Developing an Arts Based Curriculum for HRD Practice

Andrew Armitage

Lord Ashcroft International Business School, Anglia RuskinUniversity

Email: andrew.armitage@anglia.ac.uk

Diane Keeble-Ramsay

Lord Ashcroft International Business School, Anglia RuskinUniversity

Email: diane.keeble-allen@anglia.ac.uk

Developing an Arts Based Curriculum for HRD Practice

Andrew Armitage and Diane Keeble-Ramsay

Abstract

Purpose:

Sullivan (2005:215) notes ‘Responding to information in aninsightful fashion through constructive dialogue means thatprivate views need to enter into public discourse, for it iswithin the interpretive community of the field thatalternative visions are most keenly felt’. Linstead (2000:84)has noted that, ‘across the social sciences, few attempts toradicalise the forms in which social investigation finds itsexpression have been attempted outside of socialanthropology’. Bolton (2001) has also noted that expressiveforms of reporting organisational reality, such asstorytelling, and poetry are still under theorised, notablywithin the field of Human Resource Development curriculumdesign and pedagogy. The study attempts to remedy by this byaddressing the question how are HRD professionals’organisational experiences constructed and appraised throughtheir emotional responses?

Design/Methodology Approach:

This paper, through the lens of arts based methods, asks howHRD professionals experience and perceive their working lives.It considers the emotional responses to their organisationalroles and tensions faced. This was achieved by attempting toaccess their perceptive ‘reality’ through the representation,and medium of, arts based approaches. The of dialogue groupsfounded upon the critical pedagogy of Paulo Freire were usedto help the professionals conceptualise their organisationthrough the arts based approaches, for example, poem houses,poetry, drawings, paintings or narrative fiction they engagedwith.

Findings: The study explored the relationship thatindividuals have with the organisation which might be

represented through their creation of products, drawings,poetry and narratives which

Research and Practical Implications: The paper seeks torepresent the use of arts based instruments (ABIs) for thepurposes of developing a pedagogy which allows teachers orresearchers to consider other ways of developing understandingof responses to organisational settings.

Originality: The study seeks to combine a variety of ABIs inthe consideration of the organisational realities perceived byparticipants which has not been addressed through this rangeof ABIs.

Limitations: The study is limited to the participantsselected and does not attempt to provide generalizability butto gain insights through the consideration of the developmentof curriculum by addressing emotional responses.

Key Words: Arts Based Curriculum, CHRDE, Freire

IntroductionIn his book The Value of Arts for Business, Giovanni Schima poses the

following questions: what is the value of arts in business?

What is the role of the arts in management? How can the arts

contribute to develop organisations to boost business

performance? Why do organisations need to absorb the arts in

their working mechanisms and business models? (Schima, 2011:

xv). There has been a growing interest in arts based

management education in recent years. This is exemplified

with the Art of Management and Organisation biannual

conference, which brings together and bridges the gap between

business, the arts, creativity, and academia, and sets out an

alternative perspective for researching, managing, and

engaging with business and organisational life where

creativity and innovation play a central part for business

success.

Gibb (2006:166) notes that people development ‘is not about

the science of skills development in isolation, but about how

to think about people and their potential’, this arguably is

the challenge now facing contemporary target setting and

managerialist organisations. Kerr and Lloyd (2008:489) quite

righty ask ‘Therefore what can be done to educate management

to nurture and support the creative human potential and

resilience of their employees?’ In answer to their own

question they suggest management education needs to facilitate

leaders who can promote and support employee creativity by

setting creativity goals, and investing in arts based

transformative learning programs, as well as becoming learning

leaders (see also, Buchen 2005; Zhou 2007). This they argue

can only happen ‘if those in leadership roles are in touch

with their own creative capabilities’ (489) because ‘... the

very essence of 21st Century leadership increasingly demands

the passionate creativity of artists ...’ (Adler 2006:493–

494).

In terms of the design of learning practices, leadership

development requires reconsideration. As Nissley (2008:22)

states, ‘[t]oday’s leaders must leverage the creative energy

of the workforce to compete in the creative economy [and we

need to think] creatively about how we develop creative

leaders and creative leadership in organizations.’ Oakley

(2007:11) notes ‘there is no agreed definition of creativity’

among educational policymakers, academics, teachers or

employers’. However, Kerr and Lloyd (2007:485) in the context

of their work define creativity as ‘the creative human

attributes and qualities concerned with imagination,

inventiveness, improvisation, insight, intuition, and

curiosity – the natural ‘artful’ genius and talent of people’.

They go on to state that that these creative capabilities ‘are

sought after by business for long-term’ and suggest that

‘management education must follow suit in providing artful

learning experiences to assist with developing creative

habits. The transformative potential of arts-informed

research speaks to the need to develop representations that

address audiences in ways that do not pacify or indulge the

senses but arouse them and the intellect to new heights of

response and action. The educative possibilities of art-

informed work are foremost in the heart, soul, and mind of the

researcher from the onset of an inquiry.

Goleman (1998:100) has suggested that ‘the art of innovation

is both cognitive and emotional. Coming up with a creative

insight is a cognitive act – but realising its value,

nurturing it, and following through calls on emotional

competencies such as self-confidence, initiative, persistence,

and the ability to persuade’. This is important not only for

individual development but also organisational competiveness,

as Zhou (2007:17) notes ‘to stay competitive….organizations

are required to encourage all of their employees to be

creative, not just those who hold traditionally “creative

types” of jobs’. Thus, learning opportunities enabling

expanded awareness, adaptability, resilience, resourcefulness

and play are imperative for management educators and business

organisations in the 21st Century (Claxton 1999 cited in Kerr

and Lloyd, 2008:489).

Following on, the desired presence of innovation requires

organisations to provide a culture that both supports and

invests in developing creativity and provides appropriate

resources for that to happen’. These sentiments are echoed by

Schima (2011:1-2) by stating that ‘In today’s complex business

landscape, as organisations are challenged by new and

increasingly complex problems, the arts provided a new

“territory” to inspire executives both to see their

organisations differently and to define innovative management

systems’. The value of researching art-based modes towards

development then is twofold. Firstly, to explore the

experiences of human resource development (HRD) professionals

and contemporary organisation life using art based methods to

unlock the hidden realities or potentially silent cultures of

the organisation (see for example, Armitage and Keeble-Allen,

2010; Armitage 2011 and 2012).

Secondly, as a way to engage professionals differently within

their professional and organisational lives, to propose

pedagogical approaches and the design of HRD curriculum

delivery using art based methods. It is intended that this

might facilitate better understanding in terms how employees

respond to their daily situations, problems and dilemmas in

the workplace more critically though the engaging with arts

based approaches.

Problem Statement

Bolton (2001) has noted that notably within the field of Human

Resource Development curriculum design and pedagogy,

expressive forms of reporting organisational reality, such as

storytelling, and poetry are still under theorised. The

study attempts to remedy by this by asking the question:

How are HRD professionals’ organisational experiences

constructed or appraised in terms of leading to their

emotional responses?

This study aimed to explore HRD professionals’ experiences

through their perceptions of their working lives. Through the

lens of art based methods, its objectives include:

1) To understand how HRD professionals emotionally appraise

experiences within their organisational lives.

2) To conceptualise the organisation through the

representation and medium of arts based approaches, for

example, utilising poem houses, poetry, drawings,

paintings, narrative fiction, and the use of dialogue

groups will be adopted to allow them to access their

‘realities’.

Further this provides a medium by which we can capture

emotional responses. This approach is founded upon the

critical pedagogy of Paulo Freire (1970, 1972).

