Synchronicity: a post‐structuralist guide to creativity and change

Abstract

Synchronicity was coined by Jung in 1955 to refer to the meaningful and acausal, or chance, correlation between an inner and outer event. Insofar as creativity is dependent upon chance for novelty, then creativity and synchronicity may have a supportive relationship. This paper uses narrative to explore the role of paradox in meaning, in chance, and in creativity. The nature of synchronicity, the relationship between synchronicity and creativity, and the implications of this relationship for management are discussed. Such implications include encouraging multiple points of view, understanding the role of emotion in creativity, allowing for movement across metaphorical and physical boundaries, honoring the body, and maintaining a lightness (with humor zand joy) with which to adapt to inevitable``accidents''.

Dancing in the dark: creativity, knowledge creation and (emergent) organizational change

“…The dis-equilibrium point can also vary across time and (organizational) space. Durant (2002) adopted the Jungian concept of "synchronicity" to describe a new kind of unintentional change stemming from a seemingly coincidental convergence of two events.…”

Organizational creativity diluted: a critical appraisal of discursive practices in academic research

“…Naturally, if creativity is defined as the production of new and improved products, processes, services or procedures, it is likely, or at least possible, that it also brings about an increase in productivity. At the same time, however, other views such as those defining organizational creativity as something playful (Sundgren and Styhre, 2003), non-linear (Sundgren and Styhre, 2007), rebellious and chaotic (Prichard, 2002), paradoxical (Durant, 2002) and sometimes even painful and unnecessary (Unsworth and Clegg, 2010) are suppressed in the mainstream discourse, even if adopting a broader view could contribute to the theoretical development of the concept and also be beneficial in practice. Even more importantly, what appears to have been neglected is the fact that the possible causality, or the relationship in general, is contingent upon how the various concepts are defined, understood and measured (cf.…”

Making sense of synchronicity.

“…Durant (2002) suggests that accepting synchronicity precludes a relationship to paradox. Commenting on the relationship of other cultures to synchronicity, Colman (2011) states, "The reasons for this remain mysterious:…”

“…In particular, the Jungian approach to the Chinese I Ching is seen as sharing a common worldview where a person is an integral part of the world's impersonal fabric (Zabriskie, 2005, p. 226). Scholars like Durant (2002) point out that in their lives synchronicity carries with it a glimpse of hope because it infers a "unity with a larger wholeness" (p. 491). Selfs (1990) thesis is a heuristic study on the experience of synchronicity.…”

“…Durant (2002) suggests that it has the benefit of opening "those lives to the power of the self, the archetype beyond paradox" (p. 497). One of the key elements that the sharing of synchronistic stories fosters is that of creating hope.…”