Sensuous intoxication: Learning from bodies in organisational ethnography

McConn-Palfreyman, Will; Mangan, Anita; McInnes, Peter

doi:10.1177/13505076221112653

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…In this sense, recent research has built on process-oriented and phenomenological perspectives to explore the embodied and affective dimensions of co-presence (Aroles and Küpers, 2021; de Vaujany and Aroles, 2019; Hafermalz, 2021; Hafermalz and Riemer, 2020; McConn-Palfreyman et al, 2022; Satama et al, 2022; Vidolov, 2022; Willems, 2018). Going beyond a Cartesian, objectifying view of co-presence, they emphasize the role of bodily and sensory perception in how one experiences the presence of others.…”

Section: Exploring the Interplay Of Co-presence And Vulnerability In ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a ‘vulnerable co-presence’ for hybrid ways of working: Recasting the nexus of co-presence and vulnerability with Merleau-Ponty and Butler

Bancou

2024

Management Learning

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While hybrid working offers many benefits, its individualizing inclination creates ‘new vulnerabilities’ by making social ties and work collectives more precarious. A growing number of studies have referred to co-presence to examine how hybrid work arrangements reshape sociality and togetherness at work. However, most consider co-presence as fundamentally distinct from vulnerability, creating a common divide between the two phenomena. This conceptual article posits a normative argument that recasting how co-presence relates to vulnerability should help to address the ‘new vulnerabilities’ at stake in hybrid working. After briefly exploring how the literature examines the interplay of co-presence and vulnerability, I draw on existential phenomenology – in particular, the ontological arguments of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Judith Butler – to develop the notion of ‘vulnerable co-presence’ before introducing three points of attention, namely how it is (1) ‘intercorporeal’, (2) ‘temporo-spatial’ and (3) ‘ethico-political’. I then outline the two main implications of this framework. First, it lays the groundwork for repoliticizing the hybrid workforce. Second, it offers practitioners a perceptual basis for imagining and learning new skills to ‘hold the collective together’ in hybrid organizational contexts. Finally, I present this article’s methodological contributions and suggest some avenues for future research.

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Section: Exploring the Interplay Of Co-presence And Vulnerability In ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a ‘vulnerable co-presence’ for hybrid ways of working: Recasting the nexus of co-presence and vulnerability with Merleau-Ponty and Butler

Bancou

2024

Management Learning

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“…As described above, multi-sited ethnography has been introduced in MOS research. Some have referred to it by name (Akemu & Abdelnour, 2020; McConn-Palfreyman, Mangan, & McInnes, 2022; Prasad et al, 2011; Van Duijn, 2020; Van Maanen, 2010), while others have used its tenets without explicitly naming it (Lok & de Rond, 2013). With that said, the method’s utility has not yet been specifically leveraged in MOS research on performativity.…”

Section: Multi-sited Ethnography For Performativity Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Balancing Breadth and Depth in Qualitative Research: Conceptualizing performativity through multi-sited ethnography

Prasad

Shadnam

2023

Organization Studies

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While performativity, as a theoretical concept, has gained much purchase in the field of management and organization studies (MOS), there remains a dearth of empirical work operationalizing the idea. In this article, we argue that empirical studies on performativity in organizational settings have been scarce mainly due to two methodological challenges: (1) the problem of breadth, and, (2) the problem of depth. In terms of breadth, to study how a cultural/symbolic construction becomes performative, researchers need to follow threads of meanings and practices that stretch in time and space beyond the scope of what most methodologies afford. In terms of depth, studying performativity requires an in-depth, contextualized understanding of how people live in and through the symbolic world, which few methodologies offer. We posit multi-sited ethnography as a promising methodological approach that has the potential to concomitantly overcome both challenges. Through a vignette of a study that one of the authors conducted in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, we illustrate how multi-sited ethnography enables empirical research on performativity in MOS.

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“…Various studies have focused on habitual knowledge as being a possession of the body, conveying the influence of the early works of Merleau-Ponty (e.g., De Rond et al, 2019; Willems, 2018; Yakhlef, 2010). Others have used ingredients from both the earlier and later works of Merleau-Ponty (e.g., McConn-Palfreyman et al, 2022). Still others have leaned more clearly towards his later period’s ontology of the flesh and the embodied rhythms between the visibility and invisibility (e.g., De Vaujany and Aroles, 2019; Ladkin, 2013), which is also the direction this article takes.…”

Section: Merleau-ponty’s Idea Of ‘Flesh’ As Embodied Resonance Within...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Lived rhythms as a ground for togetherness and learning in hybrid workspace

Vesala

2023

Management Learning

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Using Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theory of the flesh as rhythm, this article examines how lived dynamics between embodiment and space construct distinct modes of togetherness and learning in working life. Workspaces are becoming increasingly hybrid collections of various physical and virtual spaces. Contemporary workspace ideals embrace openness and a collective ‘buzz’, but this can also be disorientating. This article examines how different spaces could be combined to create spatial rhythms that balance collective working and learning with more silent types of understanding and reflexivity. The article suggests that we need both intimate and open spaces, as well as transitional spaces in between, to nurture learning and togetherness. First, spatial withdrawal can help people to connect with their earlier work history and dreams, sustaining openness of perception. Second, rhythmic movements between different spaces create a transitional experience of different worlds overlapping and a fertile condition for immediate communities. The article suggests that both approaches to space can assist in opening personal registers that are often suppressed: imagination and lived past. This article illuminates how reflexively created hybrid spaces can support personal grounding, spur learning opportunities and actualise novel modes of being together.

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Sensuous intoxication: Learning from bodies in organisational ethnography

Cited by 5 publications

References 74 publications

Towards a ‘vulnerable co-presence’ for hybrid ways of working: Recasting the nexus of co-presence and vulnerability with Merleau-Ponty and Butler

Towards a ‘vulnerable co-presence’ for hybrid ways of working: Recasting the nexus of co-presence and vulnerability with Merleau-Ponty and Butler

Balancing Breadth and Depth in Qualitative Research: Conceptualizing performativity through multi-sited ethnography

Lived rhythms as a ground for togetherness and learning in hybrid workspace

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