Arts Based Education as a Transformative Pedagogy

Paulo Freire (1998) notes teaching requires a recognition that

education is ideological, involves ethics, a capacity to be

critical and also to recognise our conditioning, humility and

abilities for critical reflection. This challenges

educational practices which challenge what it means to be

“critical” and how new principles of a pedagogy that counters

modernism might be constructed. This might not be an easy

task. As Grey (2005:62) notes, “the context for the

development of management education was very much that of the

emergence of complex, large-scale industry, and, associated

with that, the growing separation of ownership and control”.

Currently textbooks, case studies and classroom simulations

dominate business pedagogic practices. This has resulted in a

“contract of cynicism where faculties deliver and students

accept knowledge which, both know to be virtually useless”

(Grey, 2005:64).

This might suggest that if critical management education (CME)

or critical HRD education (CHRDE) are to challenge powerful

historical organisational or cultural discourse then it has to

review its pedagogic project, which are located within

political, social, and cultural contexts. This concern was

described by Greene (1978:12) claiming that discovery had been

taken out of learning in many teaching/learning situations by

noting that, “The self as participant, as inquirer, as creator

of meanings has been obliterated”. These sentiments are

articulated by Margaret Macintyre Latta (2004:94-95) in her

essay Traces, Patterns, Texture: In Search of Aesthetic Teaching/Learning

Encounters where she states “Rather than conformity, being

rewarded, in [these] classrooms, difference is not cause for

alarm but celebration”.

The need for creativity and innovation has been identified as

being central (see, for example, Davila, Epstein and Shelton

2007; Florida, 2002; Gibb, 2006; Hartley 2005). Kerr and

Lloyd (2008: 487) note that this is a consequence of the

growing recognition from business and government globally that

creativity, innovation and a more creative workforce are

necessary for the competitiveness of organisations in the

global economy. An alliance between arts, organisational

aesthetics, and disciplines such as management, leadership,

and human development has also emerged as areas of research

(see, for example, Cummings, 2000; Linstead and Höpfl, 2000;

Strati 2000; Armitage, 2014; Darsø 2004). In her book Artful

Creation: Learning-Tales of Arts-in-Business Lotte Darsø (2002:43)

identifies behaviours and competencies that reflect

instrumental (improved performance) benefits from arts-based

learning.

For example:

‘… certain artistic capabilities [which] are important

for business and can be taught by artists, such as

presentation and communication skills, listening skills

and storytelling. The same goes for team building and

collaboration inspired by ensemble and rehearsal

techniques, as these are used by musicians and actors. A

variety of business people, from managers to human

resource consultants, can benefit from these approaches.’

Oakley (2007) advances the benefits of arts in education for a

creative workforce, emphasising ‘the need to develop

communication, leadership, entrepreneurship, team work,

creative skills, cross-cultural understanding, problem

solving, emotional intelligence and right-brain stuff’ (Kerr

and Lloyd, 2008:488). She notes that a focus by economic

policy makers across the world on things ‘creative’ is driven

by factors such as creative inputs in innovation policy, a

need for new ways of working, and a changing contemporary

workplace (Oakley 2007 cited in Kerr and Lloyd, 2008:6). As

Kerr and Lloyd (2008:487) note ‘Given these needs, the

exposure to learning in and through the arts offers a broad,

hands-on approach to management development, with the arts

providing alternative ways of seeing, thinking, intrinsic

benefits that help discover, for example, other ways of

thinking than the taken-for-granted’. This they claim has

‘benefits, for example, such as captivation, pleasure,

expanded, capacity for empathy, cognitive growth, creation of

social bonds, and expression of communal meanings are not only

of intrinsic value to the individual but extend to the public

realm … and community cohesiveness’ (487) (see also, McCarthy,

Ondaatje, Zakara and Brooks 2004).

These learning benefits are ‘derived through development of

intrinsic (self-enriching) motivation and are supported in

transformative learning processes, such as are found in arts-

based learning (Kerr and Lloyd, 2008:7). This has been

exacerbated by the competitive challenges of the new business

landscape and importance of adopting innovative means to train

and develop mangers and leaders (Adler, 2010). This view has

been witnessed by several arts based initiatives in curriculum

designing and delivery and according to Schiuma (2011:132) who

provides several such example, ‘The inte.g.ration on arts-

based learning processes in business schools’ curricula is

gradually spreading’.

It can be argued that pedagogy involves the relationship

between student and teacher, the learning context, and learning

process (Bonk and Smith, 1997; Waters, 2005). This is important

to any critical pedagogy but more specifically for authentic

educational discourse that informs professional and workplace

practice, the structuring of opportunities to facilitate

participation and change (Freire, 1987; Freire and Faundez,

1989; Tadeu de Silva and McLaren, 1996; Billet, 2001; Moore.

2004). Further, Hughes and Moore (1999:3-4) suggest that

‘pedagogy can be discovered in any social context where

knowledge is distributed and used’. Critical pedagogy is more

than just superficial contact with “others” and the “what is”

that confronts individuals in their daily lives and establishes

a relationship of respect, honesty and trust between teachers

and students, employer and employee, provider and client,

institutions and society (Freire 1972; Freire and Faundez,

1989). It is engagement with the world. It is the humanising

of debate that gives the process its value as an instrument for

beneficial change.

Freire (1970 and 1972) defined a critical pedagogy as the

contextualisation within society, organisations, and history

(Lodh and Gaffikin, 1997) in the recognition that this is a

human, not a scientific, endeavour (Arrington and Puxty, 1991

and Francis, 1990). This has led some to advocate dialogue as

the means for the creation of democratic, emancipatory, and

transformative practices within the sphere of pedagogy and

communication between individuals and groups (see for example

Boal, 1974; Freire, 1970; Bohm, 1996; Isaacs, 1999; Hermans,

2001; Giroux, 1997; Archer, 2003). For Freire (1970),

transformation is central to emancipatory practices. It is

central to an individual’s awareness that they ‘exist in and

with the world’ (Freire, 1972:51) being, but knowing, subjects

who have an engagement of social, historical, political and

cultural (Giroux, 1997). Freire (1972:51) coined the word

conscientization to capture this concept as ‘conscious beings that

men are not only in the world but with the world, together with

other men’. For transformative practices to become reality,

Freire puts dialogue at the centre of human encounters such as

learning and problem solving processes, advocating that it can

only be achieved if those involved are exposed to emancipatory

practices that nullify powerful discourses (see also Senge,

1990; Schein, 1993; Giroux; Isaacs, 1999; Oswick et al, 2008).

This can only be achieved according to Boal (1974:xvi) by the

awakening of individual freedom within the context of social-

political-economic situations and as a challenge to the ‘given’

dominating orthodoxies of those who occupy positions of power

and control and manipulate those with less power.

Kerr and Lloyd (2008:488) claim that transformative learning is

an adult learning process where, based on new knowledge and

values, beliefs are critically examined. The learner changes

their frame of reference as they re-interpret their world’

(Mezirow 1997:6). Imel (1998:1) adds to Mezirow’s understanding

by indicating that transformative learning involves becoming

more reflective and critical, being more open to perspectives

of others, and being less defensive and more accepting of new

ideas. Kerr and Lloyd (2008: 488) note that ‘While critical

reflection is Mezirow’s reference point, a view of

transformative learning as an ‘intuitive, creative, emotional

process’ has also emerged’ (see, for example, Grabov 1997: 90).

Two views of transformative learning exist - on the one hand,

as a rational approach to critical reflection. On the other

hand, as one advancing the use of imagination and emotion.

