Are we, as academics, stuck in a horizontal temporality, organised by the clock, that flattens ou... more Are we, as academics, stuck in a horizontal temporality, organised by the clock, that flattens our work, our words? In reading feminist work by Märta Tikkanen, Hélène Cixous, and others, a rupture strikes, establishing another temporality: vertical time. Is it possible, I ask, to learn from these authors and engage in academic writing in verticality? The answer is: Yes! Through an in-depth reading of special pieces, I see clearly that when we use our scholarly voice to write from within our vulnerabilities, it becomes possible to climb all the way up or dig ourselves deep down. In other words, we can 'go deep' in the sense of touching that which is most important, as well as finding ways to 'fly high,' through writing. This shows that writing and temporality are always already interweaved with each other because writing produces temporalities just as temporality at play produces writing. In this writing-temporality meshwork, there seems to be no set genre for vertical writing. Rather, it consists of a multitude of practices, written in the instant, from within the urgency of articulating that which matters.
In a study about (day)dreaming we searched for ways of doing research where we could jointly expl... more In a study about (day)dreaming we searched for ways of doing research where we could jointly explore the becoming of life and important matters through our experiences of dreaming. Inspired by Bachelard’s book The Poetics of Space, in which he emphasized the importance of small, intimate spaces for poetic moments to occur, we bought a caravan. Through this inquiry into a new spatiotemporality we experienced how the caravan offers a rupture from the mundane ongoingness enabling us to reconnect to the moment, the place, each other and ourselves. What may be seen as self-evident, but it was not for us, is the recognition that in developing research practices for studying dreaming, we had to first start dreaming ourselves.
This special issue of Management Learning on ‘Writing Differently’ builds on a groundswell of res... more This special issue of Management Learning on ‘Writing Differently’ builds on a groundswell of resistance to ‘scientific’ norms of academic writing. These norms are restrictive, inhibit the development of knowledge and excise much of what it is to be human from our learning, teaching and research. Contributors to the special issue explore how, released from these restrictions, it is possible to touch vulnerable flesh and invoke new political and ethical practices. Through changing our norms of writing, we explore different modes of learning and change how and what we teach. By bringing the previously excised vast hinterlands of life and lives to the fore, we create the intellectual space to engender new ideas as well as more collaborative forms of learning. In so doing, we foster alternative conversations as to how we might constitute new, highly ethical and humanitarian organisations.
Wet sheet that gets cold. The smell of sweat. A disrupted, unpleasant night again where my dreami... more Wet sheet that gets cold. The smell of sweat. A disrupted, unpleasant night again where my dreaming had me; a felt vulnerability from which it was impossible to hide. Sometimes, at bedtime, I already know that it will be a tough night. At the same time, the night offers experiences that radically differ from my everyday life. I want to learn from the way in which these experiences unfold and what I am capable of doing at night; what can my dreaming body teach me that can be generative for my writing? Through a reading of Hélène Cixous’s work on the writing body and inquiring into my night dreaming, I elaborate on possibilities for writing that differ from my usual daylight writing. Written in the form of seven invitations, I note that these possibilities are not about finding ways to overcome vulnerability in writing, but rather writing through vulnerability as a gift from the dreaming-writing-body.
The aim of this study is to examine how the sustainable development discourse created by one of i... more The aim of this study is to examine how the sustainable development discourse created by one of its most influential proponents, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, constructs representations of gender and nature. A discourse analysis, performed from Plumwood's ecofeminist perspective, is conducted on their cornerstone text Vision 2050: The new agenda for business. We find that what might at first appear to be a roadmap out of the many crises that humanity faces today, is instead simply new twists on " old " established discourses that reinforce rather than diminish forms of hierarchy and domination. Different discursive strands work together to create dualistic traits that simultaneously constructs gender, nature and some classes as a dependent " other. " To overcome this we elaborate on implications for teaching, research and practice.
The aim of this paper is to contribute to current knowledge about special moments – what is refer... more The aim of this paper is to contribute to current knowledge about special moments – what is referred to as “arresting moments” – when something unexpected spontaneously occurs, by exploring how such moments are part of a dialogic flow taking place over time. Based on a collaborative study that has been going on for 15 years and Bakhtin’s work on dialogic forces, the paper contributes with a conceptualization of “stability within change,” which shows how arresting moments not only create newness but also a sense of stability; a strong feeling of knowing how to meet the future and thereby how to move on here and now. Thus, it is not a question of stability or change, but rather an intertwined manifold of opposing forces of stability within change. Implications for practice and research are elaborated upon.
The foundational view of discourse as a descriptive mode of representation and writing as a retro... more The foundational view of discourse as a descriptive mode of representation and writing as a retrospective stabilizing tool has been criticized in organization and management research. The purpose of this paper is to inquire into a more emergent, unfinished and relational writing used throughout the research processes. To that aim, I develop the notion of ‘dialogical writing’ by drawing on literature on performative utterances and a collaborative fieldwork project where writing became an integrated part of the research process. I come to understand this form of writing as one in situ where addressivity, responsiveness and unfinalizability are emphasized. This enables writing to be part of a conversation; writing as a response to that which has been said and in anticipation of the next possible utterance. I close with implications for writing in organization studies, such as the possibility of thinking of writing as an offering of the tentative.
