Learning from Friends: Developing appreciations for unknowing in reflexive practice

Abstract

In this article, I develop a new perspective on being reflexive, which appreciates unknowing as a core aspect. The intention is to promote more inclusive and equitable ways of managing and organising. By drawing on my own and others' experiences of the 'business method' of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, images of the possibilities for reflexive practice, which embrace individual unknowing and help foster systemic intelligence, are explored. A relational ontology is pursued as these ideas can offer a suitable bridge to bring the processes of Quakers into conversation with debates about reflexive practice. The implication is that in the perspective developed, managing reflexively can be understood as a collective practice of searching for unity, or 'sense of the meeting', which is achieved through relational processes.

Mindful reflexivity: Unpacking the process of transformative learning in mindfulness and discernment

“…In terms of theoretical contribution, our foundational model of mindful reflexivity extends existing studies on spiritual practice and reflexivity in management learning (Allen, 2017;Rigg, 2018; as we bring into conversation the notions of moral-reflexivity, self-transformation and spiritual practice, and demonstrate how it cultivates transformative learning for responsible management. Our mindful reflexivity model also contributes to the often-overlooked role of spirituality in the theory of transformation (Laros et al, 2017;Mezirow, 1991), bringing together the 'self' and its relationship with others in practicing moral reflexivity at an individual (eg, leaders or managers) or group and team level in a mindful, context-sensitive manner.…”

Professional Learning Situation at the Workplace of Catarinenses Sports Federation Managers

“…Inclusive, são nessas ocasiões que os gestores, em especial os diretores, relataram ter maior envolvimento de aprendizagem profissional para atuação dentro da federação. O processo de ouvir ao outro torna-se imprescindível à aquisição de novas aprendizagens profissionais, assim como faz com que os integrantes da conversa estejam subordinados aos processos coletivos de busca, por meio dos quais as ideias são testadas, revisadas e tecidas de forma interativa 33 . O resultado deste tipo de aprendizagem profissional pode ser caracterizado como a conexão de cenas e assuntos que, mesmo sendo mentalmente orientada por outra pessoa, é de compreensão e aplicação facilitadas 34 .…”

Spiritual Practice and Management Education Pedagogy: Exploring the Philosophical Foundations of Three Spiritual Traditions

“…Through this process of sharing individual knowledge, members of the group expose individual knowledge to 'collective testing' (Vu & Burton, 2020) in order to give primacy to an emergent group wisdom. Allen (2017) argued that collective testing requires Quakers to be open to a practice of individual 'unknowing', which then informs a wider group-wisdom (p.134-5).…”