Novelty in the flow of time – Taking a view from nowhere in an on-going present



: Taking a view from nowhere in an on-going present

: Tor Hernes, Juha Laurila, Anni Paalumäki, Ida Danneskiold-Samsøe, Ansgar Ødegård

: EGOS - European Group for Organizational Studies

: 2013

: EGOS 2013

: http://www.egosnet.org/2013_montreal/general_theme


Focusing on temporality we inquire into the temporal experience of organizational actors. Drawing upon the ‘view from nowhere’ (Nagel, 1989) we argue that sequentiality and directionality do not serve a temporal view of organization. Instead, we suggest that the on-going experience of organizational actors exhibits entanglements of pastness and futurity. In a sense, the actions of the moment are temporally blind, but attain temporal direction with closure, as the present becomes an event. We illustrate the view with three empirical stories from diverse settings. The argument and illustrations have consequences for the conceptualization of novelty in organizational contexts, which, rather than be understood in terms of degree, becomes seen as the nature of entanglement of pastness and futurity in an on-going present.



Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 11:51