This article focuses on the process of writing where the purpose is to explore how it is possible... more This article focuses on the process of writing where the purpose is to explore how it is possible to write a research account that is inviting and “alive” so that, in reading, novelty unfolds. The account includes an illustration of how I struggled with writing and eventually found a way forward in reading Bakhtin’s work on the polyphonic novel. Inspiration from this genre opened up a kind of “listening writing”: an embodied and prospective form of writing that questions the traditional role of plot, since it calls for a letting-go of predesigned structures. Instead, it suggests a writing driven by the interplay of voices, curiosity, and openness to the next possible word. The article contributes to the discussion on how writing matters and, in particular, how “unfinalizable” writing practices, in which the author tries not to be the final mediator of meaning, can enrich organization studies.
Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 2013
Purpose
In recognizing that we have different modes of listening, just as there are different wa... more Purpose
In recognizing that we have different modes of listening, just as there are different ways of talking, the aim of the article is to explore how a greater awareness of listening can be a resource during field work.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a collaborative study of a family business as a starting point and focuses on a meeting held in the owner family where emotional issues concerning conflicts were discussed. Detailed illustrations from this two-hour meeting show how listening guided all participants, including the author in her role as a researcher.
Findings
Based on Bakhtin’s work on dialogue, as well as literature on listening, the notion of ‘dialogic listening’ is developed. This notion emphasizes four dimensions of listening: relationality and conversations as a shared activity, listening as an active process, the polyphonic nature of listening, and listening as an embodied activity. The paper illustrates how dialogic listening can create a feeling of an ‘us’ where we can ‘listen into’ things. ‘Listening into’ involves a prospective way of exploring which can offer a feeling for that which we bodily know but do yet not cognitively understand.
Originality/value
The focus on listening makes it possible to explore new research practices in that it suggests an orientation towards language that does not depart from talk but rather emphasizes how the embodied and intertwined nature of relating to one another can guide and direct us during field studies.
Although the role of communication during family business succession has been highlighted in nume... more Although the role of communication during family business succession has been highlighted in numerous studies, communication has mostly been implicitly addressed in relation to other issues and seldom as an issue in itself. This has led to a situation where we know the importance of communication, but how it matters, and how enriching communication can be achieved, is often overlooked. In light of this, the purpose of this article is to develop a greater understanding of succession as a process taking place within emergent conversations. Based on a real-time qualitative study of an owner family’s conversations during succession and Bakhtin’s notion of the ‘utterance’, three dimensions of dialogic transformation are elaborated upon: the role of differences during conversations, the role of multi-voiced conversations, and the role of listening during conversations. When these dimensions are viewed together, they contribute to current family business research by emphasizing the need to better understand the present moment during succession conversations. We are conceptualizing the present moment as a ‘living moment’; as a reminder of the once-occurring, unique and momentary transformation that can take place between family members in such encounters. Implications for research as well as practice are elaborated upon.
Based on an extensive qualitative study, this article explores how professional workers in an org... more Based on an extensive qualitative study, this article explores how professional workers in an organization, in this case television programme makers at a public broadcaster, cope with the complex changes that occur when their professional practices as well as their organization are in the midst of turbulent times. Departing from a process perspective to organizational change and insights from Bakhtin’s notion of ‘double-voicing’, which means that people borrow other people’s words in their own talk, two main contributions are offered. First, we show how stability cannot be taken for granted but rather takes continuous work. This work is conceptualized through the notion of ‘stabilizing movements’ in which other people’s voices can be used to legitimate one’s own practices and thereby create a space for one’s own actions. In this way stabilizing movements can create a feeling of stability, and a sense of a stabilized platform for action. Second, the research shows the need for inquiring into the contextualizing work carried out by professional workers during change. Thus, we find that there is no context ‘out there’ as a given. Rather, this study points at the importance of studying the contextualizing work people continuously do in various ways where different contexts are created and re-worked in the professionals’ practices.
Med den här boken vill författarna visa på intervjustudiens variationsrikedom. Även om intervju k... more Med den här boken vill författarna visa på intervjustudiens variationsrikedom. Även om intervju kan ses som en metod så finns det nämligen många olika sätt att genomföra en intervjustudie. Fyra intervjutyper beskrivs: den opartiska, den tolkande, den dialogiska och den kritiska. Intervjuandets hantverk, alltifrån planering till själva intervjusamtalet och skrivandet av en text diskuteras också, och viktiga frågor belyses med exempel från samhällsvetenskaplig forskning. Boken fungerar som stöd både när du genomför din egen studie och vid återkoppling på andras intervjustudier.
Process approaches to organization studies focus on flow, activities, and evolution, understandin... more Process approaches to organization studies focus on flow, activities, and evolution, understanding organizations and organizing as processes in the making. They stand in contrast to positivist approaches that see organizations and phenomena as fixed, static, and measurable.
Process approaches draw on a range of ideas and philosophies. The Handbook examines 34 philosophers and social theorists, both those commonly linked to process thinking, such as Whitehead, Bergson and James, and those that are not as often addressed from a process perspective such as Dilthey and Tarde. Each chapter addresses the background and context of this thinker, their work (with a focus on the processual elements), and the potential contribution to organization and management research. For students and scholars in the field of Organization Studies this book is an entry point into the work of philosophical thinkers and social theorists for whom the world is far from being a solid place.