However, both use rational processes and incorporate

imagination as a part of a creative process by sharing a number

of commonalities including ‘humanism, emancipation, autonomy,

critical reflection, equity, self-knowledge, participation,

communication and discourse’ (Grabov 1997: 90). By focusing

upon what the individual values, and needs to learn,

‘transformative learning can assist the learning development of

arts-based creativity and change so long as those learning

needs are defined by both the learner and the educator, or the

employee and the employer’ (Kerr and Lloyd, 2008:488). Also

they are based on consideration of generational, cultural, and

gender belief systems and values (Kerr and Waterhouse, 2008).

Gratton (2007) advances that Arts Based Intervention (ABI) can

have a transformational impact and represents the way managers

can ignite organisational energy. Schiuma (2011:107) notes

‘Accordingly, ABI’s can be deployed as management means to

catalyse and nourish people’s emotions and energy’. This can be

done in basic ways. By igniting emotions and energy by

framing questions ‘that propel people into the unknown,

stimulating their imagination an pushing them to look for new

solutions and different ways of framing reality’ (Schiuma,

2011:107). For example, past, present and future situations

that drive ‘the interpretation and construction of knowledge,

which allows inward and outward assessment’ (ibid). ABI’s can

galvanise people towards a vision. For example, establishing

what the future might be can propel ‘collective emotions and

energy towards the same trajectory’ (Schiuma, 2011:107).

Ignition contexts shape the organisational environment to

enable people to feel assured, experience pleasure and

attachment and they spark people’s emotional and energetic

dynamics. Ignition conversations allow ABI’s to stimulate

exchanges and ‘rich communication’ (Schiuma, 2011:108).

Finally, ABI’s can be used as a forum for people to get to know

each other, thus allowing trust and reciprocity to flourish

(ibid).

This allows students to ‘learn how to use their senses in

order to better grasp things that are happening around them,

as well as to react to them by being immersed in artistic

creative processes’ according to Schiuma (2011:132-133). This

leads them to develop creative skills, and confidence in their

ability to ‘express themselves creatively, have a willingness

to accept and deal with ambiguity and uncertainty, an openness

to reframe problems, solutions and scenarios, and develop

trust in themselves in their potential creativity (Schiuma,

2011). This has also been advocated by Armitage (2012) who has

proposed that management educators need to develop alternative

pedagogical approaches to explore the realities of

organisational life. Armitage (2012) uses Sullivan’s (2005)

“Visual Knowing” and dialogue as being central to “know the

world”.

Artwork has been used to unpack historical issues and

metaphors (Kent, 2003), and to ‘tease out possibilities,

demolish preconceptions, disrupt complacencies, challenge

decision making, and find creative comfort among

incongruities’ (Sullivan, 2005:197). It can therefore be

argued that all human activity can be described as an artistic

endeavour (Boal, 1974), where individuals construct their

realities, shape ideas, and actions, for example through the

representative media of drawings, and imagery that are part of

a broader system of cultural forms that play an active role in

socio, political, and political processes (Mitchell, 1994).

Furthermore, Greene (2003: 22-23) identifies that imagination

is the place where the possible can happen, a place of

‘resisting fixities, seeking the openings [where] we relish

incompleteness, because that signifies that something still

lies ahead’. Imagination as Green reminds us, this is where

completion is found in the sense that we come to know things

we did not know of, or conceive of before, it is a place of

creating our reality in to different forms, where different

shapes of reality are moulded in the face of new imagery. As

such, imagination, whilst the place of completeness, is also

the place of new beginnings, where the world can be “re-

oralised” as it unfolds other realities, new places of

completeness, and new beginnings.

Kearney and Hyle (2003) have as a part of a larger study

examined the emotional impact of change on individuals using

participant-produced drawings in an educational institution.

Both the participants’ and the researcher’s perspectives on

the drawing methodology, as used in their study, provided the

foundation for their findings. They concluded that drawings

create a path toward emotions; lead to a more succinct

representation of participant experiences; require additional

verbal interpretation by the participant for accuracy; are

unpredictable as a tool for encouraging participation in the

research; combat researcher biases when left unstructured; can

be affected by the amount of researcher-imposed structure in

the scope of how they could be interpreted and help to create

triangulation of study data. According to Kearney and Hyle

(2003) ‘in organizations, drawings have traditionally been

used to depict mechanical designs or conceptual models, to

portray organizational structure, and to communicate

information to colleagues’. Whilst these they claim are

exceptions, the use of drawings to depict organizations can be

traced back to Meyers, who used diagramming as a part of an

organizational adaptation study in the medical field (Miles

and Snow, 1978). Meyers’ work is one of the earlier examples

of the use of drawings and diagrams as a part of

organizational research.

This has been subsequently being adopted as a research

methodology by others (see, for example, Nyquist et al, 1999;

MacLure, 2002; Meyer, 1991; Trower et al, 2001; Zubroff,

1988). This approach has also been used to draw out emotional

responses to organizational settings (see, for example, Vince,

1995; Vince and Broussine, 1996). As Kearney and Hyle (2003)

note drawings may also be a more specific or direct route to

the emotions and unconscious responses underlying behaviours

during change (Vince, 1995), where ‘imagery can “bridge the

gap between the apparently individual, private, subjective,

and the apparently collective, social, political” (Samuels,

1993: 63). In a previous study Zubroff (1988) found that, for

clerical workers experiencing organizational change, that

‘pictures functioned as a catalyst, helping them to articulate

feelings that had been implicit and hard to define…. These

simple drawings convey feelings that often elude verbal

expression” (Zuboff, 1988: 141-142).

Furthermore, poetry and its use in the workplace has also seen

a growing interest in recent years. Poetry has been used as a

way to help those who work in organisational settings to

explore and tell their stories through consciousness raising

accounts. It is furthered that these speak directly to

individuals or that through the works of others enables people

to make sense of their own particular situations (Armitage,

2014). Poetry does not rely upon the strictures and formal

structures of conventional literary work and storytelling.

Those who write, or read poetry, engage with the world in a

way that allows their voice to be heard as an “authentic

self”. This allows metaphor, and memories to be explored so

that individuals might come to terms with their situated

reality. This can only be spoken through the private and

particular language of poetry. Poetry provides a mode for

individuals to confront complex environments by reducing their

complexity into understandable approaches. It helps to

facilitate a sense of empathy and understanding of, within the

world, to develop the self. Also by creating a space for

individuals to express the unsayable, it offers an alternative

voice to the dominant organizational discourse (Armitage,

2014). As David and McIntosh (2004:84) note “Poetry is too

important to be left to poets. It would be much better if it

belonged to everyone, producers and consumers alike. In work

and in business, poetry could be a powerful tool for deepening

reason and logic through the use of emotion and imagination”.

Clare Morgan (2010), in her book What Poetry Brings to Business,

explores the deep but unexpected connections between business

and poetry. Morgan (2010) demonstrates how the creative

energy, emotional power and the communicative complexity of

poetry relate directly to the practical need for innovation

and problem solving that confronts business managers. She

shows how poetry might unpack complexity and flexibility of

thinking, to better understand the thoughts and feelings of

others. She argues this not only aids the creative process

but it can help facilitate the entrepreneurial culture of an

organisation by developing imaginative solutions, and help

better understand chaotic environments (see, for example,

Davis and McIntosh, 2004; Darmer and Grisoni, 2011). Poetry

as an aesthetic conscious state of existence provides a mode

of engagement for the imagination to play where the senses

meet the external world.

