Call For Papers on Pragmatic Constructivism and Construction of Organised Reality
The purpose of the conferences on actor-reality construction is to exchange research ideas and contributions to deepen insight into the problems and possibilities of constructing social human practices and strengthen the output of research articles and books. We welcome submissions within any topics that provide insight into the methods and techniques for the construction of (dys-)functional practices.
Specifically, the XIVth conference maintains the focus on language game as the 2023 conference and will be interested in the role of different types of specialised language games (professionals, accounting, management, marketing, strategy, etc.) in the construction of (dys-)functional organisational practices. Language game means that human beings construct and organise in their everyday practices around the use of language as a set of narrations. Such narration is blended with other forms of action. The language constructions developed in local practices must integrate the four dimensions of reality to function pragmatically, in order to create intentional results of organisational activities. As an organisation runs by multiple interconnected specialised language games that have to function successfully together, the conference will also provide insights into methods by which cooperation among the specialised language games can be successfully created.
management of specialised practices. In particular, we are interested in the distinctions between language game, language gaming and language play. Language play has a significant role in the construction of (dys-)functional organisational practices in emerging contexts. The relevance of this issue stems from the current economic, social and environmental crises and the related responses from organisations to construct new functional practices of resilience. Finally, the conference will focus on the role of research methodologies and meta-language games in the construction of organisational practices and the form (and deform) of reality constructions they create. A major concern is the soundness, ethics and the role of the emerging language games in creating or negating intelligent learning- and value-oriented and life-friendly organisational and institutional practices.
The possible subject areas of the desired submissions include (but are not limited to) the following:
– Language games of performance management and accounting in professionally driven public sector activities, various types of business activities, industries consultancy and firm-advisor relations, milieus of user participation facilitated by the social Web, NPD projects, entrepreneurial companies, learning platforms, inter-organisational relations, etc.
– Language games of possibilities, as the good, ethics, democracy, digitalisation, gender balance, organisational cooperation, organisational learning, corporate social responsibility, meta theories, etc.
– Language games of performance measurement and the creation of sustainability for the good life for people, social togetherness and the natural environment.
– Language games and language plays of (good) accountants in constructing life-friendly activities, relationships and projects.
– Language games and language plays in constructing (dys-)functional practices to deal with social, environmental and economic crises.
The conference invites three categories of contributions: i) Full papers, ii) Abstracts and iii) PhD-projects. There will be enough time for in-depth discussions and reflections among the participants, who will hopefully further develop their thoughts and paper writing.
About pragmatic constructivism and actor-reality construction
Pragmatic constructivism conceives reality as a complex set of constructs created by the actors in interaction with their environment. Interacting with others and ‘things’ in the world through language and actions, actors produce common reality constructs, which are the basis of practice. Pragmatic constructivism offers some conceptual fundamentals for understanding and analysing how actors construct a successful actor-world relationship in a dynamic environment. In particular the following are considered to be conceptual fundamentals: practice constructed through actorship, language games and co-authorship; four dimensions of reality – facts, possibilities, values, and communication – must be integrated in the actor-world relation if the construct is to form a successful basis for effective actions, organisational learning, and an integrative learning theory of truth involving a learning circle between proactive truth and pragmatic truth. The previous conferences have produced various theoretical and empirical contributions within different academic fields.
Organizing committee:
– Gudrun Baldvinsdottir, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
– Trond Bjørnenak, NHH, Norway
– Lino Cinquini, Scuola Superiore Sant’ Anna, Italy
– Lisa Jack, University of Portsmouth, UK
– Morten Jakobsen, Aarhus University, Denmark
– Teemu Laine, Tampere University, Finland
– Hanne Nørreklit, Aarhus University, Denmark
– Cristina Campanale, University of Pisa, Italy
– Fabio Magnacca, University of Pisa, Italy
Submission and registration to:
– cristina.campanale@unipi.it
– fabio.magnacca@unipi.it
– hannenorreklit@mgmt.au.dk
Deadline for submissions: 15 September 2024
Deadline for registration: 1 October 2024
Fee: €180