The Art Dialogue Method in Bureaucracies: The proliferation and development of valuable practices

Abstract

The leading question is: “How could we develop the potential fairness by means of rules in the

organization, by fostering social, moral and professional values in communities of learning?”

Views of Bauman (2000), Sennett (1998, 2006) and duGay (2000) are discussed in order to bring the

development of value rationality into the domains of multiple communities both within and in-between

bureaucracies. Going by MacIntyre‟s attempt (2007/1981) the authors highlight virtuous and social

action in bureaucracies: to design rules that delimit arbitrariness, and create some fairness, while at the

same time working with the inherent limitations in number and contents of rules.

In particular, the Art Dialogue Method is presented as a small scale narrative approach which might

offer an alternative for the instrumental „spirit of bureaucracy‟. Especially in the context of communities

of practice the method is powerful to bridge the gap between the management and leadership level of

mission statements and the level of professional behavior. Cases are described in which co-creative

processes of finding practical solutions to questions and organizational problems at stake are stimulated.

This means a huge advantage when compared to the bureaucratic and often ineffective route of

„implementation strategies‟ for protocols.

Keywords: instrumental rationality, ethical and social values, organizational citizenship, organizational

development, substantial rationality, art dialogue method, small narratives, bureaucracy, leadership

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The Art Dialogue Method in Bureaucracies: The proliferation and development of valuable practices

Introduction

Going by the vision of philosophers who reflect on the post-modern situation of our globalized world

(Baudrillard, 1994; Bauman, 1989, 2000; Lyotard, 1979 / 1986) we each have to deal with a general

fragmentation of moral authority in society. The recurrent critique, which in the extreme is promoted by

Bauman‟s description of the bureaucratic effectiveness of the administration of the Holocaust by Nazi-

Germany, is that value rationality is suppressed by instrumental rationality. Thus the ethical question as

to what is good, is downplayed by the question what is effective. And that what is good is answered in

terms of systemic rationality and not in terms of individual rationality.

In this postmodern age we experiment with different forms of organizing. Yet a lot of the basic tenets of

Max Weber‟s works seem to hold. Power and coercion are not what keeps society together, but authority

does - although that will depend on the possibility of being able to exercise coercion. The point that Du

Gay (2000) makes on the basis of Weber‟s works, is that bureaucracy does have an ethos of fairness: in rejecting patronage and promoting impersonality through a reliance on rules the legitimization works on

rational grounds. In a practical sense what is at stake, is that the role of the bureaucrat is to form rules

that bind all, managers and subordinates, and that thereby avoid the exercise of absolute power of one

over the other. A general compliance to rules prevents the arbitrariness that comes with leadership on the

basis of tradition, charisma, or threat. If we are to state the principles according to which we act, there is

at least the possibility of accountability (133)

If we are to legitimize authority we cannot escape the realisation that we live in a world of multiple

rationalities. We may choose to make the market logic dominant, so that whatever develops the greatest

profits should define our actions. However, this instrumental „spirit of bureaucracy‟ makes, in the words

of Paul du Gay, fragmented and anomic that which should be organic and whole (2000: 67). What is

needed, is that this instrumental rationality is grounded in substantive rationality. Substantive rationality

tells why we do things we do, what moral, social, ethical value is in our practices.

Yet this is exactly the problem. Going by the vision of philosophers who reflect on the post-modern

situation of our globalised world (Baudrillard, 1994; Bauman, 1989, 2000; Lyotard, 1979 / 1986) we

would be naïve to look for an overall ethical therapy for bureaucracies. In the light of this general

fragmentation of moral authority in society we pose the question: How are we to address values and

leadership when we do not have generally accepted and socially embodied narratives anymore that have

a binding power for large organizations as a whole?

As a starting point we support the idea that we need to build moral communities rather than to look for a

new universal ethical theory. In this we connect to narrative approaches like Nussbaum‟s interpretation

of Greek tragedies and Aristotelian ethics (2001), and of Alasdair MacIntyre‟s book, After Virtue (2007

/ 1981). MacIntyre‟s conclusion on an analysis of the dominant Western Ethical ideal of achieving

universal, abstract, moral norms for human actions that are independent of and uncontaminated by

social, cultural, historical and individual particularity was, that this ideal is impossible to achieve. He

and other thinkers now believe that right and wrong can only be discerned from within a particular

tradition. “Ethical action is dependent on indwelling a socially embodied narrative, on membership in a

concrete community oriented to a distinctive perspective, heritage, and vision of life” (Middleton &

Walsh, 1995). Going by MacIntyre‟s attempt we could highlight virtuous action in bureaucracies, not as

a contradiction in terms, but as a real challenge to reform today‟s bureaucracy‟s: to design rules that

delimit arbitrariness, and create some fairness, while at the same time working with the inherent

limitations in number and contents of rules.