Poetry allows aesthetic playfulness where the silence of our

inner conscious feelings can be broken, where ‘Poets align

themselves with the wretched and the voiceless of the planet’

(Okri, 1997:13). It is claimed that rather than the

constraints of objective reality, poets see things through

sensuous experience. Poetry provides sense of a freedom to

‘express the inexpressible’ and ‘to utter the unspoken’

founded from experiences encapsulated within the boundaries of

organisational structures, rules and regulations (see, for

example, Davis and McIntosh, 2004). Leavy (2009:63) reminds

that poems are ‘Sensory scenes created with skilfully placed

words and purposeful pauses, poems push feelings to the

forefront capturing heightened moments of social reality as if

under a magnifying glass’. It has the ability to provide

insights through metaphor and linguistic negotiation. As a

literary text, poetry presents an individual’s experiences

through the self-referential use of language that creates a

new understanding of the world, thought or feelings. This

provides an aesthetic process of cognitive and emotional

insight (Hanauer, 2004; Leggo, 2008).

Sullivan (2005:215) notes ‘Responding to information in an

insightful fashion through constructive dialogue means that

private views need to enter into public discourse, for it is

within the interpretive community of the field that

alternative visions are most keenly felt’. Linstead (2000:84)

has noted further that, ‘across the social sciences, few

attempts to radicalise the forms in which social investigation

finds its expression have been attempted outside of social

anthropology’.

Philosophical and Methodological underpinnings

Arts based research, whether in process or its

representational form, is neither prescriptive not codified.

It is the coming to together of scholarly and artistic

endeavour. This does not mean that art biased research escapes

the rigour and scrutiny of critical assessment expected from

traditional research methodologies and data collection

methods. Our work was underpinned by what Cole and Knowles

(2008) call ‘qualities of goodness’, of intentionality,

researcher presence, aesthetic quality, methodological

commitment, holistic quality, commutability, knowledge

advancement, and contributions (Cole and Knowles, 2008:66).

Intentionality is where arts based research must stand for

something; they are ‘not intended as titillations but as

opportunities for transformation, revelation, or some other

intellectual and moral shift. They must be more than good

stories, images, or performances’.

Researcher presence is where the researcher is present through

their explicit reflexive self-accounting. Aesthetic quality

is concerned with the central purpose of arts-based research

being knowledge advancement. This is not the production of

fine arts. The quality of the artistic elements of an arts-

informed research project is defined by how well the artistic

process and form serves research goals. Methodological

commitment is arts informed research that evidences the

attention to the defining elements and form of arts informed

research. The work reflects a methodological commitment

through evidence of a principled process, procedural harmony,

and attention to aesthetic quality. This is exemplified by

Coles and Knowles (2008:66), who cite McIntyre and Cole (2006)

and their work about caregivers and Alzheimers Disease.

McIntyre and Cole (2006) note that ‘Working with data to

identify substantive themes related to the research purpose to

preserve the integrity of the honour of the caregivers’

experiences, the form of representation needs to remain true

to the narrative and emotive quality of what people

contributed’. ‘Holistic quality’ challenges conventional

research endeavours that tend to more linear, sequential,

compartmentalized and distanced from researcher and

participants (Cole and Knowles, 2008:66-67). A rigorous arts-

informed “text” is imbued with an ‘internal consistency and

coherence that represents a strong and seamless relationship

between purpose and method’ (ibid). This entails that

student-researchers are ‘information gatherers, portraiture

artists, and interpreters of experience’ (Coles and Knowles,

2008:67), where ‘students’ creations made up of personal

narratives, photographs, memory maps, and found objects,

became at once “data” and representations indicative of the

inquiry focus’ (ibid).

Communicability concerns the transformative potential of the

research that ‘maximizes its communicative potential,

addresses concerns about accessibility of the research account

usually through the form and language in which it is written,

performed, or otherwise presented’ (Coles and Knowles, 2008).

According to Coles and Knowles (2008:67) ‘Accessibility is

related to the potential for audience engagement and response

[and] have the express purpose of connecting, in holistic way,

with the hearts, souls, and minds of the audience. They are

intended to have an evocative quality and a level of resonance

for diverse audiences’.

Knowledge advancement is generative rather than propositional

and is based on assumptions that reflect the multidimensional,

complex, dynamic, intersubjective, and contextual nature of

human experience’ (Coles and Knowles, 2008: 67). Claims to

knowledge must be made with ‘sufficient ambiguity and humility

to allow for multiple interpretations and reader response’

(ibid). The contribution is wedded to the intellectual and

moral purposes of arts-informed research of theoretical and

practical contributions. As Cole and Knowles (2008:67) note

‘Sound and rigorous arts-informed work has both theoretical

potential and transformative potential. The former

acknowledges the ‘So what?’ question and the power of the

inquiry work to provide insights into the human condition,

while the latter urges researchers to imagine new

possibilities for whom the work is about and for’.

In response to the foregoing, this study brought together the

methodological traditions of Paulo Freire’s Participant Action

Research (PAR) and his concept of Conscientization (1970,

1972, 1974, 1998), with arts based data collection methods.

This builds upon previous and existing work, and classroom

practice of Armitage (2011 and 2012) and Armitage and Keeble-

Allen (2010) who have explored and used arts based methods

within in the disciplinary confines of HRD.

Participants to this study were drawn from the private and

public sectors including small to medium enterprises (SME’s)

and large organisations. In order to explore and articulate

the possibility of tensions between organisational

expectations and their professional roles, they were invited

to consider their experiences and perceptions via a variety of

arts based methods, for example, poem houses, poetry,

drawings, collage, and narrative fiction. Participants were

then invited to present their art work to their peers in

dialogue groups.

Armitage (2014) has proposed a “culture of safety” and

collaboration, using Paulo Freire’s Participatory Action

Research (PAR) approach, allows individuals can exchange

stories, experiences, and perspectives within the safety of

“culture circles” (dialogue groups). This enables any

‘cultures of silence’ to emerge within supportive settings

(Armitage, 2014). Those conducting dialogue groups do not

actually lead but rather interpret ‘the communication of the

group and the social matrix, remaining in the background as

much as possible and helping the group take responsibility

for itself” (Waller, 1996:43). Those leading dialogue groups

need to the ‘interpersonal leader’ (Waller, 1996), a

“facilitator of interpersonal transactions and as a fellow-

traveller in the journey of life; taking an increasingly

background role, he attends to the language, both verbal and

physical, that is used in the group and its meaning” (Waller,

1996:43).

It was acknowledged that ethical aspects underpinning these

approaches had to be given consideration. It was important

that participants were full briefed about the task they were

being asked to take part in. Whilst ideas and techniques were

used from art therapy, a dividing line was drawn between

therapeutic interventions and the use of management based art

to explicate how organisations are perceived by those who

worked produce ‘art work’ (see, for example, Case and Dalley,

2006).

Consent was sought from all those who took part in the

creation of their art and dialogue groups, and to explain the

nature of how these would work. Any products handed over to

us for “evidence” has to be done voluntarily only used for

academic purposes in an anonymised form.

Method

Data was collected from thirty six practitioners completing

studies towards their Chartered Institute of Personnel and

Development (CIPD) membership. Participants were introduced

to the task (see Appendix 1) and were asked to address the

following question: How do you perceive your organisation? No

further prompting was given in terms of what they should

produce and how it should be produced was given in them

responding to the question. They were then presented with an

array of art based materials, for example, coloured tissue

paper, paints, coloured crayons, coloured card and paper, and

a selection of boxes, some of which could be unfolded in order

to allow their insides to be “decorated” as they saw fit. They

were given two hours to use art materials to describe and

portray their organisation. They were also asked to write

200-300 words to describe their work to assist us in our

analysis of their art works.

