Putting People in the Picture: Art and Aesthetics in Photography and in Understanding Organizational Life

Abstract

This article considers both the common ground and the diversity between the aesthetic approach to the study of organizational life and conceptual art photography. Based on a personal account, it emphasizes the empathic-aesthetic understanding of action in interactive organizational contexts. The issues addressed are the social construction of organizational memory, the importance of time in organizational life, the interweaving between the reality and non reality of organizational artefacts, the pervasiveness of organizational reproduction, the relation between the `I' and the `eye' in the investigation of organizational processes, the improper use of organizational production, and the relationships between the collective and social construction of creativity niches.

Keywords

aesthetic approach art photography art and organization organizational symbolism creativity tacit knowledge internet

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