Vad har skrivande för roll i vår forskning? Hur kan vi använda skrivande som ett sätt att tänka, ... more Vad har skrivande för roll i vår forskning? Hur kan vi använda skrivande som ett sätt att tänka, lära, förstå och samtala? Kan skrivande vara metod?
I Skrivande om skrivande möter du skribenter med bakgrund såväl i akademin som i skönlitteratur, poesi och journalistik. Här delar de med sig av sina arbetsprocesser och ger inspiration till att skriva, bortom gängse metodböckers råd.
Ph D thesis_Helin, J., (2011). Living moments in family meetings: a process study in the family business context, JIBS Dissertation Series No. 70, Jönköping International Business School., 2011
Kapitel i boken "Skrivande om Skrivande" av Borgström, Helin, Norbäck och Raviola (red).
När jag har gjort en fältstudie som handlar om dialog under känslosamma omständigheter där männis... more När jag har gjort en fältstudie som handlar om dialog under känslosamma omständigheter där människor har skrattat, gråtit, tänkt och samtalat tillsammans, hur kan jag då skriva om detta utan att texten känns platt, linjär och förutsägbar? Det vill säga, hur kan jag skriva om de levande, trevande och pågående samtal som jag har upplevt? Dessa frågor är utgångspunkten för det här kapitlet. Genom att berätta om min egen skrivresa, från det att jag satt med en hel resväska med ”data” till att jag fick ihop det till ett avhandlingsmanus, hoppas jag kunna väcka frågor och funderingar som rör själva skrivprocessen – vad vi kan kalla skrivandets praktik – kring hur vi skriver våra fältstudietexter.
Are we, as academics, stuck in a horizontal temporality, organised by the clock, that flattens ou... more Are we, as academics, stuck in a horizontal temporality, organised by the clock, that flattens our work, our words? In reading feminist work by Märta Tikkanen, Hélène Cixous, and others, a rupture strikes, establishing another temporality: vertical time. Is it possible, I ask, to learn from these authors and engage in academic writing in verticality? The answer is: Yes! Through an in-depth reading of special pieces, I see clearly that when we use our scholarly voice to write from within our vulnerabilities, it becomes possible to climb all the way up or dig ourselves deep down. In other words, we can 'go deep' in the sense of touching that which is most important, as well as finding ways to 'fly high,' through writing. This shows that writing and temporality are always already interweaved with each other because writing produces temporalities just as temporality at play produces writing. In this writing-temporality meshwork, there seems to be no set genre for vertical writing. Rather, it consists of a multitude of practices, written in the instant, from within the urgency of articulating that which matters.
In a study about (day)dreaming we searched for ways of doing research where we could jointly expl... more In a study about (day)dreaming we searched for ways of doing research where we could jointly explore the becoming of life and important matters through our experiences of dreaming. Inspired by Bachelard’s book The Poetics of Space, in which he emphasized the importance of small, intimate spaces for poetic moments to occur, we bought a caravan. Through this inquiry into a new spatiotemporality we experienced how the caravan offers a rupture from the mundane ongoingness enabling us to reconnect to the moment, the place, each other and ourselves. What may be seen as self-evident, but it was not for us, is the recognition that in developing research practices for studying dreaming, we had to first start dreaming ourselves.
This special issue of Management Learning on ‘Writing Differently’ builds on a groundswell of res... more This special issue of Management Learning on ‘Writing Differently’ builds on a groundswell of resistance to ‘scientific’ norms of academic writing. These norms are restrictive, inhibit the development of knowledge and excise much of what it is to be human from our learning, teaching and research. Contributors to the special issue explore how, released from these restrictions, it is possible to touch vulnerable flesh and invoke new political and ethical practices. Through changing our norms of writing, we explore different modes of learning and change how and what we teach. By bringing the previously excised vast hinterlands of life and lives to the fore, we create the intellectual space to engender new ideas as well as more collaborative forms of learning. In so doing, we foster alternative conversations as to how we might constitute new, highly ethical and humanitarian organisations.
Wet sheet that gets cold. The smell of sweat. A disrupted, unpleasant night again where my dreami... more Wet sheet that gets cold. The smell of sweat. A disrupted, unpleasant night again where my dreaming had me; a felt vulnerability from which it was impossible to hide. Sometimes, at bedtime, I already know that it will be a tough night. At the same time, the night offers experiences that radically differ from my everyday life. I want to learn from the way in which these experiences unfold and what I am capable of doing at night; what can my dreaming body teach me that can be generative for my writing? Through a reading of Hélène Cixous’s work on the writing body and inquiring into my night dreaming, I elaborate on possibilities for writing that differ from my usual daylight writing. Written in the form of seven invitations, I note that these possibilities are not about finding ways to overcome vulnerability in writing, but rather writing through vulnerability as a gift from the dreaming-writing-body.
The aim of this study is to examine how the sustainable development discourse created by one of i... more The aim of this study is to examine how the sustainable development discourse created by one of its most influential proponents, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, constructs representations of gender and nature. A discourse analysis, performed from Plumwood's ecofeminist perspective, is conducted on their cornerstone text Vision 2050: The new agenda for business. We find that what might at first appear to be a roadmap out of the many crises that humanity faces today, is instead simply new twists on " old " established discourses that reinforce rather than diminish forms of hierarchy and domination. Different discursive strands work together to create dualistic traits that simultaneously constructs gender, nature and some classes as a dependent " other. " To overcome this we elaborate on implications for teaching, research and practice.
