Hugo Letiche

Phenomenal Complexity Theory and the Politics of Organization

Emergence must not become yet another excuse for idealism and the assumption that the idea behind appearances is the truth; or for empiricism and the claim that the world outside of consciousness is true while subjectivity is false. Emergence enables the phenomenal study of organization as social process(es) to acknowledge intentionality and ethics. In his article Hugo Letiche explores the epistemology of intentional emergent coherence, which via emergence links organizational studies to consciousness studies and to “practices of meaning.” In his reaction, David Boje examines the Tamara-izing of organization in relation to Letiche’s PCT (phenomenal complexity theory).

Phenomenal complexity theory as informed by Bergson

Though all complexity theory claims to be anti‐reductionist, there are enormous differences in what “emergence” and “self‐organization” mean for the “self” and consciousness in the writings of the one and the other. Phenomenal complexity theory seeks to include the experiencing subject in its epistemology and thereby to neither be one‐sidedly rationalist or subjectivist. The resulting (social science) epistemology of the “in‐between” is mirrored in Bergson’s work. The relationship between complexity theory and Bergson’s concepts of Duree, Elan Vital and Intuition, are explored in this article. The goal is to clarify the relationship between complexity theory and the knowing subject, and to indicate directions for complexity theory’s study of consciousness.

Complexity, Emergence, Resilience, and Coherence: Gaining Perspective on Organizations and their Study

We should view organizations as complex cognitive systems, made up of people who see and interpret the world around them, and who strive to create values which have meaning to them and coherence with the group. Our corporations are populated with individuals who are striving for meaning, trying to understand what the company is about and what they have to do to succeed. If we view organizations in this way, we must have an acute awareness of how we create meaning in our organizations, of the messages which are sent, the symbols which define our organizations, and the cues given by the policies and practices. (Gratton, 2000) Managerial texts, both trade and academic, have jumped on a new bandwagon: combining cognitive reasoning with complexity “theory” as a means of explaining both the degree of change experienced in the current economy and the high level of stress and anxiety that accompanies the reactions to such change. As the Gratton quote above reveals, however, these attempts at popular psychology can only “work” if they address the more philosophical questions of meaning, identity, and coherence. We have taken this lesson to heart. Our recently completed book, Converging on Coherence (Lissack & Letiche, 2004), examines organizational coherence as an experienced phenomenon intimately associated with meaning and identity. In the book, we distinguish the phenomenology of experience from the retrospection of judgment, and critically examine the day-to-day reality of action in the absence of reflective thought. In this article we summarize our perspective. Managers will note that we are rejecting much of the foundation on which MBA programs and management consultants build their respective product offerings. Organizational studies-oriented academics will note that we are suggesting a need for a narrative turn. Both audiences are advised that this article is not intended as a persuasive argument but as an introduction. The takeaway is that complexity science notions, and cognitive science notions, cannot be literally applied to managerial situations as “readable models” capable of generating or revealing answers in some problem space. Instead, the value of these models and perspectives lies in the questions they evoke and the narratives that get told in response to such questions. It is in the questions and the resulting narratives that renewed organizational understanding and guidance lie—not in complexity; not in cognition; and not in the models of traditional organization science.

The marriage of story and metaphor

Stories and metaphors are currently widely discussed by scholars of organizations. This is due in part to the increased interest in organizational discourse and the linguistic turn in organization studies which opened a wide range of new possibilities once scholars focused their attention to organizational texts and narratives (or organizations as texts) (e.g. Alvesson and Karreman 2000, Czarniawska 1999). It is not surprising then that the literature on both metaphors and stories in their different organizational applications has grown extensively in the last 20 years. These have followed somewhat similar trajectories and explored similar possibilities. As tropes of organizational communication, both stories and metaphors have been studied as important vehicles for organizational learning and socialization as well as for exercising influence (e.g. Brown 2004); they have been examined as shaping cognitive terrains that facilitate, direct or inhibit organizational change and innovation (Geiger and Antonacopoulou 2009, O’Leary 2003); their political uses, both as vehicles of domination and as foci for challenges organizational authority, have been scrutinized (e.g. Boje 2008, Brown and Humphreys 2006, Gabriel 2005). Furthermore, the nature of organizational theory itself as possessing metaphorical and story-like qualities has been extensively debated by scholars, with the divide between logico-scientific and narrative conceptions of knowledge being increasingly problematized (Czarniawska-Joerges, 1995). Organizations themselves have been interrogated as metaphors, ranging from jazz bands to psychic prisons, and also as stories, falling into recognizable genres, such as epic, tragic or comic (Gabriel 2000). All in all, it would be fair to claim that metaphors and stories have become regular, active and no longer exotic guests in discourses of organizations. What is less widely explored is the relation between metaphor and story. Many of the leading exponents of metaphor theorizing (e.g. Burrell 1996, Chia 1996, Cornelissen 2004, Lakoff and Johnson 1980, Morgan 1980, Oswick and Grant 1996, Tsoukas 1991) have been generally reluctant to enter the terrain of story and equally most storytelling theorists (e.g. Boje 2008, Rhodes and Brown 2005, Tangherlini 2000) have not ventured deeply into the field of metaphor. Story and metaphor have since Aristotle been seen as inhabiting different domains, the former firmly located in poetics, the latter in rhetoric (see, for example, Höpfl, 1995). Yet, as Czarniawska (CzarniawskaJoerges 1995, Czarniawska 1998) has argued most stories are full of metaphorical expressions and, conversely, many metaphors can be unpacked into stories and allegories. Both stories and metaphors require a certain flight of imagination above the literal and the factual. This is what makes them both memorable and also persuasive; it is also what makes them vital devices in unlocking passion, creativity and spawning innovation (Cornelissen, 2005). Yet again, it is what makes them very helpful concepts in questioning the assumptions of discourses that have become hardened or comfortable. They can both act as stimuli to original and creative thinking. This special issue grew out of a desire to explore the cross-section between stories and metaphors. In particular, we wanted to prompt an examination of the mutation of