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Du Gay‟s critique on MacIntyre, we should not attempt to strive for coherence on the basis of a shared

set of values within a community. Even that attempt may smother and suffocate vital differences. With

du Gay we emphasize coherence on the basis of a dialogical construction of narratives (Bakhtin, 1982)

over a covering grand narrative. The question then is: If (moral) authority within organisations was

traditionally organised top down, how are we to develop organisational structures and a leadership style

within a more polycentric framework which are nevertheless effective?

We propose the thesis that this challenging question is to be dealt with on the „post-modern‟ scale of

„small narratives‟ in organizations and institutions, instead of „grand narratives‟ and political ideologies

that represented the binding power for ethnic, religious and cultural groups. We could conceive of

bureaucracies that develop their formal rationality informed by multiple substantive rationalities. In that

case participants would all accept that there is value in developing rules. Rules could be considered as

the least of the worst, the alternatives being submitting to coercion, guided by tradition, or led by

charismatic or even spiritual leaders.

The Art Dialogue Method (Muijen, 2001) is presented as such a „small scale‟ narrative approach in

which (moral) authority can be organised within communities of practice and on other levels. The

method focuses on dialogical change processes, developing an inner compass for leadership and a value

driven type of management that might empower professionals and affect the institutional grid of

organizations.

In the following we will attempt to explain how we could intervene with the Art Dialogue Method in

typical circumstances in bureaucratic organizations, its importance and its uses.

An artistic inquiry Perspective on Empowering the Ethos of a Community

As a starting point for this perspective we take MacIntyre's words: "I can only answer the question,

'What am I to do?' if I can answer the prior question 'Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?”

The idea of using narrative or story is not new. We are familiar with how religions, including

Christianity, Judaism and Islam, use “story” to express their understanding of the nature and destiny of

men and women and the world they inhabit. Their stories relate truths believed by these communities

and within them the limits for moral behaviour are set.

Charlotte Linde writes :

“Part of becoming a member of any institution, formal or informal, is learning to tell the stories of that institution, and learning to tell one’s own stories in a way coherent with those of that group. Part of what one needs to know to be a member is what the stories of the group are, what events in the past are judged to have relevance to the present, what values the stories exemplify, and when it is appropriate to tell them. This is one very important way that people actually take on the values of the institution as their own. It is this participatory process which makes stories particularly effective as a way of transmitting social knowledge, because the hearer comes to participate in the construction of the story, and thus comes to have a stake in it.” (Linde, REF)

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We would like to widen this understanding, or rather emphasize, that stories are composed of texts that

are not limited to merely narratives, but are also composed of imagery (through paintings, or lively

descriptions), situations (the ritualistic environment such as a church, a theatre room, etc. as well as the

rituals themselves which are part and parcel of the origin of narratives), smell (like insects and herbs),

sounds (the way of telling, the use of voice, or music), taste, (ritual food & drinks Both smell and taste

are fundamental in invoking memories and the sphere in which stories and narratives are told (Draaisma,

2010).

Art based programs (music, dance, art, and drama) enhance therapeutic possibilities for patients to

recover from developmental problems, anxieties and trauma´s, to strengthen social and emotional

competences (McNiff, S. 2008)These facts are not just interesting for strictly therapeutic applications

but have a broader scope. Also in the context of organizational behaviour and human development in

organizations there is a need for human centred perspective which complements managerial ways and

economic incentives of controlling human behaviour (Coenen, 2004; Kampen, 2011). The potential of

art based programs, as well as the characteristic of art to monitor and foster developmental processes en

empowerment in communities (e.g. community art) could be a means to speak in new ways about

collaborative action, managing corporate social responsibilities, to understand the (social, economic and

ecological) environments in new ways. In designing new settings, art could be an intervention for

invocating attention to aspects we find important. To address the broader scope art based programs

might have and to appoint the connection with a dialogical change perspective (Bridges, 2003;

Wierdsma&Swieringa, 2002) and learning organisations, we introduce the Art Dialogue Method

(ADM).