The aim of this paper is to contribute to current knowledge about special moments – what is refer... more The aim of this paper is to contribute to current knowledge about special moments – what is referred to as “arresting moments” – when something unexpected spontaneously occurs, by exploring how such moments are part of a dialogic flow taking place over time. Based on a collaborative study that has been going on for 15 years and Bakhtin’s work on dialogic forces, the paper contributes with a conceptualization of “stability within change,” which shows how arresting moments not only create newness but also a sense of stability; a strong feeling of knowing how to meet the future and thereby how to move on here and now. Thus, it is not a question of stability or change, but rather an intertwined manifold of opposing forces of stability within change. Implications for practice and research are elaborated upon.
The foundational view of discourse as a descriptive mode of representation and writing as a retro... more The foundational view of discourse as a descriptive mode of representation and writing as a retrospective stabilizing tool has been criticized in organization and management research. The purpose of this paper is to inquire into a more emergent, unfinished and relational writing used throughout the research processes. To that aim, I develop the notion of ‘dialogical writing’ by drawing on literature on performative utterances and a collaborative fieldwork project where writing became an integrated part of the research process. I come to understand this form of writing as one in situ where addressivity, responsiveness and unfinalizability are emphasized. This enables writing to be part of a conversation; writing as a response to that which has been said and in anticipation of the next possible utterance. I close with implications for writing in organization studies, such as the possibility of thinking of writing as an offering of the tentative.
This article focuses on the process of writing where the purpose is to explore how it is possible... more This article focuses on the process of writing where the purpose is to explore how it is possible to write a research account that is inviting and “alive” so that, in reading, novelty unfolds. The account includes an illustration of how I struggled with writing and eventually found a way forward in reading Bakhtin’s work on the polyphonic novel. Inspiration from this genre opened up a kind of “listening writing”: an embodied and prospective form of writing that questions the traditional role of plot, since it calls for a letting-go of predesigned structures. Instead, it suggests a writing driven by the interplay of voices, curiosity, and openness to the next possible word. The article contributes to the discussion on how writing matters and, in particular, how “unfinalizable” writing practices, in which the author tries not to be the final mediator of meaning, can enrich organization studies.
Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 2013
Purpose
In recognizing that we have different modes of listening, just as there are different wa... more Purpose
In recognizing that we have different modes of listening, just as there are different ways of talking, the aim of the article is to explore how a greater awareness of listening can be a resource during field work.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a collaborative study of a family business as a starting point and focuses on a meeting held in the owner family where emotional issues concerning conflicts were discussed. Detailed illustrations from this two-hour meeting show how listening guided all participants, including the author in her role as a researcher.
Findings
Based on Bakhtin’s work on dialogue, as well as literature on listening, the notion of ‘dialogic listening’ is developed. This notion emphasizes four dimensions of listening: relationality and conversations as a shared activity, listening as an active process, the polyphonic nature of listening, and listening as an embodied activity. The paper illustrates how dialogic listening can create a feeling of an ‘us’ where we can ‘listen into’ things. ‘Listening into’ involves a prospective way of exploring which can offer a feeling for that which we bodily know but do yet not cognitively understand.
Originality/value
The focus on listening makes it possible to explore new research practices in that it suggests an orientation towards language that does not depart from talk but rather emphasizes how the embodied and intertwined nature of relating to one another can guide and direct us during field studies.
Although the role of communication during family business succession has been highlighted in nume... more Although the role of communication during family business succession has been highlighted in numerous studies, communication has mostly been implicitly addressed in relation to other issues and seldom as an issue in itself. This has led to a situation where we know the importance of communication, but how it matters, and how enriching communication can be achieved, is often overlooked. In light of this, the purpose of this article is to develop a greater understanding of succession as a process taking place within emergent conversations. Based on a real-time qualitative study of an owner family’s conversations during succession and Bakhtin’s notion of the ‘utterance’, three dimensions of dialogic transformation are elaborated upon: the role of differences during conversations, the role of multi-voiced conversations, and the role of listening during conversations. When these dimensions are viewed together, they contribute to current family business research by emphasizing the need to better understand the present moment during succession conversations. We are conceptualizing the present moment as a ‘living moment’; as a reminder of the once-occurring, unique and momentary transformation that can take place between family members in such encounters. Implications for research as well as practice are elaborated upon.
Based on an extensive qualitative study, this article explores how professional workers in an org... more Based on an extensive qualitative study, this article explores how professional workers in an organization, in this case television programme makers at a public broadcaster, cope with the complex changes that occur when their professional practices as well as their organization are in the midst of turbulent times. Departing from a process perspective to organizational change and insights from Bakhtin’s notion of ‘double-voicing’, which means that people borrow other people’s words in their own talk, two main contributions are offered. First, we show how stability cannot be taken for granted but rather takes continuous work. This work is conceptualized through the notion of ‘stabilizing movements’ in which other people’s voices can be used to legitimate one’s own practices and thereby create a space for one’s own actions. In this way stabilizing movements can create a feeling of stability, and a sense of a stabilized platform for action. Second, the research shows the need for inquiring into the contextualizing work carried out by professional workers during change. Thus, we find that there is no context ‘out there’ as a given. Rather, this study points at the importance of studying the contextualizing work people continuously do in various ways where different contexts are created and re-worked in the professionals’ practices.