Linkages and entrainment

Entrainment is a theory of causality wherein different but proximate actants are tied to one another in complementary rhythms. Entrainment proposes a naturalism of interrelatedness. Manuel DeLanda has explored the logic of social entrainment. Opposing assumptions are found in Actor Network Theory. ANT merges the sociology of knowledge and an analysis of power into a theory of pragmatic causality. Social causality is in ANT (micro‐) politically constructed. The goal of this paper is to examine entrainment as a generative theory of social construction wherein linkages of ideas, persons, actions, events and objects, unlike in ANTs translation are not saturated by (principles of) social power. Illustrations of how entrainment and ANT hold up in practice are provided.

Workplace learning: narrative and professionalization

Purpose – To show how the stories told by people in organisations need to be reckoned with in order to give change a chance.Design/methodology/approach – The papers approach is a case study and analytical approach to storytelling.Findings – Stories are told from different perspectives, related to what needs to be achieved by the audience.Research limitations/implications – The scope of the paper is framed by the analytical approach to storytelling which in this case is related to learning modes.Practical implications – Organisations that are open for change need to give room to individual voice/stories in order to live up to the possibilities of change.Originality/value – Stories do not always address an audience that is supposed to hear the story; they can get out of control.

Five Postmodern Aphorisms for Trainers.

In contemporary society the cultural preconditions necessary for the creation of art have been lost. The artist cannot attest to transcendence in a culture which recognises none. Immediacy the performativity of the now, dominates in the society of the nineties. Art has become auto-referential; it refers solely to itself. There is no message behind the text; nothing to be seen through the (artistic) window. It is ridiculous to seek transcendence behind

Polyphony and its Other

A post-deconstruction ethics of honoring, respecting, and/or theorizing anOther via a concept of polyphony seems very attractive to organizational studies (De Cock and Jeanes 2006; Clegg et al. 2006). Many organizational studies intellectuals prefer ‘reasonableness’ and/or ‘historical meanings’ as an object of study to a more empirical one. This rhetorical strategy (amongst others) has claimed polyphony as a leading concept, celebrating dialogue, diversity, and intertextuality. But, as Gayatri Spivak has indicated, it is necessary to ask if anOther speaks at all in such practices. Spivak (1999) explores polyphony in terms of the subaltern and her (his) representation, making use of différance to clarify what a many-voiced perspective actually could imply. In this article, I deconstruct two organizational studies articles on polyphony, making use of Spivak’s insights.

Evoking Metis: Questioning the logics of change, responsiveness, meaning and action in organizations

In this writing, the concept of ‘metis’ or ‘cunning intelligence’ will be explored in the context of organizational theory. The article begins with a genealogy (in the tradition of Hopfl, 1999) of the concept in classical Greek and contemporary theoretical sources, focusing on the juxtaposition between cunning intelligence and scientific rationality. It continues, evoking the experience of metis, with a rhetorical analysis of organizational change, meaning‐making, and responsiveness. Finally, a series of questions concerning the ethical value of metis for organizational theory and practice will be raised. The overall purpose of the theory‐building is to produce a greater understanding of the innovative and tactical power of metis, as well as to provoke further research concerning the ethical significance of the cunning form of intelligence, which enables people in organizations to ‘disguise or transform themselves in order to survive’ (de Certeau, 1984: xi)In this writing, the concept of ‘metis’ or ‘cunning intelligence’ will be explored in the context of organizational theory. The article begins with a genealogy (in the tradition of Hopfl, 1999) of the concept in classical Greek and contemporary theoretical sources, focusing on the juxtaposition between cunning intelligence and scientific rationality. It continues, evoking the experience of metis, with a rhetorical analysis of organizational change, meaning‐making, and responsiveness. Finally, a series of questions concerning the ethical value of metis for organizational theory and practice will be raised. The overall purpose of the theory‐building is to produce a greater understanding of the innovative and tactical power of metis, as well as to provoke further research concerning the ethical significance of the cunning form of intelligence, which enables people in organizations to ‘disguise or transform themselves in order to survive’ (de Certeau, 1984: xi)

Transition and human resources in Slovakia

Questions whether human resources are being viewed in Slovakia in a manner which transcends profit maximisation. Compares three cases of corporate HR action in post‐communism: two take place within multinationals which have set up shop in the former Czechoslovakia and one is a domestic success story. The results of the field work are assessed with use of Talcott Parsons’ theory of modernisation.