Art is about invocation, an invocation of the senses and using multiple idioms of sense making at the

same time. Invocation is by definition in the present and in the plural. In this sense it is opposed to

verbal representation and knowledge transfer, although the making of art interweaves with different

traditions of texts (mythical and religious texts, music, rituals and art for example). Art draws the

attention into different idioms and spheres while at the same time it can create in depth and focussed

concentration. Art makes an appeal on other layers of being than merely cognitive understanding, i.e.

emotional, physical, intuitive domains. (Muijen&Van Marissing, 2011b) ADM tunes in the invocational

nature of art and dialogue; thus transgressing the cliché conceptions about making art as something

exclusive, that you need to be a genius or being creative in nature. Making art is seen as something

inherent of human nature, social interaction and community life, esp. the nature of symbolic

communication (Cassirer, 1929; Langer, 1979; Van den Berk, 2003). ADM invokes the paradoxical

quality of art in dialogical and symbolic communication and interaction: creating both ambiguity and

plurality in meaning (instead of striving to smart definition and univocal, one dimensional sense making)

and at the same time the act of making art together contributes to a mind-set that is concentrated and

focussed.

The paradoxical dialogical quality of art creates the conditions for processes of sense making that are

capable of organising multiple (cognitive, emotional, social, spiritual, creative,…) intelligence and out

of the box thinking, double and triple loop learning (Yuthas, Dillard & Rogers, 2004) which

encompasses value learning and an ethical perspective in organisational learning and development

programs. In the context of ADM no fundamental (ethical) point of view is introduced as dialogue is

fundamentally multi vocational in nature.

Following Nussbaum‟s analysis of Aristotelian ethics we have to be aware of the inherent vulnerability

of man‟s striving for „the good life‟. Illustrative is her ethical analysis of the classical tragedy of Hekabe:

even a moral outstanding character can morally erode given the circumstances of war and betrayal, like a

flower will wither when lacking the sun and rain needed to grow and to flourish.

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To conceptualize the dependency of ethics on both ecological and cultural forces, to refer to the

ambivalence of a cultural and natural way of „calibrating‟ the value systems of individuals and of

society, we introduce the metaphor of the inner compass. Elaborating on this notion in our training

programs we get a feeling how the development of moral character and of the ethos of a community

offers us neither an absolute answer on how to find a „categorical imperative‟ which fits in every

situation, nor a completely relativistic „anything goes‟. Rather it is a poetical and subtle appeal for a

dialogical search for answers in the plural by developing small narratives.

An Outline of the Art Dialogue Method

In ADM we understand the role of art as of fundamental importance to the (de)construction of meanings

and practices. The famous quote of Michael Polanyi “we know more than we can tell”, is to indicate that

the tacit dimension to our knowledge is partly inexpressible. Yet at the same time the virtual opposite is

true as well “we can express more, than we can (explicitly) know. In our expressions we deliver clues

that may tell the other more then we ever realize. And this tacit dimension to our communicating is

exactly what we intend to emphasize.

Art is a voice in the dialogue as opposed to being merely illustrative for what is being said. Thus art

introduces multivocality in dialogue in a substantial way: as medium with its own characteristic idiom

capable of sense making in a completely different way and independent of verbal articulation. At that the

artistic way of sense making has the quality of designating subtleties of meaning, addresses emotional,

spiritual and social layers of human life that cannot be captured verbally. The way in which music

touches the heart, conveys meaning and creates a sphere in which both listeners and musicians dwell,

cannot be translated into words. With dialogue we refer to the narrative tradition of philosophers like

Mikhail Bakhtin, Julia Kristeva, Roland Barthes, Levinas and Buber, as well as the existential and

hermeneutic tradition of philosophers like Heidegger, Habermas and Gadamer. Although we are aware

of the differences between these philosophers our argument is to focus on the quality of dialogic

communication and interaction, as opposed to monologues (Brohm & Brohm, 2011). The making of art,

or consuming it, is no monologue, it is not restricted to one meaning, one point of view, and mono

dimensional way of sending a package of information to an audience. Art invocates a way of sense

making that is both ´presentational´ and ´representational´ (the act of making music is essential for

conveying the meaning of it), multi-dimensional, articulating plural perspectives and a multi vocational

dialogue (Bakhtin, 1982). Thus the ADM is developed in the context of these philosophers who

contributed to build a communicative dialogical paradigm that fits our times and the postmodern

condition in which the Grand Narratives are said to be dead.