They were left to their “own devices”. The only intervention

we made was to periodically ask each of them what they were

constructing or writing and to take photographs of “the

process in action”. The task was concluded though a group

feedback session where students discussed their art works in

an open and supportive culture (see, for example, Kearney and

Hyle, 2003). The findings produced a variety of art works and

responses. These were analysed used qualitative thematic

analysis.

Findings

The following examples of work based art collected provide

alternative ways to explore organisational reality by using

drawings, poetics and the dialogic process. Zander and Zander

(2000:174) have called these “environments for possibility”

where “we come to trust that these places are dedicated to

the notion that no one will be made wrong, people will not be

talked about behind their backs, and there will be no

division between us and them”. Montero (2000:134) notes that

“This allows individuals to problematize their lived reality

within their dialogue groups”. Freire called these “reading

circles”. It allows individuals to voice issues that are

silent and potentially live in the shadows of organisational

life.

In response to Margaret Macintyre Latta’s (2004) call for

imagination, dialogue, and multi-voiced conversations, the

following are examples which illustrate how the “dialogical

imagination” comes into being through the dialogic process,

drawings, poetry, and poem houses.

Imaging the Organisation using Poem Houses/self-boxes

Nine poem houses were produced by the group depicting a

variety of organisational issues.

One was painted black on the outside, and had different

coloured tissue paper “exploding” out of the top. The

respondent said:

‘My (black painted) box is painted like a treasure chest. The

treasure inside contains golden tissue paper, hidden right at

the bottom, is representative of the “golden age” of our

organisation and the charity sector when we were better

funded, and the organisational culture and stiff morale were

healthier. The glitter and silver balls inside are our staff

and service users. The silver foil escaping out the sides is

our staff who are leaving since we have changed their

conditions, cut salaries and restructures, and our service

users whose quality of support is decreasing, both due to

funding cuts. The treasure chest (our organisation) is on

fire, inevitably due to recent changes, we have tried to plug

the gaps in the organisation (holes in the treasure chest)

with money, but there isn’t enough. The man in blue is

representative of our government who is standing away from our

organisation with his back to us.‘

Another poem house depicted a set of “swirly circles” on its

top. They stated that this represented chaos, disruption and

a loss of vision by the organisation. The inside contained

yellow paper sticks that signified that the organisation was

‘a can of worms’ once you dug beneath its outer layers. The

outside of the house (four sides and bottom) was covered in a

poem that read as follows:

‘The wise old owl has a rainbow view,

In his glitter ball world he knows what to do,

Let’s pass it on down to my next in line,

He’ll pass on my vision and it will be fine.

I love my boss he’s really is great,

Passed on some things I need to relate,

To my purpose and role,

But I’m not sure how,

So I’ll just chuck over the fence,

To my deputy owl.

I’m trying my best to perform as requested,

Without much guidance or direction provided,

I’m probably sure there’s some rules or regulations to follow,

To increase profit and make savings,

I think HR’s knowledge I’ll borrow.

Another huge project has landed our way,

We guide and highlight risk,

And wander who’s in charge today,

Whose bright idea was yet another restructure,

More change and disruption,

Whose help and buy in can one department muster.

We are the minions in this master plan,

Just pushed and pulled through the visions,

Of our glitter ball man.’

One of the poem houses used colour to represent “mood”. The

outside was covered in green tissue paper, the inside was

purple. The lid (top) of the box had a circle stuck onto it,

which in turn had three concentric circles. The outer showed

words such as pressure, time constraints, deadlines, money

constraints, and the middle had a picture of a clock and pond

signs, the inner contained match stick people. The respondent

explained this as:

‘Inside the box – care of the organisation – wants to make a

difference to the people it provides services to. The purple,

which is a spiritual colour, is one of the corporate colours -

the core of our business. The green on the outside is also one

of our corporate colours. The circle represent the

organisation – some teams are joined up and work well together

(represented by the people – match stick figures), but some

don’t. The arrows (which were pointing towards the centre of

the circle) represent current pressures which have increased

over the last couple of years (local government, funding,

redundancies, time pressure etc.). The chief executive in the

middle (female) is leaving at the end of the year; a new CE

will be one of the male directors. The yellow arrows represent

the new nursing home built by the organisation which is the

hope for the future and longer term stability.’

Another poem house revealed some very (personal) feelings of

organisational reality. The poem house was covered in writing

with comments on the outside and within. The participant

summed up their analysis of their organisation as follows:

‘The directors are faceless, not see or known around the

business. The company seems to change direction very year, but

the problem being that the direction isn’t known by the

employees in the first place. We have an executive board of

three, each with their own agenda nor knowing fully what their

roe entails, so they are unable to tell the business – this

has lasted one year! Then it was changed back to one country

manager – but still no direction given other than to cut

costs. We have no vision – short, medium or long term – we

don’t know – so we have to guess. The only communication is to

cut costs – but can we put a price on knowledge and

experience? Growth has been through acquisition – sixty four

sites across the UK – completely disseminated, no

harmonisation, and no uniformity. People that have been there

for years are leaving because they don’t like where and what

the company is doing. There is a general feeling of who will

be next or who will be next. The business is completely

reactive – reaching to the market rather than reading ahead –

no PESTEL or SWOT – these have never been done – no business

plan.’

One respondent “bucked the trend” of negativity expressed by

other participants. Their interpretation was shown through a

covering of their poem house in smiley faces, the word

“values”, and in bright red bricks (Figure 1). The inside was

filled with red and black tissues paper. Inside a poem was

contained:

‘Family run company,

With lots of money,

Helps out staff,

Work is a laugh,

As the company is expanding,

The work is quite demanding,

The owners know you by name,

The company has market fame,

Most people don’t like change,

They think it’s quite strange,

Overall it’s not bad,

Even though sometimes it makes you mad.’

Another poem house contained a selection of colour coded paper

cut-outs with words representing the participant’s ‘likes’ and

‘dislikes’ of the organisation. For example, comment was made

of the organisational culture as being “work, work, work”,

“demanding”, “blame culture”, “hierarchical”, being “black and

white”, “job security”. Another comment seemed to contrast

(positive impression). For example, “social”, better “work

life balance” compared to other laws firms, “benefits”, “CSR”.

One comment mentioned that the organisation had the most

female partners in law firms in the UK, (this being a figure

of 26%). The respondent summed up:

‘My company is perceived as a great place to work for, and

pride themselves in being friendly, approachable, fair, and a

great place to work. I mostly enjoy working for my

organisation, but their claims are misconstrued. From the

outside (of the poem house) it’s sunny and welcoming, on the

inside it’s cloudy (but not stormy) – overall I like my

organisation, but there are things that can be improved.’

Another self-box was less elaborately decorated. However,

some of the words on the outside appeared to convey anxiety

from the respondent, for example, “please help”, “just do it”,

and “what’s going on”. This was explained as follows:

‘Side 1 represents the Department of Learning and Development,

within which I am a member. We have a high performing team

with clear boundaries and expectations. We have open dialogue

in which to share ideas and can professionally challenge each

other. Side 2 represents my customer and the hospital within

which I work with a new senior management team and changing

middle management. The teams are micro-managed and are unable

to make decisions which were within their remit; the scene

depicts oppression. Sides 3 and 4 is a view of the ward

staff in the hospital The feedback is that the staff that do

not know the strategy. It is very difficult to lead learning

and when motivation is so low.’

One self-box had the words “compassion”, “collaborative care”,

“patients first”, “care”. As the respondent explained:

‘The outside of the box demonstrates the vision/values and the

employer branding the organisation wants to promote. The box

is packed with tissue paper to demonstrate chaos. The colours

(orange and yellow) are bright to shoe stress level and

pressure. Inside the box the (painted) lines show confusion.

