‘Magic’ and a Voluntary Organization: The Implications for Community OR

Cohen, Claire

doi:10.1057/jors.1994.38

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our results revealed an open path for continuing studying the social process of learning of indigenous communities when deciding on their governance structures. Our research also complements Cohen (1994), who identified "magic' as an area of creativity that is essential to the life and maintenance of an organization, in particular, in volunteer organisations: he saw magic as the art of producing marvellous results by compelling the aid of spirits, or by using the secret forces of nature. We have illustrated in this study that the existence of coherent and consistent mechanisms, like organizational ethos of the indigenous -'Hee Yaia Keti Oka' (System 5); and valueslike their Ecological calendar-(System 2), at embedded levels of social organisation, may contribute to the magic that maintains communities cohesive.…”

Section: Opening New Research Avenuessupporting

confidence: 60%

Complexity management and multi-scale governance: A case study in an Amazonian indigenous association

Espinosa

Duque

2018

European Journal of Operational Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Even if COR provides methodologies and tools to support community development, there aren't published works illustrating how we can support with COR tools, an assessment of self-governance in an indigenous community. Here we present exploratory research to provide such support to an indigenous association in the Amazon jungle. To address issues of multi-culturalism, we used a creative choice of methods, which included elements of boundary critique, the Viable System Model, rich pictures and social cartography research. We explore the possibilities that this mixed methods approach to COR would offer to clarify the core dilemmas and paradoxes of self-governance for sustainability that such communities are facing. The analysis is done through VSM mapping the community, at different levels and scales of organisation. It reveals key paradoxes and dilemmas of self-governance, which is helping them to collectively decide on action paths and their needs to (re) develop certain adaptive capabilities. Particularly, it shows that loss of power from traditional (spiritual) authorities, and loss of rituals and other cooperative practices have impacted negatively on the indigenous ways of implementing their life plans and respecting sustainability principles. This research contributes to COR, in presenting an innovative application of the VSM in an indigenous community, supported by expert facilitation, as the basis for reflecting on their selfgovernance challenges and acting upon them. It takes into account a more critical and ethnographic approach to research, capable of better dealing with the variety of a multicultural context.

show abstract

Section: Opening New Research Avenuessupporting

confidence: 60%

Complexity management and multi-scale governance: A case study in an Amazonian indigenous association

Espinosa

Duque

2018

European Journal of Operational Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…'Real' management thinking situates itself within a period of history dominated by the rationalscientific system of thought. If a field wished to be taken seriously, at the time of the 'official' founding of management thought, it had to shape itself just so (Cohen 1994); it had to act like a rational science, and management theory has clearly been shaped by the desire of early theorists to conceive of it as such (Barnard 1968;Pugh et al 1975;Simon 1976;Taylor 1911; Thompson 1967). The founding fathers of management sought to apply rational scientific practices to organization with the view of improving its performance (Babbage 1989;Smith 1976;Taylor 1911;Ure 1835;cf.…”

Section: Drawing Boundaries: Discipline and Marginalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…structure, environment and technology), in more recent times, there has been a growing appreciation of the language-mediated texture of organizing and of the consequent need to understand questions of meaning and power (Pondy et al 1983;Smircich and Morgan 1982;Moch and Huff 1989;Weick 1979). Such a conceptual shift is vividly brought into focus by contrasting Weber's (1986) description of Ent:auberung (loss of magic) that accompanies the bureaucratization of social life, against the concern of some contemporary researchers with strengthening the 'spiritual dimension' of organizations (Bolman and Deal 1995;Cohen, C. 1994;Frost and Egri 1994; Bartunek and Moch 1994). In strategic management, strategy is now seen by influential theorists not as the outcome of a rational process of planning, but as whatever emerges from a process of creative, often 'playful', acting (Mintzberg 1989(Mintzberg , 1994 Weick 1987).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marginalization and Recovery: The Emergence of Aristotelian Themes in Organization Studies

Tsoukas

Cummings

1997

Organization Studies

147

108

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The past decade has witnessed a number of interesting shifts in the way people think about organizations. One of the most curious is the way in which much of the 'new thinking' is antithetical to mechanistic and rationalistic theories that have historically dominated organization and management studies. This paper investigates this shift, and argues that this new antithetical thinking can be interpreted as the re-surfacing, or recovery, of certain strands of Aristotelian philosophy, strands that were marginalized with the rise of scientific rationalism in the 17th century, before management and organization studies, as we tend to conceive of them, began. The discussion presented here demonstrates the traditional dominance of a disciplinary, mechanistic self-image in management studies, whereby the field drew its boundaries in such a way as to exclude anything 'other' than this. We argue that reconnecting organizational and management research with systems of thought other than those traditionally associated with the 'discipline', and adopting a 'kaleidoscopic' view of history, can enable researchers to think differently about key issues and inform future development. Key aspects of Aristotle's thinking are considered as a case in point.Descriptors: disciplinary management, postmodernism, practical knowledge, agency, Aristotle

show abstract

“…With its ability to enhance the consciousness of individuals whilst embodying systemic process, Circles hold the promise for emancipating micro‐communities and eventually ripple out these changes to our larger Earth community. The magic of circles (Cohen, 1994) lies in the dance between the individual and the collective consciousness. Held together by a shared intention that the centre of the circle represents, individual consciousness informs and is informed by intentional conversations, eventually leading to the emergence of a new collective consciousness.…”

Section: Circlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The future is humanistic: Infusing compassion in the systems thinking world—Circles, dialogue and RoundTables as levers for individual and community emancipation

Jacobs

Arora²,

Gabriele

2022

Syst Res Behav Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this age of isolation, exacerbated by an increased number of natural disasters and their associated impact, we are faced with a deepening poverty of social connections and a high degree of polarisation on multiple counts. Designed for contexts ranging from workplaces to spiritual discourse, more and more instances of intentional conversations are surfacing across the world. It is only when we are able to appreciate the view of ‘another’, that we are truly able to step beyond the boundary of the self. In this paper, we explore a practitioner's perspective on three formats of gathering that are currently practiced at the International Society for the Systems Sciences. Using social and humanistic values, we outline how these three simple yet powerful techniques embody inclusivity, with the intention of inspiring its readers to consider hosting alternate forms of meetings in academic and organisational settings, thus creating grounds for compassionate understanding.

show abstract

‘Magic’ and a Voluntary Organization: The Implications for Community OR

Cited by 4 publications

References 4 publications

Complexity management and multi-scale governance: A case study in an Amazonian indigenous association

Complexity management and multi-scale governance: A case study in an Amazonian indigenous association

Marginalization and Recovery: The Emergence of Aristotelian Themes in Organization Studies

The future is humanistic: Infusing compassion in the systems thinking world—Circles, dialogue and RoundTables as levers for individual and community emancipation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About