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Narrative writing and a slightly sad visit to Amsterdam

2/12/2014

3 Comments

 
A visit to Amsterdam recently reminded me just how valuable the practice of “reflective narrative writing” can be as a method for deepening thinking. I left Amsterdam realising we need to make this clearer to more people. Otherwise, good research may be nipped in the bud.

The occasion was a meeting of PhD students from the Open University of the Netherlands. Their doctoral programme draws on thinking around complexity and management. I completed a similar doctoral programme 11 years earlier with Ralph Stacey in the UK. Indeed, the Dutch programme was instigated by one of Ralph’s graduates, Nol Groot.  

My journey to the venue was not entirely straightforward. I took a bus from my overnight accommodation to the end stop, where I found myself in a modern, impersonal part of the city. I asked a passer-by the way. As she was going in the same direction, we accompanied one another and we got into conversation. Just before we parted, this exchange took place:

Me: What kind of work do you do?

Her: I work in computer systems. 

Me: That’s funny because the meeting I’m going to is almost the opposite! We’ll be talking about complexity and emergence in organisational life and narrative writing. Come to think of it, though, those things can and do co-exist with systems! 

Her: Yes, absolutely.

That fleeting encounter was itself an example of emergence: a specific conversation sparked fresh thinking (and helped me find my destination).

Having arrived, I took part in the morning session, and then after lunch it was my turn to speak. I had decided to share my own experience of using reflective narrative writing. This seemed like a sensible way to stimulate some discussion. And anyway, as I see it, there is no “technique” for reflective narrative writing – no model, matrix or set of prescribed steps. Instead the writer usually writes an account, in the first person, of a striking moment or significant experience from their everyday working life, typically including details of specific incidents and conversations. 

After telling my own story, I highlighted a few themes that have come to matter to me. These included the merits of handwriting a first draft, then typing it, and revising it again and again (“iterative writing”). By writing about an experience, we can later go back to it and, in a sense, enter a dialogue with our own writing. This enables us to weave in further thoughts and insights. And if we share successive drafts with other people (e.g. a supervision group, or even the people who were involved in the incidents described), our reflective narrative can grow into a rich account of lived experience. 

Why is this method so productive and rewarding? I think it is partly because normal organisational life is so busy and pressured that we hardly have time to reflect on what has been happening. We may discuss things with a colleague or a friend but writing is different. It gives us time to find our own way of articulating our experience and to deepen our thoughts about it. It enables us to “make sense” in new ways and sometimes to act differently. 

So I was saddened to hear that the powers that be at the university don’t fully appreciate this form of research. That’s a real pity because the method may not look academic or scientific at first sight, but it can and does generate immense insight and wisdom. 

I am in touch with many people who have pursued Ralph Stacey’s doctorate in organisational change since 2000, and my sense is that all those I speak to have gone back into their work environments wiser. Some learned how to break through constraints in ways that previously seemed impossible. Others became more confident and (perhaps) less controlling leaders. Many, like me, changed the nature of their work after graduating. Personally, I came to see that there is no need to chase constantly after a new theory or the latest best-seller on leadership.

In short, by using reflective narrative writing, we can take our experience seriously and get better at noticing and reflecting on what is going on around us. We can explore things we normally take for granted, and we can develop our own practice in ways that may influence others too. 
 
As I write those words, I am reminded of John Shotter, who opened my eyes to Wittgenstein’s thinking:

[Wittgenstein’s] concern is not with finding anything radically new, but with seeing something that is difficult to see for other reasons: either i) because '... like a pair of glasses on our nose through which we see whatever we look at. It never occurs to us to take them off' (1953, no.103); or ii) because it all '...goes by so quickly, and [we] should like to see it as it were laid open to view' (1953, no.435), thus to be able to survey it at one's leisure, reflectively.... (Shotter, 1997)

Related reading

John Shotter (1997). Wittgenstein in practice: from 'The Way of Theory' to a 'Social Poetics'. In C.W. Tolman, F. Cherry, R. van Hezewijk, and I. Lubek (Eds.) Problems of Theoretical Psychology. York, Ontario: Captus Press, 1997.

