Paradoxes, double binds, and the construction of ‘creative’ managerial selves in art-based leadership development

Tamar Parush and Niina Koivunen

Scandinavian Journal of Management, 2014, vol. 30, issue 1, 104-113

Abstract: Over the last two decades, a managerial discourse has emerged that calls for introducing the logics of art and esthetics into the field of management. In this article, we seek to shed light on the ‘creative’ managerial subjectivity that is sanctioned by this discourse. For this purpose, we examine leadership development workshops that invite managers to conduct a choir, and thus embody the manager-as-artist analogy. We find that these workshops present managers with a variety of contradictory demands, and that the capacity to tolerate contradictions and paradoxes is itself construed as an essential virtue of the ‘creative’ managerial self. We conclude by calling for more research into the paradoxes and double binds encapsulated in the art-and-management discourse, and argue that these double binds may be paralyzing in some contexts and inspiring in others.

Keywords: Art and management; Managerial subjectivity; Leadership development; Paradox; Analogically mediated inquiry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:scaman:v:30:y:2014:i:1:p:104-113

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DOI: 10.1016/j.scaman.2013.12.001

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