Narrating organizational spaces

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the narrative nature of organizational spaces and how these narratives influence human action. The study introduces a notion of 'narrating space' that emphasizes a narrative construction of space that is dynamic and performative. The study joins the recent material and spatial turn in organization studies where spaces are not considered merely as a container or a context to organizational action, but as a dynamic and active force. Design/methodology/approach: The study draws on the triadic conception of space of Henry Lefebvre (1991). Lefebvre developed three interconnected dimensions of space: conceived, perceived and lived space. Space can be conceived as an abstract architectural plan or perceived through the practice of space. The dimension that integrates these two is the lived space. Spaces are experienced through emotions, imagination and embodied sensations. Instead of being a passive object, spaces become active and performative through the human engagement. They carry narratives that change their form as time passes by. The study embraces aesthetic, embodied epistemology where sensuous perceptions are considered as valid knowledge. Findings: The study applies an aesthetic and dynamic approach to space and illustrates how spaces carry performative and processual narratives. These narratives are based on lived experience through personal, embodied experience, memories, and sensuous perceptions. The illustrations also show that narratives change over time. Theoretical implications: A narrating space concept is characterized by being subjective, dynamic, and temporal. Furthermore, it is pointed out that space is constructed through sense-based experiences.

Spacing leadership as an embodied and performative process

“…Time leaves marks on materials and surfaces, and it shows wear and tear, patina, from daily use. The same physical space can create various reactions: at times it can feel inspiring and exciting, at other times boring or even frightening (Elsbach and Pratt, 2007;Ropo and H€ oykinpuro, 2017).…”

“…Buttimer and Seamon, 1980/2015; Seamon, 1979/2015). While the space seemed to have instilled both fear and insecurity (Fineman, 2000; Ropo and Höykinpuro, 2017; Tuan, 1977) in regard to the outcome of the play, simultaneously it was the same physical environment where the rough interior (Strati, 1999), mundane interactions, talks and experiences during rehearsals gave him the feeling of ultimate safety. Of all the spaces, he laid down on the dark stage – and fell asleep.…”

Between the conceived and the lived, the practiced: the crossing of spaces at the arts and crafts fair of Namorados Square in Vitória/ES, Brazil

“…In this approach, one has the understanding that organizational space emerges as a product of intersubjective consciousness, from experiential contact with space. In this way, the existence of the organizational space is elaborated from concrete material references, which gain meaning through symbols, representations and constructions of meaning, but mainly through communication processes (ROPO;HÖYKINPURO, 2017;VÁSQUES, 2016;WILHOIT, 2016), and by the non-representational path of performance (BEYES; STEYA-ERT, 2011). This approach poses challenges to organizational research and points to the adoption of phenomenological ideas (TOMKINS; EATHOUGH, 2013), which elaborate the understanding of the experience of space in the flow of life.…”

Close Encounters: Intimate service interactions in lap dancing work as a nexus of ‘self-others-things’

“…We draw on an ethnographic study of lap dancing to show how the intimate encounters involved are signified and experienced, and are embedded within the material settings and meanings that constitute the industry. Throughout the paper organizational settings are understood as performatively constitutive of human interaction and vice versa (Ropo & Höykinpiro, 2017), that is, as 'a dynamic nexus of meaning and materiality in which work is embedded … and identities and practices are played out and made meaningful' (Tyler, 2011(Tyler, , p.1481. We aim to show how, through practices of encoding, embodying and embedding, highly prescriptive organizational subjectivities and settings come to be perceived as emblematic of lap dancing work.…”

“…First, we offer empirical insights into the lap dancing industry, developing inroads that have been made in recent years into understanding the commodification of gendered sexuality within organizational life (Cohen & Wolkowitz, 2018; Sanders, Cohen, & Hardy, 2013). This literature has emphasized the increasing ‘pornification’ of contemporary culture (Attwood, 2006; Kingston & Sanders, 2010; Walter, 2010), and the need for more empirical research focusing on sex ‘as a meaningful topic of inquiry’ (Brewis, 2005, p. 403), as well as organizational settings as sensuous, performative spaces (Ropo & Höykinpiro, 2017). We do this by mapping out some of the ways in which idealized forms of gendered sexuality are encoded within the lap dancing industry’s cultural landscape through corporate websites, considering how this impacts upon both the performances of lap dancers and the materiality of the clubs in which these performances take place.…”