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1953). Philosophical Investigations. Oxford: Blackwell.

To see how the idea of talking to the PhD students about narrative writing emerged from a conversation, read my earlier blog post here.
3 Comments
Gerhard smid
2/12/2014 09:57:28 am

It is a pity that this group of students is continuing its complaints about the "powers" in the university. In any discipline there is struggle, in the areas of ontology, epistemology and methodology. Why not prove the strenght of a narrative methodology vis a vis the RVS.? Let us show that the narrative approach offers more than personal learning. It can be mor than 1th person inquiry, it is a matter of organizing learning within the organization based on the results of the 1 person inquiry, i.e work on 2nd person inquiry and the Zooming out as Davide Nicolini caals this, to produce 3rd person insights. This is the issue, not " the powers" . If we fail to compete the complaints about the powers wille be a self fulfilling prophecy. Prof. Gerhard Smid OU Netherlands

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BOAM
5/12/2014 04:24:23 am

Alison,
Very courageous of you to boldly come out on behalf of the OU , Netherlands' Change and Complexity Management students and department.
Having read your blog, I waited this long to see reactions from all concerned but to no avail.
This shows how senile the Dutch community and culture have grown to become. Although everyone sees what you see and has the same conviction as you do, the Dutch will stay indoor grudging against the unseen authority and clamor with rage against self rather than take any action at all. It is only in the Netherlands that government and labour unions are partners in the progress of destroying workers' sanctity. In the matter at hand, the cancellation of Complexity department, the authority has not communicated its stand to anyone all we know is that there has been two admission seasons in which the mainstream PhD students had been given admission while no one is admitted in the Complexity. May be all we need now is the external voice that you have just championed. May be some will have the audacity now to confront the department and say something to someone. Or may be the Complexity community needs to go ab-egging, fingers crossed!

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Alison Donaldson link
8/12/2014 09:59:58 am

Thanks to both people who have commented so far. It’s great to get responses, especially when they reveal different perspectives. I thought I’d reply to both below.

Professor Smid, I completely endorse your suggestion that those who use reflective narrative writing need to demonstrate its strength as a research method. I particularly note your point that it should offer more than personal learning. I tried to hint at this in my post, but your words have reminded me how important it is to think about what the wider benefit is.

One caution though: any claim about wider benefit needs to reflect an understanding of complexity and emergence. This understanding would include, for example, recognition that we are all interdependent beings - our actions always attract responses from others. So when our personal learning prompts us to act differently, those around us may respond in some way, but their specific response will be unpredictable.

And since we are talking about human behaviour, it may not be possible to quantify change, which brings us back to the value of reflective narrative accounts to provide qualitative evidence based on lived experience.

This discussion has also prompted me to reflect more deeply on the purpose of a PhD programme like this. Is it to produce learning and transformation in the student? Yes, clearly. Is it to bring about organisational change? I wonder if that isn’t stretching things too far.

When I was completing my own thesis, we were expected to demonstrate a contribution to knowledge; a change in our own practice; and a clear point of view. That already felt like a lot. We were also expected to argue the case for our chosen research methods. But what about organisational change? A narrative account may suggest some “ripple effects” of our actions. But from a complexity point of view, it is important not to make unwarranted claims of simple cause and effect.

BOAM (I don’t know your real name), I would probably not choose quite such strong language as you did (-:)), but I can nevertheless empathise with your frustration. I can’t judge how transparent the university's decisions about the programme are, as I am not part of it, but it does sound as though communication could be more open. Isn't that always the case in every organisation?!

Finally, both comments make clear to me that it's not my role to get deeply involved in the politics. But simply by publishing a blog post I have taken a small step into the ring. Whatever happens, I hope the expected stream of graduations from 2015 onwards demonstrates the quality of the research and the merits of the reflective narrative method.

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