Matt Statler

‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ : Taking Play Seriously in Organizations

In response to the dominant logic that characterizes play as frivolous and only marginally relevant, this paper attempts to develop a theoretical framework that will allow play to be taken seriously in organizations. Psychological, sociological, anthropological and philosophical literature streams are reviewed to establish a coherent understanding of the emotional, social and cognitive benefits of play. A net of semantic distinctions is then introduced to differentiate play from work, and play is presented formally as imaginative, ethical and autotelic. This analysis is then embedded in the organizational research literature to show the implications of play with regard to strategic innovation, the management of uncertainty and continuous learning.

Serious Play as a Practice of Paradox

A recent stream of organizational research has used the term serious play to describe situations in which people engage in playful behaviors deliberately with the intention to achieve serious, work-related objectives. In this article, the authors reflect on the ambiguity of this term, and reframe serious play as a practice characterized by the paradox of intentionality (when actors engage deliberately in a fun, intrinsically motivating activity as a means to achieve a serious, extrinsically motivated work objective). This reframing not only extends the explanatory power of the concept of serious play but also helps bridge the concerns of scholars and practitioners: first, by enabling us to understand a variety of activities in organizations as serious play, which can help practitioners address specific organizational challenges; second, by recognizing the potential for emergent serious play, and the creation of the conditions to foster this emergence; third, by pointing toward specific, individual or group-level outcomes associated with the practice; and finally, by uncovering its ethical dimensions and encouraging the understanding of the role of serious play on ethical decision making.

Strategy as Storytelling: A Phenomenological Collaboration

This article presents a phenomenological inquiry into storytelling practices in corporate strategy-making processes, as experienced by nonsenior stakeholders. The authors utilize the potential of phenomenological methods to provide an enriched understanding of strategy as lived, embodied experience. Based on a strategy workshop in a company called ICARUS Inc., a large, international information technology corporation facing the challenge of reinventing itself after a period of considerable success, the authors identify three embodied narrative practices enacted during that workshop event: (a) discursive struggles over “hot” words, (b) the de-sacralization of strategy, and (c) recurring rituals of self-sacrifice. The article critically analyzes these practices in reference to recent research on strategy as a lived and narrated experience and discusses their implications as well as the implications of the workshop itself. Overall, the article aims at providing theoretical as well as methodological contribution for narrative practices of strategy in organizational lifeworlds.

Material Matters: Increasing Emotional Engagement in Learning.

Organizational scholars and neuroscientists suggest that when people are more emotionally engaged, they learn more effectively. Clinical art therapists suggest that the experience as well as the expression of emotions can be enabled or constrained by different materials. So then, what materials can be employed by management educators to achieve optimal levels of emotional engagement? In this essay, we begin to answer this question by discussing the ubiquitous material aspects of management learning by exploring the complex relationships involving materials, emotions, and learning, and by presenting a set of practical ideas about how management educators can become more adept at designing and facilitating learning processes that effectively engage students’ emotions through the use of materials such as clay, LEGO bricks, and paper.

Practically wise leadership: toward an integral understanding

This paper presents a model of practical wisdom that integrates various dimensions of experience and multiple levels of analysis, providing a meta‐theoretical framework through which to understand wise leadership practice in contemporary organizations. Drawing on phenomenological accounts of embodiment and emotion, we seek to overcome limitations in organizational research due to methodological individualism, exclusively cognitivist assumptions about human knowledge, and a lack of sensitivity to the complexity and dynamism associated with wisdom as it unfolds in organizations. In an effort to enact the processual aspect of wisdom in relation to the community of leadership scholars and practitioners, we additionally discuss various stages and lines of development relevant to wise leadership practice in organizations.

Dear prudence : An essay on practical wisdom in strategy making

If we presume an organizational ontology of complex, dynamic change, then what role remains for strategic intent? If managerial action is said to consist of adaptive responsiveness, then what are the foundations of value on the basis of which strategic decisions can be made? In this essay, we respond to these questions and extend the existing strategy process literature by turning to the Aristotelian concept of prudence, or practical wisdom. According to Aristotle, practical wisdom involves the virtuous capacity to make decisions and take actions that promote the “good life” for the “polis”. We explore contemporary interpretations of this concept in literature streams adjacent to strategy and determine that practical wisdom can be developed by engaging in interpretative dialogue and aesthetically‐rich experience. With these elements in view, we re‐frame strategy processes as occasions to develop the human capacity for practical wisdom.

Developing wisdom in a business school? Critical reflections on pedagogical practice

This essay considers the question of whether, and if so, how wisdom may be developed in a business school. It begins with a critical exegesis of a passage from the recent Carnegie report Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal Learning for the Profession, unpacking the term ‘practical reasoning,’ situating it within a broader set of philosophical and organizational considerations, and framing it in terms of John Dewey’s conceptualization of wisdom as a habit. An exemplary case drawn from the author’s experience illustrates the challenges associated with the development of wisdom in an undergraduate program at a large business school in the United States. The essay concludes by gesturing toward as possible avenues for future research and pedagogical experimentation.

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)

Reframing strategic preparedness : an essay on practical wisdom

The strategic challenge of how organisations can become more prepared for unexpected events has risen in importance in recent years. It has become increasingly clear that organisational leaders require not only knowledge and skills but also ethical values as they make preparations in response to potentially overwhelming risks. In this theoretical essay, we explore the concept of practical wisdom within the growing stream of research that focuses on the practices of strategy making. In view of philosophical, psychological and organisational research, we develop an interpretative model of practical wisdom to guide future empirical research that describes and deliberates about preparedness-related practices that are both effective and ethical.

Illustrating the Need for Practical Wisdom

In this paper, we present an interpretative case study focused on the Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response (CCPR). In particular, we focus on the ambiguities being handled by CCPR executive staff as they develop new knowledge and new practices in the emerging field of catastrophe preparedness. Our case data describe patterns of activity that include storytelling, dialogue with diverse groups of people, and embodied experience. We present a series of first-order findings based on our interpretation of these data, then reflect on those findings both in light of recent research in strategic management studies and in light of recent research in adjacent fields that address the concept of practical wisdom. We then present the second-order finding that the case of CCPR illustrates a need for practical wisdom that exists currently in the field of catastrophe preparedness and more generally among strategic management practitioners. We close by outlining what we see as the implications of this need for strategic management theory and practice.