Med den här boken vill författarna visa på intervjustudiens variationsrikedom. Även om intervju k... more Med den här boken vill författarna visa på intervjustudiens variationsrikedom. Även om intervju kan ses som en metod så finns det nämligen många olika sätt att genomföra en intervjustudie. Fyra intervjutyper beskrivs: den opartiska, den tolkande, den dialogiska och den kritiska. Intervjuandets hantverk, alltifrån planering till själva intervjusamtalet och skrivandet av en text diskuteras också, och viktiga frågor belyses med exempel från samhällsvetenskaplig forskning. Boken fungerar som stöd både när du genomför din egen studie och vid återkoppling på andras intervjustudier.
Process approaches to organization studies focus on flow, activities, and evolution, understandin... more Process approaches to organization studies focus on flow, activities, and evolution, understanding organizations and organizing as processes in the making. They stand in contrast to positivist approaches that see organizations and phenomena as fixed, static, and measurable.
Process approaches draw on a range of ideas and philosophies. The Handbook examines 34 philosophers and social theorists, both those commonly linked to process thinking, such as Whitehead, Bergson and James, and those that are not as often addressed from a process perspective such as Dilthey and Tarde. Each chapter addresses the background and context of this thinker, their work (with a focus on the processual elements), and the potential contribution to organization and management research. For students and scholars in the field of Organization Studies this book is an entry point into the work of philosophical thinkers and social theorists for whom the world is far from being a solid place.
Vad har skrivande för roll i vår forskning? Hur kan vi använda skrivande som ett sätt att tänka, ... more Vad har skrivande för roll i vår forskning? Hur kan vi använda skrivande som ett sätt att tänka, lära, förstå och samtala? Kan skrivande vara metod?
I Skrivande om skrivande möter du skribenter med bakgrund såväl i akademin som i skönlitteratur, poesi och journalistik. Här delar de med sig av sina arbetsprocesser och ger inspiration till att skriva, bortom gängse metodböckers råd.
Ph D thesis_Helin, J., (2011). Living moments in family meetings: a process study in the family business context, JIBS Dissertation Series No. 70, Jönköping International Business School., 2011
Kapitel i boken "Skrivande om Skrivande" av Borgström, Helin, Norbäck och Raviola (red).
När jag har gjort en fältstudie som handlar om dialog under känslosamma omständigheter där männis... more När jag har gjort en fältstudie som handlar om dialog under känslosamma omständigheter där människor har skrattat, gråtit, tänkt och samtalat tillsammans, hur kan jag då skriva om detta utan att texten känns platt, linjär och förutsägbar? Det vill säga, hur kan jag skriva om de levande, trevande och pågående samtal som jag har upplevt? Dessa frågor är utgångspunkten för det här kapitlet. Genom att berätta om min egen skrivresa, från det att jag satt med en hel resväska med ”data” till att jag fick ihop det till ett avhandlingsmanus, hoppas jag kunna väcka frågor och funderingar som rör själva skrivprocessen – vad vi kan kalla skrivandets praktik – kring hur vi skriver våra fältstudietexter.
Bokkapitel_Helin, J. (2012). Ögonblickets magi: Om familjemötets förändringskraft i familjeföretag, (2012), in Brundin, E., Johannisson, B., Melin, L., Nordqvist, M., Familjeföretagande. Affärer och känslor, SNS Förlag, Stockholm. , 2012
TAOS-Tilburg Workshop 23-24 February 2013
Co-creating Research & Practice:
Relational Theory an... more TAOS-Tilburg Workshop 23-24 February 2013
Co-creating Research & Practice:
Relational Theory and Collaborative Processes
Social constructionist ideas have been increasingly used to inform practice as well as inquiry. These ideas draw on a relational paradigm, which emphasize how meaning-making processes are co-created in relationships, language and embodied practices. This workshop will provide a space for knowledge development to enhance your own research and practice based on relational approaches.
This is a two-day workshop where the first day will be dedicated to social constructionist assumptions. Relational understandings of language use and meaning-making, dialogue, as well as appreciative and future oriented perspectives will be explored. Special attention will be given to collaborative research and intervention projects. We will focus on ways of inviting others to: (1) participate in dialogue, (2) enter into different lived experiences, (3) notice what is striking, (4) appreciate alternatives, (5) navigate multiple experiences and views, (6) embrace stories that create opportunities for different conversations, and (7) engage in relational responsibility.
The second day will be an invitation to work further with the concepts and discussions from day one into your own projects. We invite you to bring in your own research/professional experience from your field of expertise, such as organizations, therapy, education, and community development, to be collaboratively explored.
Time: 23-24 of February 2013, Saturday from 10h – 17h and Sunday from 9.30 h – 13h (joint dinner on Saturday evening).
Location: Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Registration Fee: (includes coffee breaks and lunch, and study materials): EUR 300, EUR 250 (student). Taos/Tilburg PhD entering students are strongly encouraged to participate in this workshop.
