This article focuses on the co-construction of a reflexive practice in a public health-care organisation. We study how the reflexive methods of applied drama and theatre facilitate 'collective voicing', specifically in the context of dental health-care professionals' reflections on their own practices in perplexed situations. Our emphasis is on research-based theatre as a way by which the employees of an organisation can become more reflexive in their relationship with customers. This study makes use of the research-based theatre approach, illustrating how various voices -even those of young customers -are expressed, heard and discussed in order to interpret the status quo of perplexed situations and relationships and to imagine possible choices for disentangling the perplexity. Our study demonstrates the value of post-Boalian applied drama and theatre practices and presents a path for collective voicing as a learning process enabling reflexive practice in organisations.

The aim of modern innovation policies is to enhance the innovation capability of regions, their organisations and people. Regional innovation system (RIS) theory has been one of the most popular frameworks for realising innovation policies. Yet, adopting the perspective of sustainable innovation policy where innovation is also seen as a solution to various societal and environmental problems has been slow. Social enterprises (SEs) are discussed here as a means to address those problems, particularly through collaboration between sectors and focusing on social sustainability. The aim of this paper is to identify whether and in what way SEs are communicated as an innovative solution and as a source of innovations for economic and development activities through regional strategies. The data consists of regional innovation and business strategies from all Finnish regions, analysed using qualitative content analysis. We argue that there is a need to go deeper and include effective support mechanisms for SEs in these documents. Better inclusion of SEs as part of innovation systems and communicating this through regional strategies would help to develop SEs and to have them perceived as potential innovators and active entrepreneurial actors in innovation systems contributing to economically, environmentally and socially sustainable development.

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to develop practice and theory from Augusto Boal's dialogue technique (Image Theatre) for organisational use. The paper aims to examine how the members in an organisation create dialogue together by using a dramaturgical storytelling framework where the dialogue emerges from storytelling facilitated by symbolic representations of still images.Design/methodology/approachThe study follows the lines of participatory action and art‐based research. The data are collected from 13 dramaturgical work story storytelling sessions in four different organisations. The research design belongs to the tradition of research‐based theatre, which implies artful inquiry, scripting and performance in research.FindingsThe paper presents a model for organisational dialogue. The model illustrates the dramaturgical storytelling of work story which influences problem shifting in a positive way.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of this study are related to the scope of the research. The Scandinavian cultural context facilitates an open, bottom up process. More case studies in different kinds of environments should be conducted. In the future it might be advantageous to conduct more longitudinal studies on how organisations can nurture continuous dialogue.Practical implicationsWork story as a dialogue practice facilitated members from the same occupational groups to share experiences with each other and construct common interests by investigating unstructured and uncertain social situations at work.Originality/valueThe paper combines research fields that explore art‐based initiatives within organisations, workplace learning and innovation research.

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