Embodied Pheno-Pragma-Practice - Phenomenological and Pragmatic Perspectives on Creative "Inter-practice" in Organisations between Habits and Improvisation

• Main Author: Wendelin M. Kupers
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Alberta 2011-06-01
• Series: Phenomenology & Practice
• Online Access: https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/pandpr/index.php/pandpr/article/view/19838

The purpose of this article is to develop a critical and extended understanding of creative practices in organisation from a phenomenological point of view. To develop such an understanding of practice, this paper will first outline a phenomenological understanding of creative practice, understood particularly with Merleau-Ponty as an embodied and situated nexus of action. Subsequently, the paper will show the contribution of pragmatism to an interpretation of practice as an experience-based reality and will describe the significance of habits. After briefly comparing common characteristics of both pro-experiential philosophies, some perspectives on a creative "inter-practice" and an inclusive "pheno-pragma-practice" will be explored. Furthermore, improvisation is discussed as a form and medium for the actual realisation of an embodied, situational inter-practice. Finally, some practical, political, theoretical and methodological implications and perspectives on creative pheno-pragmatic practices in organisation will be outlined.