolving tensions and restoring consistency. In contrast to the current identity work literature, this research indicates that identity work is not always about seeking resolution and moving on, but sometimes about continuing struggles which do not achieve a secure sense of self. This article seeks to elaborate the understanding of unresolved identity work by exploring three contexts of the everyday practice of indie musicians. An analysis of how they struggle to construct acceptable versions of their selves as songwriter, bandleader and front(wo)man allows us to develop the conceptualization of self-questioning (as opposed to self-affirmative, resolution-oriented) identity work.

Account planning: whose role is it anyway?

The account planning discipline practised in advertising agencies is a central element of a formal system for planning advertising campaigns on behalf of clients. Precise definitions are hard to find, but it is an intellectual process, to exercise quality control. The present study builds on another by the same researchers, which analysed the principles and practice of account planning from the advertising agency perspective. Its objectives were to: determine its role in the development of clients’ advertising campaigns; examine the working relationships involved; assess clients’ expectations and satisfactions; and evaluate its impact on current and future marketing planning. It was found that propensity to take advantage of agency account planning expertise ranged along a spectrum from high to low. High‐propensity clients exhibited a natural predisposition to co‐operation and collaboration, sought the agency’s planning input from the start, and believed in direct involvement with both planners and creati...