It is for this reason that we will highlight the Art Dialogue Method (ADM) in the context of the raised

question: how might the creation of small narratives help to empower the ethos of a community in order

to counterbalance the before mentioned problems of the bureaucratic organization.

Let us give a short overview of dimensions of ADM contributing to the empowerment of the ethos of a

community

1. The invocation of the senses which establishes creative tension between remembrance and

orientation on the future, reflection and experience, between idiosyncrasies and patterns, between the

concrete and the conceptual. In the context of art therapy this dimension is called the senso-pathic (Mook, 1998), serving as starting point to address a question or problem, to explore a diagnosis 2. The organization of a (musical, visual, theatrical or dance) metaphor a creates an out-of-box-box context to work systematically on aspects which were diagnosed as malfunctioning. The malfunctioning has often both intra-psychic, interpersonal, socio-dynamic and organisational aspects, e.g. problems in

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taking collaborative action. This problem might be explored by means of an art metaphor, taken into

dialogue. For example the musical orchestration of different ways in which a group is invited in playing

solo and playing together. (Maurice.willems.com)

3. Translating the problem in the out of the box context of an art metaphor creates the possibility to

use ‟creative thinking´ as well as mobilising ´therapeutic‟ power of art to explore deeper layers of the questions involved. In dialogue with the group of people involved a specific choice is made which (mix

of) instruments within the (musical, visual, theatrical or dance) metaphor is able to addressing both the

problem and pain side as well as the side of solutions and hope for the future. Thereby creating

experience based alternatives how to handle the problem. (Muijen, 2001) 4. The ´therapeutical´ power of art helps to articulate negative emotions, conflicts and other forms

of (organisational) suffering (Coenen, 2008), hand in hand with the empowering, motivational force of

poetical, musical, dancing, visualising, dramatical collaborative action to generate new examples of

behaviour, better functioning structures and cultural adaptations, made in co-creation

5. The presentational power of the art dialogue, esp. the created metaphor by means of art, helps

showing different phases in the process of co-creation: by taking pictures and recording the process, by

processing and debriefing the artistic creations made during the process. The ´objects´ made in the art

dialogue process serve as exemplary examples, explicating tacit knowledge in the community of professionals how the addressed questions and problems can be met by social and organisational change on basis of the new way´s, points of views, attitudes that the art dialogue has created.

We have used the ADM to facilitate:

a) Personal and professional developmental programs in organisations

b) Facilitation of communities of practice, teams of professionals, managers

c) Integration of a mix of these programs in a long term process of organisational development

Ad a) In the context of job-coaching and supervision art media in the dialogue generates an interface for

the integration of personal and professional development, and for the connection between smart goals addressing the level of instrumental competencies and the existential level of values, attitudes,

metaphysical and ethical questions, value learning (Jansen & Brohm, 2012; Muijen, 2009, 2011)

Ad b) In the context of teams of professionals and communities of practice art based communication and

interaction might facilitate team development. This presupposes that the input of community art is not

just used as an incidental teambuilding session, but as a developmental tool for the community. This

requires a long term investment in the development of a team or community and a deliberate process of

fine tuning the art based dialogue. A collaborative goal in action creates a focus in which development

can be stimulated both at the level of professional competences and in terms of sense making, for

example the implementation of a mission statement (Brohm, 2012; Muijen, 2009)

Ad c) A mix method and multi-dimensional use of a) and b) in order to facilitate double and triple loop

learning and co-creation of professionals, managers and leadership in organizations helps integrating micro, meso and macro levels in organizational development. The latter we will illustrate in the

following case, although more cases are available.

A case of ArtISTIC DialogUE Method

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A medium term developmental program will be described in the context of INHOLLAND, a polytech

university, with a focus on the faculty of Social Work. It consisted of the following phases during the

years 2002 - 2006;

1. A workshop in the context of an inter-organisational exchange program on a small scale,

organised by an educational innovation project team within VU in collaboration with a team of

professionals in the School of Social Work. The workshop focussed on the importance of value learning

within educational programs and on best practices. The goal was to investigate possibilities to share

expertise on a professional level between different organisations, by creating a inter-organisational

community of practice.