The pound signs demonstrate cost focus and pressure to reduce

resources. There are a few yellow stars (on the underside of

the lid) to demonstrate a number of staff are making a

positive impact. The pictures of the monkeys demonstrate some

employed may be perceived to be out of their depth and have

been appointed to the wrong roles within the organisation.’

One poem house was not covered but upon opening it, it

revealed a gold bracelet wrapped in red tissue paper and

smiley face stuck to the underside of the lid. This depicted a

happy organisational culture.

Figure 1 Company Values

Figure 2 What’s the vision

Imaging the organisation using drawings and painting

The themes and issues arising from the drawings were eclectic

in nature. Of the 27 drawings and paintings produced only

one provided a positive perception of organisational life.

This participant reported that their organisation was locally

mindful, adaptive, evolving, was a ‘living and learning’

culture striving for excellence, ambitious and encouraged and

facilitated learning. It was also environmentally friendly.

The remaining focused upon what might be termed chaotic, and

toxic working environments, characterised by bullying bosses,

a long hour culture and a ‘dog eat dog’ environment.

Some reported that stress was an issue accompanied by a

‘target setting’ culture, uncertainty and high staff turnover.

Some produced artefacts that saw a lack of planning of process

as being problematic. Others reported as a “them and us”

culture with a clash in, and between, teams. One noted that

the clashes were dysfunctional and detrimental to staff

morale.

There was an emphasis put on monetary rewards. One respondent

identified that “sales are king”. This was contrasted with

several respondents noting that they were unhappy or

unappreciated or felt unrewarded for their input and efforts.

Another reported that there was a lack of autonomy in their

organisation. That disengagement was also an endemic feature

of their organisational culture.

There were several occasions when responses note that that

frustration was felt in the organisation. Also leaders did

not communicate with their staff. It was noted that this

situation led to worried staff and ‘them and us’ separation.

One noted that ‘infighting’ on the board was having

detrimental effect upon the organisation, which caused

subsequent pressures “underneath”, lower down the hierarchy,

leading to a loss of focus in the organisation. It was a

poignant that one respondent noted that trust was an issue in

the organisation “splitting the organisation in many

directions”. For some, the business vision presented to

employees - who are trying to catch up – portrays despite day

to day problems that senior management see a rosy picture.

This depicts to customers a picture of calm and organised

tranquillity. Yet they perceived the management as ‘clueless’

and ‘speaking a different language’ which was based in cost

cutting. This respondent noted:

“They misuse my needs and manipulate my feelings. My

dedication is being sucked away, and the stress is overriding

my happiness due to constant change. Leaders talk blah, blah,

blah”.

One produced a poem as follows to sum their feelings:

‘Everybody’s busy,

There’s lots of talking through,

But what they’re really doing,

Is hiding the elephant in the room.

The leaders are quite cosy,

Believing all is rosy,

But the staff tell a different story,

And it’s far from boring.

How do we work more flexibly?

How do we keep our women?

These are the big questions,

To turn drowning into swimming.’

This was reinforced by others who stated that the organisation

was on a journey with lots of ‘up’s and downs’, given

obstacles to achieving goals. This was not helped as the

higher leadership was revered and held in awe and middle

management was “hanging by a tread”.

The issue of voice was noted:

“There is a fear of change and we are bottom of pile – we have

no voice” whereas, “Management are self-congratulatory, staff

are full of doom and gloom, and angry”. For some their ideas

were of ‘disappearing down a black hole’ leading to an “I

don’t care attitude”.’

They identified a split between fee earners and business

services, “Separate cultures of corporate versus commercial”.

Whilst those who worked in the public sector reported that

their organisational structures were seen as “Top heavy” and

were suffering from “Government and public pressures,

constantly moving/changing, leading to staff lacking in

confidence”. They identified a “Lack of support, stress, no

job security” and felt that they were like “Puppets – lack of

confidence in senior leaders”. That there was “No carer

progression – I can’t climb the ladder. We have no choices”.

One public sector employee reported that they “hate this

place” and that “stress and absence was a consequence of

oppressive leadership/top management”.

The following are examples that capture some of the

aforementioned points.

Figure 3 Them and us

Figure 4 A line of miscommunication

Figure 5 Toxic Leadership

Discussion: Making Sense of Art Based Learning

We argue that arts-based learning and development, as part of

human resources management education practices and

professional development programmes, (for example The

Chartered Institute of Personal and Development (CIPD)) can be

central to developing “artful capabilities” (Kerr and Lloyd

(2008:489). ‘Arts-based learning is intended to develop

‘artful’ ways of working. ‘Artful’ ways of working, knowing

and perceiving are about the creative skills, capacities and

capabilities that incorporate reflection, awareness,

imagination, collaboration and adaptability (Darsø 2004; Gibb

2006; Turner 2006 cited in Kerr and Lloyd, 2008:489). These

are required by business managers and leaders now and in the

future.

Further to our findings in this research we agree with Kerr

and Lloyd (2008:489) that ‘these artful processes should also

be appearing in higher education management development, to

enhance the capacity….to be artful [which] is to transform

self through profound learning experiences that expand human

consciousness, often facilitated by artistic processes’. In

management education and development a shift from instrumental

management towards a paradigm of artful creation of managerial

self, in a creative economy may create social innovation (see,

for example, Kerr and Darsø 2001:1). Bringing personal

thoughts, feeling and emotions within the public forum of

organisational life requires supportive and open cultural

settings to explore organizational silence. Without an

enabling process the potential of such emotional appraisal can

be lost. After all the poet, in the gaze of the stranger,

surrenders and reveals their authentic selfhood to the world,

they lay themselves bare, and naked, and can be seen for who

and what they are (Kerr and Darsø 2001). Zander and Zander

(2000:174) have coined supportive culture environments of

possibility where ‘We come to trust that these places are

dedicate to the notion that no one will be made wrong, people

will not be talked about behind their backs, and there will be

no division between “us” and “them”’. This allows through

interaction and engagement in the workplace, people have the

potential to find alternative and playful ways to develop

aesthetic ways of perceiving (Eisner 2002a and 2002b; Gibb

2006).

By adopting arts based approaches to curriculum design,

individuals may be enabled to develop further creative

capabilities based from their organisational experiences.

Self-awareness, emotional intelligence, curiosity, patience,

reflection and creativity as ‘risk-taking’ (Kerr and Lloyd,

2008:489) can link their personal and professional perceptions

and subsequent skills (Gibb 2006; Monk 2007; Turner and

Myerson 1998).

It is our contention that art based approaches can help

individuals to make sense of their experience and subsequent

interpretation of ‘reality’. The concept of sensemaking in

organizational studies was first used by Karl Weick (1995) to

focus attention upon the largely cognitive activity of framing

experiences to be meaningful for the individual. This is a

process of creating shared awareness and understanding out of

different individuals' perspectives and varied interests.

This is a collaborative process. Weick (1995) provides

insights into factors that surface as organizations address

either uncertain or ambiguous situations and further Weick

(1995) suggests seven properties of sensemaking as being a

process that reflects what an arts based curriculum should

engender. These are issues we argue are directly addressed by

art based curriculum delivery.

