Strategisk Ledelse

Strategisk Ledelse 8. undervisningsgang – 29. oktober 2012

Lectures, Autumn 2012

Introduction • It is in communicative interaction, in conversation with each other, that humans accomplish whatever it is that they accomplish. • Organisation is conversation and organisation and strategy emerge as the patterning of conversation • Mead argues that human consciousness and self- consciousness emerge in the conversation of gestures

CyberneticCommunication Thoughtarises in mind • Meaning lies in the words (vocal gesture) • Message replayed until same meaning is reached • Important to get communication ‘right’ If gaps, further transmission Thoughtrecieved in mind • Encoding • Decoding • Transmission • Autonomous individuals

Conversation of Gestures (Mead) • Temporal social processes • * Beginning / Ending purely arbitrary * Body 1 Body 2 Gestures starts • Ongoing Responsive Processes Response (Gesture) • Ongoing Responsive Processes Response (Gesture) • Ongoing Responsive Processes • Meaning does not lie in gestures only, but in the social act as a whole

Consciousness • Theories of gestures based upon our mammal ancestors and is based on CNS enabled gestures • Mirror Neurons enable us to evoke same response as the response our gesture evoked at the receiver (Significant symbols) • The whole social act – that is meaning – can be experienced in advance which enables to reflect and select our gestures in advance Mirror Neurons cansimulateresponses of ourgesturesonourselves

Language • Difference between facial and voice based gestures is that we can hear our voice but not see our own faces • The development of sophisticated voice and language (of significant symbols) is of major importance in the development of consciousness • Silent conversations with oneself

Language • In the traditional communication paradigm (sender-receiver model) the Critical success factor is to ‘get the communication right’ • In Meads paradigm, I can only know the meaning of what I say in your responses to them • There is no point in blaming each other because we are having to carrying exploring just what it is we mean • Activities of strategising becomes ongoing conversational processes essentially involving emotion and fantasy, as well as reason and all the other aspects of conversation

The generalised other • Private role-play / silent conversations evolves in increasing complex ways • As more inter actions are experienced, more roles and a wider range of responses evolves for higher accuracy • The formation of the generalized other Developingcapacity • Individuals develops the capacity to take the attitude of the whole group • Game or Social attitude, which can be a powerful form of social control through self-control

Processes of self • Take attitude, the tendency to act; • Me; The generalized other – becoming an object to one self • I; Subject, a particular person, time and place • No predetermined way that ‘I’ may respond to the ‘me’ • In CRP; the I/me cannot be separated and equal social • Self is understood as an ongoing process, where ‘I’ responding to ‘me’ – No true self! Attitude as ’I’ Subject Attitude as ’me’ Object

Turn-taking / turn-making • The process of turn-taking is fundamental organisational principle of conversation and establishes a temporal and social location for social interaction • The way in which turns to speak; • Are valued • Distributed across speakers • Competed for • Abandoned • Held on to • Hence power differentials are established and sustained in conversations

Turn-taking / turn-making • The process of turn-taking is reflexive and response of one calls forth a further response from another, in turn calling forth a response from the first, always simultaneously selected on the basis of the life histories of all involved • Conversations are Complex Responsive Processes • Speakers takes turns and are acting in his or hers own local organising themes (silent conversations) • Turns organised in pairs; question-answer, invitation-acceptance, request-response etc.. No pure form (extremes) are encountered Involved; - Highly emotional - Unaware Detached; - Less emotional - Aware / more reflective

Thematic patterning • People will organise their own subjective experience of being in that place, with those people, at that time. • Each is evoking and provoking responses from others so that the particular personal organising themes emerging will depend as much on the others as on the individual concerned • Relationships between people in a group can be defined as continuously iterated patterns of;intersubjective themes that organise the experience of being together • Themes can be revealed by Word Games! The pattern of movement over time has paradoxical characteristics and are not predictable

Rhetoric • New knowledge can emerge in ordinary everyday conversation as people seek to persuade and negotiate • Rhetoric is the art of persuasion - Rhetorical ploys: • Those that influence the direction of conversation, such as stating ‘these are the objectives • Those that provide frames of reference • Those that makes claims to be the truth • Those that destabilise • Those that influence beliefs about what is real and possible • Those who construct urgency • If dismissing opinions of others and close down development of a conversation is widespread, the organisation will keep reproducing same talk patterns

Other points... • Planned and prepared meetings kills spontaneity • Fluid conversations refers to thematic pattering, which is paradoxically repetitive and spontaneously transforming at the same time • Anxiety (a generalised form of fear) can crystallise in defence barriers covered as rational tasks • A healthy functioning organisation is one in which its members continually respond to each other and to other members of other organisations • They provoke and evoke responses from others and react to the provocations and evocations of others • What conversational practices block fluid, explanatory conversations? Lone Levin

Next... • Short exercise on section 13.5.. • Mini projects – status..

Strategisk Ledelse