2. As a pilot a conference was organised in which also partners of the University of Tilburg and of

Radboud University were invited. Thereby the interest and conditions were explored how expertise and

projects could be exchanged on an inter-organisational level. Because of competition risk no structural

exchange program was set up. Nevertheless it created the opportunity to gather the expertise that was

built over several years. Important lessons learned were formulated; e.g. that value learning integrated in

regular educational programs has major advantages as compared to isolated programs of ethics. Another

interesting outcome was that implementation problems can be avoided by using knowledge sharing and

co-creating instruments (the creation of a monograph, a magazine, a workforce to innovate the

curriculum, …) in which both the professional and Management level of different faculties were invited

to share experience and develop new programs collaboratively.

In a Follow up meeting the idea was launched that the lessons learned and best practices might be

integrated into a professionalization program for lecturers and the management together. The partner of

the School of Social Work of Inholland was interested in a values training program to articulate the

educational values of the School that were consistent with the mission statement, and to prepare the

School for the coming reorganization of Inholland.

The intake meeting meant to define the contents of the training program turned out to serve a different

purpose: the focus shifted from exploring and defining the values of the community of professionals

(esp. educational values) to problems in the working conditions of the professionals. The problems

included frictions between different value systems of the different groups involved. The group of older

professionals had their education in a different cultural phase than a team of younger professionals,

causing miscommunication; differences in interests and focus between the professionals and the more

technically oriented team of managers caused frictions and conflicts.

5. It was agreed upon that the training program would be fine-tuned accordingly, using specifically art

dialogue methods in order to focus on the frictions first. In a follow up session the focus would be

shifted towards the goal of explication the values of the School, as a means to attract more students in

order to survive economically.

6. A set of ADM based workshops was designed for a mix group of professionals and a representative of

the management. The overall goal of the training was: defining the Unique Selling Points of the School,

not just as windows dressing or just instrumentally and economically, but in a substantial way including

the clash of values and interests.

7. In order to illustrate the specific art based way in which the training program was designed and

developed in practice the paragraph will focus on the co-creation of a specific metaphor that visualised

the ethical and cultural frictions between different value systems of the people involved, facing the

process of reorganisation.

The participants of the training program were approximately 20 lecturers, responsible for different

curricula on two professional levels, including a representative of the management of the School. In

between discussion sessions art based activities were organised, e.g. choosing pictures, symbolising

personal values and professional attitudes. This resulted in several anecdotic stories about the School

and a process of collective sense making. Several themes were mentioned on which they wanted to take

action as a team. Among others:

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The importance of cohesion in the team was stressed. Personal and social bonding; Humour and

flexibility in cooperation This importance and implicit values in this theme was expressed by using a metaphor: the team as a safe haven for each other. A linked metaphor of creating bridges despite the differences within the

(younger and older generation) group of professionals expressed their collective identity. The sense making process about these metaphors stressed their mutual focus on values and content. Hereby they

signified their differing attitude with a managerial point of view The collective sense making process by the art based dialogue resulted in defining their collective

identity as a „student centred focus on professional work‟, highlighting values of: Creativity, spirituality and traditional educational values in the professional work

The longer term development in the years after the value training program (2006-2010) the setup of (in

part inter-organisational) communities of practice resulted in further steps of professionalization,

empowerment and collaborative action. For example: a book on applied ethics was written and

presented on a conference in the School of Social Work of Inholland.

To illustrate the multi-dimensional and multi-vocational way in which the art based sense making

process had helped defining the USP we will zoom into the way in which the professionals captured the

ambivalent meanings by visualizing the emotional undertones: they referred to their personal and

professional core values as „The Secret of our School‟. At first glance they referred to this metaphor as

being their „powerful bonding‟. Exploring the verbal expressions and painted metaphor further, they

became aware of their distrusting attitude towards the management of the School. It was evident that the

distrust was embedded in a longer history of the team - the way in which the professionals experienced

the organizational change from a traditional focus on educational values towards an instrumental way of

„managing‟ the School. Also some specific mistrust creating incidents were mentioned that had

happened during the change process. The change towards an instrumental, economically driven way of

organizing education functioned not just „neutrally‟ as a new management approach but as a cultural change that had enforced the mistrust and gap between professionals and management.