Weick (2005) argues that identity and identification is

central. Individual identity shapes what they enact and how

they interpret events within context (Pratt, 2000, Currie and

Brown, 2003; Weick, Sutcliffe, and Obstfeld, 2005; Thurlow and

Mills, 2009; Watson, 2009). Retrospection can provide an

opportunity for sensemaking and affects what people notice

(Dunford and Jones, 2000). Attention and interruptions to

that attention become highly relevant in this process

(Gephart, 1993). Weick (2005) purports that people enact the

environments they face though dialogue and their narratives

(Bruner, 1991; Watson, 1998; Currie and Brown, 2003). As

people speak, and build narrative accounts, it helps them

understand their thoughts, organize their experiences and then

have a sense of control to predict events (Isabella, 1990;

Weick, 1995; Abolafia, 2010). This reduces complexity for

them during organisational change management (Kumar and

Singhal, 2012).

Sensemaking is a social activity in that plausible stories are

preserved, retained or shared (Isabella, 1990; Maitlis, 2005).

However, the audience for sensemaking includes the speakers

themselves (Watson, 1995) and the narratives are ‘both

individual and shared...an evolving product of conversations

with ourselves and with others’ (Currie and Brown, 2003: 565).

Sensemaking is ongoing. Individuals simultaneously shape and

react to the environments they face. As they project

themselves into this environment and observe consequences,

they learn and develop their identities and review the

accuracy of their accounts of the world (Thurlow and Mills,

2009). This is a feedback process. As individuals deduce

their identity from the behaviour of others towards them, they

also influence their own behavioural responses.

As Weick (1993) argued, “The basic idea of sensemaking is that

reality is an ongoing accomplishment that emerges from efforts

to create order and make retrospective sense of what occurs”

(Weick, 1993a: 635). Individuals extract cues from the

context to help them decide upon what is relevant and what

explanations are acceptable (Salancick and Pfeffer, 1978;

Brown, Stacey, and Nandhakumar, 2007) Extracted cues provide

points of reference to link ideas to broader networks of

meaning since they are ‘simple, familiar structures that are

seeds from which people develop a larger sense of what may be

occurring" (Weick 1995: 50). Weick (1995) defines sensemaking

as ‘an ongoing accomplishment that takes from when people make

retrospective sense of the situations in which they find

themselves and their creations’ (15). Furthermore, sensemaking

can be viewed and understood as invention, and argues that the

artefacts it produces include language games and texts,

whereas interpretation is seen as discovery.

Finally, people favour plausibility over accuracy in accounts

of events and contexts (Currie and Brown, 2003; Brown, 2005;

Abolafia, 2010), ‘in an equivocal, postmodern world, infused

with the politics of interpretation and conflicting interests

and inhabited by people with multiple shifting identities, an

obsession with accuracy seems fruitless, and not of much

practical help, either’ (Weick 1995:61).

As individuals interpret events, each of these aspects

interact and intertwine. Interpretations become evident

through narratives, whether written and spoken, which convey

the sense they have made of events (Currie and Brown, 2003).

Whilst Weick uses other authors’ poetry to describe and

illustrate these properties, he does not advance any personal

insights of his own. Nor does he extend the notion of

narrative towards more eclectic ways of interpreting and

coming to know individual’s reality, for example, paintings,

drawings, sculpture, and the production and use of artefacts.

As Weick notes ‘sensemaking is an activity or a process,

whereas interpretation can be a process but is just as likely

to describe a product’ (1995:13). Morgan et al (1983:24)

reinforces that ‘Individuals are not seen as living in, and

acting out their lives in relation to a wider reality, so

much as creating and sustaining images of a wider reality, in

part to rationalize what they are doing. They realize their

reality by “reading into” their situation patterns of

significant meaning’.

Implications for practice: Towards an Arts Based Curriculum

for HRD Practice and CHRDE

Sharing experience

Arts-based initiatives within the context of HRD curriculum

delivery are novel. We would argue that to tap into the

latent potential of employees, HRD practitioners might be

better placed to enact change within their organisations than

management initiatives; however we do not advocate the use of

arts-based initiatives for purely instrumental reasons. Our

premise is that if ABIs are to be embraced as contributory to

a critical pedagogy then HRD practitioners should accept the

role of art-based forms as potentially a central instrument

within CHRDE. The use of ABI developmental approaches might

contribute towards the reviewing of relationships with the

organisation. ABIs can contribute towards people development

which might develop competitive advantage through developing

individual creativity and evolving innovative organisational

through reflection. Potentially this might be achieved if HRD

professionals are exposed to innovative ways of confronting

organisational reality with their “own eyes” as part of their

own professional development.

It is only when an individual first experiences these

processes, which engage with their personal creativity by the

creation of images which reflect emotions that are

internalised by them. The adoption of ABI’s requires the

precondition of the organisation is a techno-human system for

which people have a central role. ABI’s are aimed at enhancing

the quality of organisational life. They are based within

celebrating and developing people’s nature and abilities. The

possibilities of ABI educative endeavours, broadly defined,

might prove to be near limitless; their power to inform and

provoke action is constrained by the human spirit and its

energies (Cole and Knowles, 2008:68). This might further

facilitate a means for HRD professionals to design and deliver

organisational development interventions incorporating ABIs

within their own organisations. If ABIs are not aligned with

this understanding and are adopted as a way to manipulate

people’s experiences, they could not only end in failure.

This could then undermine the spirit and image of an

organisation (Schiuma, 2011:242-243).

The need for management commitment

We argue that like any other type of organisational

initiative, ABIs require management commitment and change in

“cultural paradigm” to more transformative ways of

development. As Schiuma (2011:243) notes ABIs ‘are aimed at

sparking and supporting organisational transformation’ that

might entail management has to adopt more innovative ways of

addressing operational and strategic issues to ‘identify a new

and supportive and goal-consistent culture in believes and

behaviours’ (Balogun and Hailey, 2014:7). Support and

commitment from an organisation’s top management is central to

any ABI interventions used as part of organisational

development.

We argue that the HRD professionals are best placed to ensure

that ABIs have a capacity to impact on an organisation in a

‘suitable way, and the enhancement of organisational value-

creation’ (Schiuma, 2011:243). However it therefore be

acknowledged that ABIs might be used in isolated cases to

address operational or business issues. We advocate that if

ABI’s are used within curriculum design and delivery, these

could be directed at specific people management and

development issues in specify units (modules) of learning.

For instance, as part of the study towards approved

professional qualifications e.g. CIPD. This we believe might

be the catalyst to expose this approach to their classroom

experiences and allow them to recognise its possible

translation to real life organisational contexts e.g. for

value creation, problem solving, and personal enhances of

their employees potentiality. As Schiuma (2011:243) notes

‘Those initiatives that are implemented as “something nice to

have” or “something to try because it is different and

unconventional” do not produce a sustainable impact and, even

worse, can have detrimental effect on the organisation’.

Whilst this study reported here set a single generic question

with the intention to explore the emotional responses of HRD

professions, by the use of the lens of ABI it further has

considered possibilities to stimulate the “creative spirit”

(as a means to open the “vistas of possibility” to HRM/D

professionals). We are cognisant of the wider utility that

ABIs can have for more directive and business strategic use.

It has been considered for some time that there also needs to

be a fundamental re-think as to what HRD should be

accomplishing, rather than as a ‘cinderella’ to human resource

management’s financialised approach towards constant

restructure and downsizing.

A repositioning of the HRD profession

Re-reading of organisational context might deliver

transformative change programmes that ‘first put in place

initiatives to rewrite their context in a way that overcomes

the obstacles to enable desired change’ (Balogun and Hailey,

2014:7).

If professional qualifications are a vehicle for those

striving to attained senior and strategic positions in

organisations, then perhaps a radical reposting of what a HRD

professional is needs fuller examination. We advocate that

in order to be change agents “on the ground” HRD professions

should be re-defined as “human value creators”. These are what

Schiuma (2011:244) calls ‘art architects’ who play ‘a crucial

role in making sure that ABIs address business issues and the

development of organisational value-creation capacity.