For registration and more information, contact Celiane Camargo-Borges on e-mail: celianeborges@gmail.com Preparation: A brief preparation form will be sent out in advance.
Föredrag på Encell (Nationellt kompetenscentrum för livslångt lärande, Högskolan i Jönköping), de... more Föredrag på Encell (Nationellt kompetenscentrum för livslångt lärande, Högskolan i Jönköping), den 21/11 2011
"Forskare, skriv för att bli läst!
Skrivandet upptar en stor del av forskarens tillvaro. Och d... more "Forskare, skriv för att bli läst!
Skrivandet upptar en stor del av forskarens tillvaro. Och det gäller att skriva för att bli publicerad – tillsammans med rätt personer, i rätt sammanhang. Allt för att öka sin meritering.
I denna process stöps de akademiska texterna ofta i samma form. Finns det någon poäng i att bryta denna praxis? Vad kan man vinna på att nå läsare utanför den innersta, akademiska kretsen? Detta kommer att diskuteras under ett webbaserat seminarium 25 september.
Talare är forskarna Jenny Helin och Susanne Pelger. De menar att det finns anledning att ifrågasätta den akademiska texten – och vem som tar del av den. Både akademiker och praktiker har mycket att vinna på att forskningen öppnas upp för fler perspektiv, och kommer fler till godo. Under webbinariet presenterar Helin och Pelger sin respektive syn på saken. Via en chatt har deltagarna möjlighet att ställa frågor till talarna, interagera med varandra, dela med sig av länkar och annat. Moderator är Alastair Creelman, Linnéuniversitetet.
Några av de frågor som kommer att belysas är:
◦Varför ser traditionella akademiska texter ut som de gör?
◦Hur kan man skriva mer läsarvänligt?
◦Varför är populärvetenskaplig text inte meriterande?
◦Vad kan man som forskare tjäna på att skriva populärvetenskapligt?
◦Vilken roll spelar texter för spridning av forskning?
Tid: 25 september 2012, 14.00-15.00
Plats: Virtuellt mötesrum i Adobe Connect. Läs mer
Observera! Adressen till mötesrummet kommer att mejlas till alla anmälda 1-2 dagar innan webbinariet.
Webbinariet arrangeras av CeFEO, Dela!, ESBRI, ITHU, .SE och SUNET. Det är kostnadsfritt och öppet för alla som intresserar sig för spridning och nyttiggörande av forskning. Läs mer under flikarna uppe till höger.
Den har boken syftar att reflektera over akademiska skrivandets praktiker och foreslar att skriva... more Den har boken syftar att reflektera over akademiska skrivandets praktiker och foreslar att skrivande ska vara en utforskande process istallet for den sista delen i forskningsprocess. Den innehaller bidrag fran olika samhallsvetenskapsforfattare samt bidrag fran skonlitteratur, fack, journalistik, poesi och aven koreografi.
A partir de contributions du philosophe russe M.M. Bakhtine sur le sujet du dialogue, ce papier d... more A partir de contributions du philosophe russe M.M. Bakhtine sur le sujet du dialogue, ce papier donne a voir un eclairage nouveau que des recherches inscrites dans la philosophie des processus permettent d'apporter a la question de l'emergence d'idees innovantes. Les travaux de cet auteur permettent de developper une comprehension des microprocessus par lesquels des idees innovantes emergent au cours d'interactions langagieres lors de moments particuliers appeles des “moments saisissants”. L'etude empirique d'une succession de “moments saisissants” survenus au cours de dialogues tenus a differents moments de temps entre les deux memes personnes offre une comprehension de la maniere dont l'exploration de ces idees lors de dialogues successifs peut faciliter la mise en pratique d'idees innovantes.
The political potential of unconventional and even transgressive forms of writing in management a... more The political potential of unconventional and even transgressive forms of writing in management and organization studies has been invigorated in recent years through an explicit connection with feminist theories, ideas, and practices. The results have been a new wave of scholarship that brings together the personal, the political, and the theoretical as a means to intervene in masculine orthodoxy of organizational writing. This intervention seeks to change what and how we understand organizational phenomena, with an ultimate goal of transforming practice toward a more equal and egalitarian future. We introduce five papers that responded to a call to explore the intersections between change and academic writing, as well as an exploration of alternatives to dominant masculine academic writing styles. Such writing, we aver, might facilitate change not just in the academy, but also in organizations and by extension, society
Abstract The aim of this paper is to contribute to current knowledge about special moments – what... more Abstract The aim of this paper is to contribute to current knowledge about special moments – what is referred to as “arresting moments” – when something unexpected spontaneously occurs, by exploring how such moments are part of a dialogic flow taking place over time. Based on a collaborative study that has been going on for 15 years and Bakhtin’s work on dialogic forces, the paper contributes with a conceptualization of “stability within change,” which shows how arresting moments not only create newness but also a sense of stability; a strong feeling of knowing how to meet the future and thereby how to move on here and now. Thus, it is not a question of stability or change, but rather an intertwined manifold of opposing forces of stability within change. Implications for practice and research are elaborated upon.
