Jitse van Ameijde - Ph.D. fieldwork

2. Thinking inside of Pandora's box
Metaphor and dialogue as vehicles for facilitating social learning spaces
in the context of organisational change
Ph.D. study
Jitse van Ameijde
Department of Communication and Systems
Faculty of Maths, Computing, and Technology
“The true voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes”
Marcel Proust
What do I want to study?
All of us are likely to have experienced organisational change in one way or another. Some
of these experiences may have been positive, others may have been frustrating. Whatever
these experiences have been, it is likely that they have made an impact on how we think
about and engage with organisational change. My interest lies in how groups of people
within organisations make sense of and learn from their experiences of change, and more
importantly, how we can enhance this learning during the process of change in order to
help us create change which is empowering, ethical, meaningful, and sustainable.
How do I want to study it?
Specifically, I want to look at two means for facilitating social learning in the context of
change: symbolic modelling and dialogue.
Symbolic modelling
Symbolic modelling is a technique which aims to surface the metaphors people use to
make sense of their experience. Research has pointed out that people draw on a large
number of metaphors to make sense of and reason about their situation. When, in the
context of change for instance, we speak about 'rolling out a change,' 'gaining buy-in for a
change' or 'stimulating grass-roots development,' the language we use does not usually
denote a mere figure of speech, but actually structures the way we think about and engage
with change. Whereas we might not always be fully conscious of such ways of thinking,
they are likely to have a large impact on organisational change and those involved and
affected by it. By becoming more aware of the metaphors we use and unfolding their
implications, we might gain a better understanding of how we can contribute to
meaningful change.

3. Dialogue
Dialogue is a form of group conversation which is aimed at gaining a deeper
understanding of how we think, both individually and as a collective. In contrast to many
other types of communication, dialogue does not have any specific aims except becoming
more aware of the individual and collective beliefs and assumptions which underpin our
thinking and action. As such, dialogue can serve as a valuable tool for individuals within a
group to learn together.
Why do I want to study it?
There is a wide range of different approaches to organisational change, all of which have
different assumptions of what change is and how it is brought about. Many of these
approaches focus on how to diagnose a situation and set certain change objectives
followed by guidelines of how to implement them within an organisation. Not many
approaches focus on how people think about and learn in the context of change. However,
what if it turns out during the implementation that certain important aspects had not been
thought of during the design of the change? What if the situation has changed
considerably during the process of implementation which means that the change
objectives are no longer relevant? Without learning as a continuous process throughout
change, it is unlikely that a change initiative results in the envisaged improvements.
What kind of groups can participate?
The nature of the study makes some change projects more suitable for exploration than
others. In order to make the study relevant and useful both for the researcher and for the
participating groups, a number of criteria would need to be fulfilled. Therefore, I am
looking for groups which:
● consist of around five to 20 individuals
● either about to engage in a formal organisational change initiative or want to look at
ways of changing the way they work
● engage in changes which have at least a moderate social impact (changes such as
changing the office furniture or changing the layout of expense forms would not be
suitable)
● have at least some autonomy in deciding on the shape or the process of the change
in order for any learning to have the potential to be incorporated into practice
● engage in a change which is scheduled to take at least about three months
● perceive some challenges which need to be overcome for the change to be
successful
● are enthusiastic about looking at creative, learning-based approaches to change

4. What does participation in the study involve?
Participating in the study would involve a number of facilitated group sessions (around
five to ten) in which we will engage with dialogue, metaphor, and potentially other
techniques which might be helpful in facilitating group learning (these could include
systems techniques such as Soft Systems Methodology or Viable Systems Model). These
sessions will be about two and a half hours in length each. The study will be conducted in
the style of a collaborative Action Research project, which means that the findings of the
study will emerge from discussions within the group as a whole rather than from the main
researcher. This means that everybody is involved in interpreting the group experiences
and how they can inform action. In addition to these group sessions, I would like to
conduct a number of individual semi-structured interviews to inquire into individuals'
experiences of the sessions. Participation is entirely voluntary and each individual is free
to step out at any time.
Confidentiality
The aim is to tape-record all the sessions in order to allow me to capture all the
conversations and learning which take place. These tape-recordings, as well as any other
outputs from the group sessions will be treated as strictly confidential, and will only be
accessible by me as the researcher and on request by my supervisors (Rose Armson, Sue
Holwell, and Martin Reynolds). Any reporting on these sessions and what is discussed
within them, including the Ph.D. thesis will follow strict rules in terms of making sure that
individual as well as collective anonymity is maintained, and no individuals or groups can
be identified.
Suspected outcomes for participating teams
The research project is meant to serve the needs of both the researcher (in terms of
providing viable findings to be translated into a Ph.D. thesis) as well as of the participating
groups (in terms of supporting them in engaging meaningfully with organisational
change). The activities that will be used are specifically aimed at facilitating a number of
potentially beneficial outcomes for participating groups. These activities are hoped to
contribute to:
● A deeper understanding of change and the context from within it emerges
● Insights into the complexities of a change initiative and ways of making sense of
these
● Creative thinking about change
● Improving listening and communication skills
● Awareness of how the way we think about change relates to the way we engage in
change activities
● Building trust and mutual understanding