The gap was most evident in the training session in which the participants were invited to visualize the

future of the School in terms of a „gardening‟ metaphor: in three subgroups a picture of a garden was

created in paint that symbolized the future of the School. The three gardens that were thus painted were

characterized as:

A blossoming flower garden underneath a midday sun with a gardening house. A picture of a „wild‟ garden with „real picked‟ flowers on top of the painted garden. „The island garden‟

Especially this last picture of the School had a „striking‟ effect on the participants, confronting the group

with an image of an „autarkic‟ community: the blossoming flowers referred in a metaphorical sense to a

strong community of professionals, but living on an island in „splendid isolation‟. This image of the

Island garden represented „The Secret of the School‟ as it were, the strong personal and professional

bonds of the lecturers and the distance towards the „outside‟ world, symbolised by the water around the

island. This metaphorical image resulted in some questions to be considered for further investigation:

„Are we really working on an island‟? Who is part of „our‟ community and who is excluded and belongs

to the „outside world‟? „How would it be possible to narrow the distance in communication and

interaction with „the outside world‟?‟

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The visualizing and reflective power of the art based creation of the metaphor of „the island garden‟ had

helped the team of professionals to realize that they wanted to prevent their strength to become a pitfall.

The following route was proposed: to develop as a team the opposing quality of being also critical

towards each other, as well as to prevent their strong cohesion from becoming an exclusion of „the

outside world‟. In a follow up training session these goals were addressed again metaphorically by

means of art based dialogue: creating symbolical „bridges‟ between the teams of professionals and the

management and the „outside world‟. In the context of the dialogue the question was reflected how to

change the policy making process of the School so that it will not be a „bureaucratic‟ obstacle. For this

end concepts were introduced that could be helpful to re-open the communication with the management.

The concepts facilitated a „marketing‟ process of formulating the Unique Selling Points (USP) of the

School. Thus the training resulted in a reframing of their educational value focus in terms that are more consistent with the economical and managerial perspective while keeping the historical tradition of the

School.

As a follow up of ABD workshops, the several working groups were formed and an action plan was

submitted to the management team. The fact that both teams were willing again to communicate and

cooperate with the management level was considered to be one first step in the reconciliation process.

Evaluating the presented case: the cultural change towards an economically driven enterprise had

resulted in a „clash‟ between management and the teams of professionals who were strongly oriented on

their historical and traditional values of Education. There was a need for the articulation, the

empowerment and outbalancing of different sets of values. Boosting the ethos of the community appears

to be a necessary complementary cultural approach to more traditional rational and instrumental

management tools to deal with values. The previous discussion on the deficits, righteousness of

bureaucracy shows that both parties had a real interdependence. The professionals could hijack the

primary process of the organization, by just doing what was in the contract and job description, leaving

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out any intelligent use of discretionary space. Vice versa, management could stay in their management

mode, avoiding any substantive rationality.

To take the evaluation of the case one point further concerning (in-)virtuous action in bureaucracy: The

outcomes of the workshops could create fairness in a set of more appropriate rules in the organization as estimated by the lecturers, showing us how the professionals developed their understanding of their

use of discretionary space. The actual outcome of the process took a different course: despite the

empowerment of the teams of professionals, the decision making process was not changed accordingly.

Economically driven pressure coming from the neo-liberal way in which education is organized in

society at large resulted in a harsher and no-nonsense output driven way of managing the educational

and decision making process within the School of Social Work. Thus the gap between the management

and professional level was further deepened, undermining the thin layer of newly built trust and hope for

possible change. Despite the stagnation in the just started process of change the community of practice

that was formed after the training continued to work collaboratively to write a book on Human

Recourses Management in Ethical Perspective, which was presented on a conference in 2011.

Thus as a critical remark that is to be made is the limited scope of this training: it is to be realised that

such an empowering intervention on the intermediate professional team level is not enough to change

the on-going process of polarization and bureaucratization within the macro organizational context.

Conclusion and discussion In the article we offered an answer to the recurrent critique that value rationality is suppressed by

instrumental rationality. The fundamental organizational issue at stake is the „self-evident‟ division

between doing and thinking, professional reflection and managerial decision making. On the level of

personal development and HRD the benefits of ADM to enrich programs of professionalization with a

focus on existential questions and values in leadership might be relatively easy to realize, as is clear with

the presented example of „creative supervision‟ in leadership programs. Openness at the personal level

of the program manager to embrace the importance of substantial rationality and non-traditional

perspectives and methods in the Leadership Program seems to be the crucial factor. On an intermediate

level of team development there is clinical evidence available of trainers who use ADM, which points to

the possibility of integrating a values perspective to empower both individual professionals and

managers, facilitating developmental processes on the level of teams and communities of practice, as

well as counterbalancing the instrumental rationality of a managerial perspective. ADM might contribute

to the question how to integrate values and existential aspects of professionalizing with a managerial

way of handling organizational problems. The real challenge seems to be integration of micro,

intermediate and macro level of organizing in a value based way as well as on output basis. The

