The purpose of this paper is to identify different types of project in relation to their degree of specification and the creative possibilities that more highly specified projects…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify different types of project in relation to their degree of specification and the creative possibilities that more highly specified projects offer researchers.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents the limitations of project management methods when managing research in relation to creativity. If projects are rigorously formulated and fulfill the requirements of project management, they may be compared to a mechanical task in which active decision making no longer applies. The conceptual framework develops the study of the spaces of creativity that research projects offer based on intentional action in which the notion of project is considered to be more flexible than that of more traditional approaches, and the notion of judgment is seen as a source of creativity. The empirical research presents the study of two scientific projects and compares their degree of the goal and task specification, the time required to specify them and how creativity emerges from routinized activities.
Findings
The spaces of creative possibilities in projects are related in two ways: first, these spaces are related to a critical view of the concepts of repeated action and routines, and second, they are related to the ways researchers use projects and the methods of project management not only as a method but also as a form of rhetoric.
Originality/value
Constituting a contribution to organizational change and innovation theory that enlarges the concept of project and brings understanding of how researchers define their projects, confront project specifications and are creative in a constrained framework.
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Nuria Nadal-Burgues and Eduard Bonet
The purpose of this paper is to present new aspects of the tension between creativity and productivity and improve the understanding on how research can be developed in very…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present new aspects of the tension between creativity and productivity and improve the understanding on how research can be developed in very restricted environments, such as the context of an organization managed using the methods of Project Management. And more generally, it introduces the rhetoric of judgment as a fundamental aspect involved in the development and specification of projects.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical approach is based on the phenomenological theory of human intentional action developed by Alfred Schutz, in which the notion of mental project is more flexible than that of project management. In it the concepts of subaction and repeated action are considered a combination of similar actions already performed. The Kantian notion of judgment is introduced to outline self-persuasion as a fundamental source of creativity.
Findings
The introduction of an extended notion of project and routine involving judgment expands the rational, generic and technical notion of project management. And the rhetorical aspect of judgment, at the individual level, establishes the possibility to deliver unexpected outcomes that are considered creative.
Originality/value
The proposed notions of project and routines mediated through the rhetoric of judgment present theoretical and practical progress in the subject of managing projects.
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The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of the importance and function of narratives in the context of organizational change.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of the importance and function of narratives in the context of organizational change.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on Schutz’s theory of human intentional action, the author introduces the concept of a mental plan – broadly referring to the mental rehearsal of a future act – and builds a conceptual framework that connects mental plans to narratives. Viewing actions through the lens of mental plans and narratives would prompt a combination of rigid clarity and flexible vagueness in both the action and the stories. Considering this, the author developed a longitudinal case study on organizational change in an international company amid an intense renewal process. Several narratives about the project of organizational change were studied, and these revealed some of the functions that narratives serve as well as their importance in connecting plans of human action with the actual execution of those actions. This paper identifies numerous distinct narratives, created by different actors, which focus on the process of setting and reaching a final goal. The content of these narratives reveals how different views and strategies co-exist simultaneously in the organization, even when actors are trying to achieve the same goal.
Findings
Traditionally, management takes an analytical approach to understand how change occurs in organizations. This paper emphasizes the importance and functions of narratives as a fundamental component of organizational change. On par with the linear plan of action, it is argued that the assortment of narratives delivered from various points of views in the organization are, indeed, the driver of change, and their dynamic interaction would determine the outcome of a change project.
Originality/value
The paper advances the understanding of the role of narratives in organizational change. This paper emphasizes the difficulties of using an analytical approach as a basis for understanding how action is implemented. This difficulty arises because of the variety of interpretations and meanings given to the project purpose and goal, and how these interpretations and meanings influence people’s future actions or project success.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine how the boundaries of rhetoric have excluded important theoretical and practical subjects and how these subjects are recuperated and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the boundaries of rhetoric have excluded important theoretical and practical subjects and how these subjects are recuperated and extended since the twentieth century. Its purpose is to foster the awareness on emerging new trends of rhetoric.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology is based on an interpretation of the history of rhetoric and on the construction of a conceptual framework of the rhetoric of judgment, which is introduced in this paper.
Findings
On the subject of the extension of rhetoric from public speeches to any kinds of persuasive situations, the paper emphasizes some stimulating relationships between the theory of communication and rhetoric. On the exclusion and recuperation of the subject of rhetorical arguments, it presents the changing relationships between rhetoric and dialectics and emphasizes the role of rhetoric in scientific research. On the introduction of rhetoric of judgment and meanings it creates a conceptual framework based on a re-examination of the concept of judgment and the phenomenological foundations of the interpretative methods of social sciences by Alfred Schutz, relating them to symbolic interactionism and theories of the self.
Originality/value
The study on the changing boundaries of rhetoric and the introduction of the rhetoric of judgment offers a new view on the present theoretical and practical development of rhetoric, which opens new subjects of research and new fields of applications.