International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship, 2015
This article develops a greater understanding of family business succession as a process taking p... more This article develops a greater understanding of family business succession as a process taking place within emergent conversations. Based on a real-time qualitative study of an owner family’s conversations during succession and Bakhtin’s notion of the ‘utterance’, three dimensions of dialogic transformation are elaborated: the role of differences during conversations, the role of multi-voiced conversations and the role of listening during conversations. When these dimensions are viewed together, they contribute to current family business research by emphasizing the need to better understand the present moment during succession conversations. We are conceptualizing the present moment as a ‘living moment’, as a reminder of the once-occurring, unique and momentary transformation that can take place between family members in such encounters. Implications for research as well as practice are elaborated upon.
This special issue of Management Learning on ‘Writing Differently’ builds on a groundswell of res... more This special issue of Management Learning on ‘Writing Differently’ builds on a groundswell of resistance to ‘scientific’ norms of academic writing. These norms are restrictive, inhibit the development of knowledge and excise much of what it is to be human from our learning, teaching and research. Contributors to the special issue explore how, released from these restrictions, it is possible to touch vulnerable flesh and invoke new political and ethical practices. Through changing our norms of writing, we explore different modes of learning and change how and what we teach. By bringing the previously excised vast hinterlands of life and lives to the fore, we create the intellectual space to engender new ideas as well as more collaborative forms of learning. In so doing, we foster alternative conversations as to how we might constitute new, highly ethical and humanitarian organisations.
This piece of writing is a joint initiative by the participants in the Gender, Work and Organizat... more This piece of writing is a joint initiative by the participants in the Gender, Work and Organization writing workshop organized in Helsinki, Finland, in June 2019. This is a particular form of writing differently. We engage in collective writing and embody what it means to write resistance to established academic practices and conventions together. This is a form of emancipatory initiative where we care for each other as writers and as human beings. There are many author voices and we aim to keep the text open and dialogical. As such, this piece of writing is about suppressed thoughts and feelings that our collective picket line allows us to express. In order to maintain the open‐ended nature of the text, and perhaps also to retain some ‘dirtiness’ that is essential to writing, the article has not been language checked throughout by a native speaker of English.
Uploads
Articles by Jenny Helin
‘scientific’ norms of academic writing. These norms are restrictive, inhibit the development of knowledge
and excise much of what it is to be human from our learning, teaching and research. Contributors to the
special issue explore how, released from these restrictions, it is possible to touch vulnerable flesh and invoke new political and ethical practices. Through changing our norms of writing, we explore different modes of learning and change how and what we teach. By bringing the previously excised vast hinterlands of life and lives to the fore, we create the intellectual space to engender new ideas as well as more collaborative forms
of learning. In so doing, we foster alternative conversations as to how we might constitute new, highly ethical and humanitarian organisations.
In recognizing that we have different modes of listening, just as there are different ways of talking, the aim of the article is to explore how a greater awareness of listening can be a resource during field work.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a collaborative study of a family business as a starting point and focuses on a meeting held in the owner family where emotional issues concerning conflicts were discussed. Detailed illustrations from this two-hour meeting show how listening guided all participants, including the author in her role as a researcher.
Findings
Based on Bakhtin’s work on dialogue, as well as literature on listening, the notion of ‘dialogic listening’ is developed. This notion emphasizes four dimensions of listening: relationality and conversations as a shared activity, listening as an active process, the polyphonic nature of listening, and listening as an embodied activity. The paper illustrates how dialogic listening can create a feeling of an ‘us’ where we can ‘listen into’ things. ‘Listening into’ involves a prospective way of exploring which can offer a feeling for that which we bodily know but do yet not cognitively understand.
Originality/value
The focus on listening makes it possible to explore new research practices in that it suggests an orientation towards language that does not depart from talk but rather emphasizes how the embodied and intertwined nature of relating to one another can guide and direct us during field studies.
Books by Jenny Helin
Process approaches draw on a range of ideas and philosophies. The Handbook examines 34 philosophers and social theorists, both those commonly linked to process thinking, such as Whitehead, Bergson and James, and those that are not as often addressed from a process perspective such as Dilthey and Tarde. Each chapter addresses the background and context of this thinker, their work (with a focus on the processual elements), and the potential contribution to organization and management research. For students and scholars in the field of Organization Studies this book is an entry point into the work of philosophical thinkers and social theorists for whom the world is far from being a solid place.
I Skrivande om skrivande möter du skribenter med bakgrund såväl i akademin som i skönlitteratur, poesi och journalistik. Här delar de med sig av sina arbetsprocesser och ger inspiration till att skriva, bortom gängse metodböckers råd.
Book chapters by Jenny Helin
‘scientific’ norms of academic writing. These norms are restrictive, inhibit the development of knowledge
and excise much of what it is to be human from our learning, teaching and research. Contributors to the
special issue explore how, released from these restrictions, it is possible to touch vulnerable flesh and invoke new political and ethical practices. Through changing our norms of writing, we explore different modes of learning and change how and what we teach. By bringing the previously excised vast hinterlands of life and lives to the fore, we create the intellectual space to engender new ideas as well as more collaborative forms
of learning. In so doing, we foster alternative conversations as to how we might constitute new, highly ethical and humanitarian organisations.
