Once upon a time

OAP 2013 The Phenomenology of Time: Reflections from the Lebenswelt Gabriel Costello

Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology [email protected]

Brian Donnellan

National University of Ireland, Maynooth [email protected]

LSE June 2013

Once upon a time

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Agenda • Motivation • Lebenswelt • Time : a very very short introduction • Dialogical Action Research • AR Study: APC by Schneider Electric • Time Horizons • Findings • Summary OAP 2013

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Gabriel Costello/Brian Donnellan

Motivation: Innovation study

Border Midland & Western (BMW) Region of Ireland

EU Objective 1 regions

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Lebenswelt • Incorporate history and time in management and organisation studies (Markus, 2000). • Go to the Origins of Phenomenology (Ciborra, 2002) • Lebenswelt: Encompasses the totality of human endeavour including the realm of scientific endeavour (Crisis of European Sciences) • Husserl regarded time as most difficult of all phenomenological problems: how to relate objective with subjective time (Moran & Cohen, 2012) • Phenomenological Realism of the early Husserl OAP 2013

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Time • Static view of time (illusion) - Parmenides and Zeno • Dynamic view of time (addition) – Heraclitus and Aristotle • the present of past things is memory; • the present of present things is direct perception; • and the present of future things is expectation. (Book XI)

• Bergson: le temps la durée – Time as experienced vis-à-vis time as measured (Merleau-Ponty) OAP 2013

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Dialogical Action Research

Action /stimulus Real world problem

dialogue

reflective

Researcher’s Expertise theoria

reaction /response

Practitioner’s Expertise praxis

Märtensson & Lee (MISQ 2004)

Action research team

At time t=1

At time t=2

researcher’s Expertise

Improved researcher’s Expertise

Solved or remedied real world problem

Real world problem

Improved practitioner’s Expertise

practitioner’s Expertise

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Lebenswelt : Case Study APC Ireland (now APC by Schneider Electric)

• Two year project (2006 -2008) • Time of transition and uncertainty – American MNC acquired by a French MNC • 2006: Pilot Study ~ 22 interviewees, 50 hours • 2007: Dialogical AR project: 23 hours and 60K words of transcripts • 41 Days on site (2006 & 2007) OAP 2013

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Time Horizons ACTORS

Quarters Q106 Q206 Q306 Q406 Q107 Q207 Q307 Q407 Y08

Y09

YEARS Y10 Y11

Y12

Y13

Production Personnel Plant Manager Lean Project team Corporation Reporting Case Study PhD Publish papers


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Findings some extracts from the transcripts •

Managing uncertainty is the immediate problem. A big challenge is to free up creativity in a time of uncertainty as this type of environment can make creativity difficult.

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I see a great value in this research by forcing me to take time out for reflection

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There is real benefit by bringing the literature to me… people from the academic world read lots – that’s what they do. However, being able to filter it down to the likes of me who might want to read but does not have all that time is important.

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In some ways, it is a bit more time-consuming for me but it’s a false economy, because once I've spent that half an hour with everybody at the start of the week, I have less to deal with during the week. However, the other way around means that you are fire fighting the whole week”.

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Summary • Life-world • Dialogue over time • Relative time • Empirical time • Phenomenology of time • Limitation – Contribution of the study?

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Hy Tír-Brazil na nÓg

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Thanks • APC by Schneider Electric staff • Colleagues • Questions?

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