Inholland case made clear that ADM has potentially the power to contribute to the integration of bottom

up and top down movements into an integral organizational development approach, highlighting values

in collective sense making processes and taking collaborative action. Conditional for the success of such

an approach seems to the crucial factor whether the ADM programs will be embedded in a long term

process that requires an investment of both professionals and management (in terms of money, time and

effort). Presumably this can only be made possible by the concern and consent of stakeholders on the

level of board of directors.

When we would translate the tentative conclusion to the context of the Inholland case: the formulation

of the USP of a School in order to attract more students has to be more than just window dressing,

entailing the core values of the Mission Statement of the Inholland, as well as of the professionals

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involved including existential aspects of conflicts and misunderstanding between management and

professionals. This requires addressing the problem of the decline of numbers of students as more than

just a „managerial problem‟, as being indicative of the need to entail existential, social, professional and

moral values. Only then the use of ADM in developmental programs focusing on the empowerment of

professionals might contribute to the humanization of the organizational grid organizations.

from the cases presented stress the importance of a narrative focus on ethical questions, meaning that our

„moral sense‟ is shaped by the stories about „the good life‟ that are being told in communities. Stories

about ´the good life´ encompass non-verbal and „para-rational‟ aspects, which might be the reason why

ADM is helpful to foster reflection on underlying values and emotional aspects and offering a valuable

source for reconstructing the meaning of life stories and histories, and in order to grasp different aspects

of sense making in story telling

ADM in the context of change program might foster an empowerment perspective, cultivating dialogical

communication on different value systems, cultural and ethical perspectives. The criterion is voicing

multiple truths and perspectives as long as the stories told and values considered are brought into the

dialogue in an authentic, open and relevant way. (Isaacs, 1999; Kinni, 2003) Taking all stakeholders of

the (ethical) dialogue into consideration we might focus on virtues, viz. in which man as a whole being

including physical, affective and volitional faculties matter in moral issues. In this line of analysis, life

stories, cultural and historical narratives are hold to be important „contextual‟ factors to be included in

organizational programs.

The ABM as an example of an Artistic Inquiry approach we propose as an answer to the posed question

in this article, suggests that leadership encompasses more than management control: viz. a bottom up

way to take ethical perspectives into account in the management of public organizations. It has been

argued before how dialogue paves a path to a learning organization (Wierdsma&Swieringa, 2002). To

widen the concept of dialogue in this respect to enclose art as a voice, we might refer to a Habermasian

view on communication and interpretation processes: truth that is conveyed by a story is not just

„theoretical‟, but contains ethical (practical rationality) and expressive aspects (esthetic rationality,

focusing on art as a way to truth and taking questions on authenticity and integrity into account). The

story teller is the change agent in dialogical (change) programs, conveying important values that are at

stake in the case being told, including art based story lines. Ethical and expressive rationality stress the

importance of the way in which the story is being told which is especially meaningful.

When we take advantage of the philosophical sources of innovative management models and post-

modern deconstruction of organization studies, we may put into perspective our gut-feeling about the

importance of tacit knowledge of professionals, the positive side of ambivalent meanings, our ear for

hidden plots, the unsaid in the stories being told, the importance of emotional dimensions and the plural

truth of multi perspectives on situations. The empowerment and existential focus in our approach

stresses the fact that the stories people tell are not just stories about the real life that is exterior to stories,

but that the phenomenon of telling stories is an integral part of (organizational) life itself. The narrative

perspective includes both telling stories about life events and revealing an inherent quality of human life

itself. This implies an ontological claim of narratives, e.g. in the sense of Ricoeurs analysis. Dialogical

philosophy adds another revealing implication concerning our identity, saying that we are, even when

we understand ourselves as „individuals‟, in a very fundamental sense relational, that we are not so

autonomous as we might think and in a secondary sense „social and political beings‟. We are in a very

fundamental sense relative to (important) other persons, in the way that philosophers like Levinas and

Buber have explicated: „in the beginning there was relationship‟.

12

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