Armitage (2012 and 2014) has illustrated how these can work in

practice, and our findings presented here further confirm this

to be the case and concurs with other advocates of this

approach (see, for example, Zander and Zander, 2002; Darsø,

2009). To which an essential precondition for ABIs being

successful is the desire to aspire to trust building

environments. For which organisations need to adopt ‘safe

learning cultures’ to introduce ABIs which are couched within

the dialogical process. Where individual employees have space

and places where they can express their concerns and feelings

through stories, narratives then ABIs can translate their

perceptive ‘reality’ into meaningful actions which they own.

Balogun and Hailey (2014) note within the context of

transformational change ‘Storytelling might be extended by

materials such as comics and cartoons, or theatrical

performances to bring narratives to life. In addition, there

are particular ways of structuring conversations about change

that facilitate engagement’.

Developing trust

As Schiuma (2008:245) notes ‘in order to guarantee the

production of positive benefits for the organisation, artists

and business people have to shape a mutual trustful

relationship’. This, we argue, is a necessary condition to

overcome employee diffidence and scepticism. Senior

management may be driven by rational-goal setting management

paradigms and targets. Therefore any aim to utilise a

critical pedagogy which might lead to more sustainable people

management demands a change of cultural aspiration towards

long term approaches. It becomes important that

organisations review the organisational context before they

embark upon ABIs. Much of current critical management

thinking lies with the tensions between powerful discourses

within the organisation, which in the post-millennium context

lie with capitalist financialised positions from organisations

operating in neo-liberal environments. We advocate that

senior management need to address possible imbalances between

focus towards capital or people with their resolve leading

them towards greater people focus. Yet since ABIs need not be

not part of strategic organisation wide transformation, we

suggest a Kaisen-style approach i.e. small changes in discrete

business units as means to show the wider organisation (both

diffident and sceptics) the value and worth of ABI’s. We are

not offering a panacea in our approach here but organisational

“big bang” initiatives can be seen as risky and if management

perceive they will be risk-takers, they may resist adoption.

ABIs should not be perceived by employees as being held as

‘something over their heads’ either (Schiuma, 2011:246). ABIs

can run into resistance by participants also if they are

concerned for their lack of artistic talent. This attitude

was not uncommon with our research participants, not least

because they felt embarrassed produced artefacts for “public

consumption”. ABIs it must be emphasised are about

individual’s perspectives, their interiority and emotions and

not producing “good art”. This “sticking point” can be

overcome if those who facilitate ABIs have produced their own

art work and to then put them on “public display” in order to

allay any fears of the artistic worth of any art productions.

As an aside once people understand this is not an “art class”

but a vehicle for “getting it all out” the dynamic of ABIs

take on (paradoxically) an expressive and creative dimension.

This “anti-talent” can further be dispelled if those taking

part can see the utility of producing their productions, and

have a sense of participation and voice in the ABI process. We

therefore advocate that ABIs are carefully planned in

consultation with those who might be taking part in them,

perhaps a one hour workshop to introduce and discuss issues

and problems could be a way forward (as for example quality

circles), before the actual ABI even itself. This would not

only prime employees, but might also give management inkling

as to what they may confront, and help inform any solutions to

address organisational problems and issues.

Conclusions

This paper provides an examination of the use of ABIs to

explore the workplace experiences and provide an opportunity

for individuals to express their appraisal of reality within

organisations through their emotional responses. In so doing,

it demonstrates the use of ABIs as a useful instrument to

unlock silent cultures and unlock hidden realities, whilst

allowing the individual to own these and reflect on them to

consider their future action. Groysberg and Slind (2012:4

note that leaders need to ‘initiate practices that foster

cultural norms that instil a conversational sensibility

throughout their organisations’. This can only be possible ‘by

talking to employees, rather than simply issuing orders,

leaders can retain or recapture some of the qualities -

operational flexibility, high level of employee engagement,

[and] tight strategic alignment’. This might suggest that

leaders might engage in personal and dialogical relationships

with those they lead. Therefore core themes that concern the

enabling and enacting of development in organisations through

creative techniques such as the use of ABIs within represent a

critical pedagogical approach that may be used to share

workplace experiences. Further these might be founded within

a Therapeutic Leadership approach that entails a healing,

curative and restorative ethos. It draws upon the ideas of

self-differentiation leadership and the family systems

perspective (Friedman, 1985) and dialogue (Freire, 1970; Bohm,

1996; Watkins and Shulman, 2008). Friedman (1985:52) notes

‘Family secrets act as the plaque in the arteries of

communication; they cause stoppage in the general flow and not

just at the point of their existence’. Friedman suggests that

self-differentiated leaders have the capacity to separate

themselves from surrounding emotional processes, have the

capacity to obtain clarity about their principles and vision,

have the willingness to be exposed and be vulnerable, have the

persistence to face inertial resistance, and the self-

regulation of emotions in the face of reactive sabotage. The

concept of family as described by Friedman is central, it can

be argued, to therapeutic leadership practices in order to

infuse trust, openness, inclusiveness, participation, creative

problem solving, and democracy that are given birth in the

cradle of the dialogical process (see, for example, Groysberg

and Slind, 2012), enabling the voices of the “silent led” to

be heard (Montero, 2000 and 2009; Watkins and Shulman, 2008).

As such, therapeutic leadership brings together several

strands. First it is a leadership approach based upon

inclusivity that enables individuals to reach their human

potential, where the polarity between leader and follower does

not exist. This being a dialectical relationship focusing on

the organic relationship between their constituent parts. It

is not the case argues Friedman (1985:228) where ‘A causes B,

that is where a leader motivates a follower or a follower

resists a leader….a family systems concept of leadership looks

at how they function as part of one another’. Second it

requires organisations as part of their ongoing leadership

development programs to introduce safe learning spaces

enabling enlightened ways of identifying, mentoring and

training leaders. Third, and allied to the second point, is

the creation a dialogical community that can be characterised

by accounts that contain an element of transformation whereby

action and characters are brought together in a plot line

(see, for example, Freire, 1970 and 1972; Montero, 2009;

Watkins and Shulman, 2008).

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Appendix 1

Imaginizing Organisations

Introduction

There is a growing interest in the use of art, in whateverguise, that can be used to understand how we perceive andinteract with organisations to explore the realities behindour normal modes of discourse. This has implications for theculture of silence and voice in organisational settings, andaccessing the imagination in order to stimulate our creativesprit. The use of art to explore our images can evoke hiddenand silent realties of how we see the world, but articulatinghow these give meaning to us can be problematic whentranslated through the spoken word. This can be for a varietyof reasons. Perhaps the meanings of some images cannot beexplained in our common language we use with each other, andrequire us to use a “private language” to make sense of theworld. It might also be the case that our images of how weencounter and see the world require us to express ourselves inother mediums so we can communicate our feelings and emotionsto each other rather than speak about these directly withothers in face to face encounters. Some of the emerging waysin which art can be used to enhance organisational andmanagement practice are:

Poem houses Storytelling Vignettes Drawings (Rich pictures) Autobiographies Poetry

Activity

Using one or more of the approaches listed above, you areinvited to discuss the following question:

How do you perceive your organisation?

How you report this back in your dialogue group is yourpersonal choice. You can if you wish combine approaches, forexample, a poem house with a short story or a piece of poetry.Whilst this is a personal and therefore voluntary activity, Ihope you will still “give it go" so you can experience andshare your organisational realties with each other throughalternative mediums of studying HRM that breaks the mould ofthe more formal way we interact with organisational life.