An apprenticeship to pleasure: aesthetics dynamics in organizational learning

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show what we can learn from an aesthetics perspective on organizational learning, and especially about some power dynamics unseeable with other perspectives. Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory ethnographic study based on the turn-to-affect on the case of a theatre play in which many of the bearings that usually guide theatrical creation were removed. Findings – Analysis highlights that an a priori distribution of the sensible that locks routines, representations and roles is seldom questioned in organizational learning programs; the motion enabling organizational learning is less likely to be brought about by a change in power distribution than with the removal of some elements of power that freeze situations; organizational learning diffusion does not only go through norms, rules, values and repositories, but also through affects; and learning runs through a fragile communication of movements, always under the threat of becoming major knowledge and power distribution. Research limitations/implications – This paper is based on a single case. Practical implications – A too tight and close management of organizational learning is likely to thwart and limit its very learning possibilities. Originality/value – Several findings are in contradiction to technological or too managerial approaches to organizational learning. The study hopes to contribute by providing a supplement of complexity in our analysis of organizational learning, notably advocating for taking into account the role of affects, sensibility and the politics of aesthetics.

Guest editorial

“…The aim is not to provide a data set, but to make the reader move affectively, intellectually and practically (Linstead, 2017). What is looked for is a performance-sensitive way of knowing (Conquergood, 1998), and of learning (Moriceau and Paes, 2016).…”

A comparison of the Levels of Organizational Learning in Hospitals, Based on Ownership Types: A Case Study in Iran

“…Therefore, accomplishing scientific work and improving performance are disrupted in an organization such as hospitals (13). A change in behavior and improvement in organizational performance can determine the existence of all the three levels of learning in the organization (14).…”

Memorable projects and aesthetic experiences in an industrial R&D lab

“…Organizational aesthetics is a growing field of research, which relates aesthetics and the organization of work. For 30 years, a lot of research initiatives on organizational aesthetics focused on understanding the organizational culture (Strati, 1992), leadership (Beau, 2016), organizational learning and creativity (Moriceau and Paes, 2016) and gesture beauty (Bazin, 2013), and even to explore the phenomenon of dress codes in professions (Bazin and Aubert-Tarby, 2013). Some original expressions appeared from this field, such as "dancing with the bosses", "the aesthetics of leadership" or "kitsch organizations".…”