مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

 مجله اسکاندیناویایی مدیریت – Scandinavian Journal of Management

When we start to inquire into the living character of the present moment, it is possible to notice how no two moments are the same. Contrary to what is often taken for granted in studies of organization, there is a difference between moments as they unfold (Hernes, Simpson, & Söderlund, 2013). One strand of research that has contributed to an understanding of how the present matters is the literature on “arresting moments” (Shotter & Katz, 1999). Arresting moments have been conceptualized as oneoff special moments where “something utterly extraordinary, utterly new and unique, spontaneously occurs” (Shotter & Katz, 1999; p. 88). These are moments when people all of a sudden can make new connections, look upon troublesome issues in new ways, or unexpectedly find out how to engage with some current concerns. To continue to inquire into the generative possibilities of such arresting moments is of significance because “[a]s much as organizations are about systems, material artefacts, and technologies, they are also about living moments where reality gets to be lived, defined, changed or continued” (Hernes, 2014; p. 82).

arresting moments can offer novel insights into organization and management studies. Towards that aim, we explore how arresting moments are part of a dialogic flow taking place over time. While current literature has largely studied arresting moments as singular events, we investigate how these special moments are part of a larger context of on-going conversations involving several arresting moments. Hence, our focus is not primarily on arresting moments per se, but rather the relationship between different arresting moments as they unfold over time.

To do this we draw upon a collaborative study that Catherine Smith (a pseudonym), one of the co-authors of this paper, and Marjorie Thomas (a pseudonym), the CEO of a French logistics company, have carried out during the last 15 years. During their collaboration they experienced several arresting moments together, which gives us an unusual opportunity to learn more about the experience of encountering different arresting moments over time. We elaborate on these moments using Bakhtin’s (1984,1986) work on dialogic forces: what he refers to as centripetal and centrifugal forces. Centripetal forces create stability; centrifugal forces impose novelty. Importantly, these forces do not end up in some sort of equilibrium because there is an on-going interplay between them. Although current studies have found that arresting moments are special moments where novelty occurs, the contribution of studying arresting moments over time is the acknowledgement of how the lived experience of such moments can be understood as a simultaneous process of creating novelty and stability. Through the conceptualization of what we call “stability within change,” we illustrate that arresting moments not only create newness but also a sense of stability; a strong feeling of knowing how to meet the future and thereby how to move on here and now. Thus, it is not a question of stability or change, but rather an intertwined manifold of opposing forces of stability within change.