In recognizing that we have different modes of listening, just as there are different ways of talking, the aim of the article is to explore how a greater awareness of listening can be a resource during field work.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a collaborative study of a family business as a starting point and focuses on a meeting held in the owner family where emotional issues concerning conflicts were discussed. Detailed illustrations from this two-hour meeting show how listening guided all participants, including the author in her role as a researcher.
Findings
Based on Bakhtin’s work on dialogue, as well as literature on listening, the notion of ‘dialogic listening’ is developed. This notion emphasizes four dimensions of listening: relationality and conversations as a shared activity, listening as an active process, the polyphonic nature of listening, and listening as an embodied activity. The paper illustrates how dialogic listening can create a feeling of an ‘us’ where we can ‘listen into’ things. ‘Listening into’ involves a prospective way of exploring which can offer a feeling for that which we bodily know but do yet not cognitively understand.
Originality/value
The focus on listening makes it possible to explore new research practices in that it suggests an orientation towards language that does not depart from talk but rather emphasizes how the embodied and intertwined nature of relating to one another can guide and direct us during field studies.
Process approaches draw on a range of ideas and philosophies. The Handbook examines 34 philosophers and social theorists, both those commonly linked to process thinking, such as Whitehead, Bergson and James, and those that are not as often addressed from a process perspective such as Dilthey and Tarde. Each chapter addresses the background and context of this thinker, their work (with a focus on the processual elements), and the potential contribution to organization and management research. For students and scholars in the field of Organization Studies this book is an entry point into the work of philosophical thinkers and social theorists for whom the world is far from being a solid place.
I Skrivande om skrivande möter du skribenter med bakgrund såväl i akademin som i skönlitteratur, poesi och journalistik. Här delar de med sig av sina arbetsprocesser och ger inspiration till att skriva, bortom gängse metodböckers råd.
http://www.fek.su.se/en/Research/Subdisciplines/Management--Organisation/After-Method-in-Organization-Studies/"
Co-creating Research & Practice:
Relational Theory and Collaborative Processes
Social constructionist ideas have been increasingly used to inform practice as well as inquiry. These ideas draw on a relational paradigm, which emphasize how meaning-making processes are co-created in relationships, language and embodied practices. This workshop will provide a space for knowledge development to enhance your own research and practice based on relational approaches.
This is a two-day workshop where the first day will be dedicated to social constructionist assumptions. Relational understandings of language use and meaning-making, dialogue, as well as appreciative and future oriented perspectives will be explored. Special attention will be given to collaborative research and intervention projects. We will focus on ways of inviting others to: (1) participate in dialogue, (2) enter into different lived experiences, (3) notice what is striking, (4) appreciate alternatives, (5) navigate multiple experiences and views, (6) embrace stories that create opportunities for different conversations, and (7) engage in relational responsibility.
The second day will be an invitation to work further with the concepts and discussions from day one into your own projects. We invite you to bring in your own research/professional experience from your field of expertise, such as organizations, therapy, education, and community development, to be collaboratively explored.
Time: 23-24 of February 2013, Saturday from 10h – 17h and Sunday from 9.30 h – 13h (joint dinner on Saturday evening).
Location: Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Registration Fee: (includes coffee breaks and lunch, and study materials): EUR 300, EUR 250 (student). Taos/Tilburg PhD entering students are strongly encouraged to participate in this workshop.
For registration and more information, contact Celiane Camargo-Borges on e-mail: celianeborges@gmail.com
Preparation: A brief preparation form will be sent out in advance.
Skrivandet upptar en stor del av forskarens tillvaro. Och det gäller att skriva för att bli publicerad – tillsammans med rätt personer, i rätt sammanhang. Allt för att öka sin meritering.
I denna process stöps de akademiska texterna ofta i samma form. Finns det någon poäng i att bryta denna praxis? Vad kan man vinna på att nå läsare utanför den innersta, akademiska kretsen? Detta kommer att diskuteras under ett webbaserat seminarium 25 september.
Talare är forskarna Jenny Helin och Susanne Pelger. De menar att det finns anledning att ifrågasätta den akademiska texten – och vem som tar del av den. Både akademiker och praktiker har mycket att vinna på att forskningen öppnas upp för fler perspektiv, och kommer fler till godo. Under webbinariet presenterar Helin och Pelger sin respektive syn på saken. Via en chatt har deltagarna möjlighet att ställa frågor till talarna, interagera med varandra, dela med sig av länkar och annat. Moderator är Alastair Creelman, Linnéuniversitetet.
Några av de frågor som kommer att belysas är:
◦Varför ser traditionella akademiska texter ut som de gör?
◦Hur kan man skriva mer läsarvänligt?
◦Varför är populärvetenskaplig text inte meriterande?
◦Vad kan man som forskare tjäna på att skriva populärvetenskapligt?
◦Vilken roll spelar texter för spridning av forskning?
Tid: 25 september 2012, 14.00-15.00
Plats: Virtuellt mötesrum i Adobe Connect. Läs mer
Observera! Adressen till mötesrummet kommer att mejlas till alla anmälda 1-2 dagar innan webbinariet.
Webbinariet arrangeras av CeFEO, Dela!, ESBRI, ITHU, .SE och SUNET. Det är kostnadsfritt och öppet för alla som intresserar sig för spridning och nyttiggörande av forskning. Läs mer under flikarna uppe till höger.
Varmt välkommen att delta!
"