Hi Katja,

I believe one of the first to use the simile "management as art" has
been Chester Barnard (The functions of the executive manager,
Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University press, 1938).
About management Barnard said "the terms pertinent to it are feeling,
judgement, sense, proportion, balance, appropriateness. It is a matter
of art rather than science, and is aesthetic rather than logical (p.
238; in Ottensmeyer, 1996)
I would not dare to say the myth started here but ....

If you wish to develop a section on symbolic perspective on
organizational theory you could look for Vincent Degot's "Portrait of
the manager as an artist" (Dragon, 2 (4), 1987). Degot proposes to
consider the acts of the management as artistic productions, to be
valued in their intrinsic terms. By doing so he redefines the role of
the scholar as a "critic" or a "curator". The implication of taking
the metaphor seriously are explored in a intriguing way. Worth a look,
if you can find the journal....

ciao,
Enrico


2006/8/28, Hatch, Mary Jo <[log in to unmask]>:
> Okay, just a question. Why would an artist/leader no be a doer? Artists do all the time, don't they? I would not place this restriction on the notion. And the leadership equivalent of Duchamp's urinal would have to be something that questions leadership or makes it mundane, I would think. See Mats Alvesson and Stefan Sveningsson's 2003 paper in Human Realtions where they do something along this line to leadership (pp. 1435-1459 in Vol. 56.
>
> Mary Jo
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Aesthetics, Creativity, and Organisations Research Network on behalf of stefan meisiek
> Sent: Mon 8/28/2006 1:12 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: leader as artist literature
>
>
>
> Dear Katja and all,
>
> We have been tossing ideas around for a think piece on the "fine art of leadership" for a while. We asked ourselves what it would mean if a leader was thought to apply fine art thinking, and if there are leaders already whom could be said to do that. The art notion as in "the art of..." usually has a strong crafts connotation, a list of rules and principles like in Fayol's work, or like Sun-Tsu's writing on war (actually the Chinese title suggests only principles and no art of...). If we leave the craft aside for a minute, what could the conceptual art part tell us about leadership? What's the leadership equivalent of Duchamp's toilet? As a fine artist, the leader becomes more thinker and less 'doer' (not to mention dour). With this, it's not enough for a leader to bracket a problem-she has to represent it in a catchy, upending, and reflective way.
>
>
>
> Steve, Daved & Stefan
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Aesthetics, Creativity, and Organisations Research Network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Claus Springborg
> Sent: segunda-feira, 28 de Agosto de 2006 13:35
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: leader as artist literature
>
>
>
> Dear Katja
>
>
>
> Mythology, leaders/managers and artists. This is not directly references to literature that uses an artist metaphor to describe leadership, but I personaly find it a very interesting indirect link between artists and leaders. Maybe you can use it?
>
>
>
> The mythology of the journey of the hero is sometimes used to describe both the journey of the leader/manager and the journey of the artist.
>
>
>
>
>
> In Synchronicity - the inner path of leadership by Jaworski (p.18-119), leadership (and Joseph Jaworskis own journey) is compared to "the journey of the hero" as it's described in Joseph Campbells The hero with a thousand faces.
>
>
>
> In Dialogue - the art of thinking together by William Isaacs (p. 286-87), there are also references to Joseph Campbells journey of the hero. He writes about the difficulties of returning with new insight to the "ordinary" world.
>
>
>
> In Artful Creation by Lotte Darsø there is a chapter on the work of Miha Pogacnik (p.93-98). Here the journey of the hero is mentioned as the journey of a leader. I think the part called the art of listening, describes the essential link between hero, artist and leader. Namely the ability to clear a mental space of ones own thoughts and ideas and through that empty space get the ability to receive - to listen. In Dialogue a similar idea is called suspention - a term that comes from David Bohms ideas on dialogue.
>
>
>
> In On Creativity by David Bohm there is a chapter called On the relationship of art and science. Here art is linked to the ability to perceive, and in that way it becomes essential to science - the more subtle the theories of the world, the greater the need for subtle perception to keep the theories in tune with what's actually going on.
>
> The chapter is interesting if one think of leadership as the activity of developing theories of how best to manage a business. If the leader can learn to "listen" like the artist, then his ability to perceive the consequences of his actions is expanded - he can get more subtle feedback than before, and thus develop more in tuned theories.
>
>
>
> I have also seen the journey of the hero used in books on how to develop creativity in artists. I don't remember any titles though. Maybe The artist way by Julia Cameron could have a useful reference or two. Maybe another Aacorner can help us out here?
>
>
>
> I also find it interesting to compare the journey of the hero with the process of double loop learning (Argyris (1992): On organizational learing). I haven't seen this anywhere - but if anyone have, I'd love to get a hint.
>
>
>
> Hope this is useful.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheers Claus Springborg
>
>
>
> p.s. I have made a first draft in order to map the literature on Arts and Business into some categories. I will send it to the Aacorn net shortly in order to get feedback. That might be helpful to you as well.
>
>         ----- Original Message -----
>
>         From: Katja Lindqvist <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
>         To: [log in to unmask]
>
>         Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 12:16 PM
>
>         Subject: leader as artist literature
>
>
>
>         Dear Acorners,
>
>
>
>         does anyone have any suggestions for literature on the myth of leaders/managers as artists?
>
>
>
>         I'm going into this question in writing, and mostly have literature on the aesthetics of organisation and managment, but don't really have the full picture of the frequency of this metaphor in business research and literature.
>
>
>
>         I'd be great to hear from the ACORN network what you've come across
>
>
>
>         Best,
>
>         Katja
>
>
>
>         Katja Lindqvist
>
>         Fil. dr, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, Stockholms universitet
>
>         PhD, Stockholm University School of Business
>
>         Visiting scholar at Dipartimento di Scienze Aziendali, University of Bologna
>
>         [log in to unmask]
>