Art appreciation is a course of activity by which we take time to observe and understand our own relation to aesthetic artifacts such as paintings and sculpture.

Organizations, like paintings, are human expressions, with aesthetic import. In order to appreciate (as in art appreciation’) the processes by which organizing occurs, it is necessary that we move beyond the ratiocinative frameworks and ‘styles’ by which we habitually think about, talk about, and attempt to influence those processes. Essentially, this means that we develop a taste for expression (over explication), image (over sense), the particular (over the abstract), the proximate (over the distal), the lyrical (over narrative)—that is, an appreciation for the non-linear, the ludic, the parenthetical, and ultimately the inessential.

Does this mean that we must necessarily abandon the cognitive, the ratiocinative? Not at all. It’s just that analysis, measurement, planning, and structuring are all enhanced when approached with an appreciation for the aesthetic, the lyrical, the particular, and the proximate, and not just the explicative, abstract, general, and narrative aspects of such work.

Posted in: Organization by admin on Friday, December 21st, 2007

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