Aspects of phronetic social science and phronetic organization research have been much debated over the recent years. So far, the visual aspects of communicating phronesis have gained little attention. Still organizations try to convey a desirable image of respectability and success, both internally and externally to the public. A channel for such information is corporate reporting, and particularly CSR reporting embrace values like fairness, goodness, and sustainability. This study explores how visual portrayals of supposedly wise and discerning values (phronesis) are used to reinforce the verbal features of CSR reporting. The two propositions underlying this study is (1) that visual images form some of the major parts of the structures of contemporary corporate reporting (particularly CSR reporting) and (2) that phronetic action in organizations is subjected not only to textual documentation, but also to visual expressions. This study also discusses how the Aristotelian concept of phronesis can be linked to contemporary concerns about responsibility, and how this is visually represented in CSR reporting. Finally, this study addresses the symbolic and contextual signification of images in corporate accounts of wisdom and responsibility.

The two Greek notions of time, chronos and kairos, and their spatial counterparts, chora and topos, are discussed in conjunction with some Aristotelian notions of human action, namely, theoria/episteme, poiesis/techne, and praxis/phronesis. From this discussion follows a unification of these Greek spatio-temporal notions into chronochora, chronotopos, kairochora, and kairotopos, which correspond to a move from abstract scientific time-space towards a concrete and meaningful time and place. Finally, these time and space notions are discussed in the contemporary organizational settings of time management (e.g. Just-In-Time) and virtual organizations, and their different forms of abstraction are alluded to.

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The aim of this paper is to bring together temporal and spatial notions into a different set of axiologic pairs, and to trace examples in which such a set of pairs might be illuminating in accounts of how environmental issues are perceived in various social science disciplines. The paper begins with a division of time into reified clock time (chronos) and timely kairos time, together with a spatial division between abstract space (chora) and concrete place (topos). To better comprehend these originally Greek spatial and temporal notions, some Aristotelian concepts of human action will also be used (i.e. theoria/episteme, poiesis/ techne and praxis/phronesis). These extended notions of human action, time and space/place are discussed in conjunction with aesthetics, ethics and environmental issues in the different organizational settings of science, mass media, business management and environmentalism. Setting the StageThe contemporary, 24-hour, all-year-round, non-stop global world of justin-time trading and finance is constantly focusing on cutting time and reducing strenuous physical distance. The increase in international trade and swift financial markets has also encouraged extensive debate regarding its potential impact on environmental matters. The particular focus in this paper will be on the concepts of time, space and human action in conjunction with environmental issues in the different organizational Volume 11(6): 849-872 articles at SIMON FRASER LIBRARY on June 12, 2015 org.sagepub.com Downloaded fromsettings of science, mass media, business management and environmentalism. This paper is also based on an undertaking to (re-)introduce some ancient Greek notions on different forms of action, time, space and place into the contemporary debate on spatio-temporal aspects of organizations.Nowadays, a great deal of attention is being paid to the notion of time and temporality. Yet, temporal aspects in organization studies are still somewhat neglected, especially the qualitative analysis of organizational time. 1 Almost without exception, the attention to the limitations of treating organizational time as exclusively quantitative and homogenous (i.e. clock time) still relies upon an understanding of time as chronological time, depicted as linear, circular or spiral. It is argued in this paper that the analysis of time in social settings remains crippled if there is a partisan focus on chronological time alone, regardless of whether it is depicted as clock, linear, circular or spiral time.Just as the reified clock time has reached an omnipresent and omnipotent status over human time consciousness, abstract geometric space has likewise become the key to understanding extension at the expense of concrete and meaningful place. Much attention to the spatial aspects of organizations still relies upon an understanding of space/place as 'abstract' geometrical extension, although some studies have also been dealing with different aspects of space and place in organizational settings. 2 This paper is concerned with su...

Different forms of trust in the contemporary organizational settings of virtual organizations and time management (e.g., just‐in‐time, lean production, and total quality management) are discussed in conjunction with some Greek philosophical notions of human action, namely theoria/episteme, poiesis/techne, and praxis/phronesis, together with the two notions of time, chronos/kairos and their spatial counterparts, chora/topos. It is suggested that time management concepts in production line settings are frequently based upon asymmetric power‐relations and rigid time‐control making most forms of organizational trust instrumental and/or weak. Virtual organization settings, on the other hand, are more likely to contain trust that appears to be fragile and temporal, and in demand of communication based on right moments to act judiciously.