Organization theory has provided several conceptualizations of organizing, and the most

widely-used of these rely on the assumption that issues and environment are known and that

the operations of the organization can be controlled and managed. This view of organizing

focuses on planning and streamlining for the known future with a small group of experts, and

for the most part clears the experiential ambiguities of organizational stakeholders out of the

organizational equation. Furthermore, the vulnerability of organizations has increased because

of the pace of change, motivations of the different stakeholders and their meta-processes

producing unknown consequences of organizing activity for the entire system of the planet.

Recently, theories of attention have argued that organizations are systems of distributed

attention. However, little is known of where this organizational attention arises in

organizational theory. For instance, a survey of the extant literature shows that the most

influential theories use the concept of attention in multiple ways. In addition, the theory

addresses mostly the subjective or social notions of attention, leaving no role for the distributed

consciousness in the non-human systems that intertwine in organizations. This suggests that

a broader concept, which responds to the need to understand the connected ecosystem, is

needed. The interdisciplinary notions of quantum studies have theorized on the distributed and

entangled nature of intentions in all matter.

Consciousness is one of the most studied phenomena in human history, but without an active

debate about consciousness in organizations. Therefore, this study asks: What is the

consciousness perspective of organizing?

It fills the gap in our knowledge of consciousness in organization science, expanding the

concept of attention toward theories of consciousness, of which attention is a part.

Furthermore, the thesis proposes methods of organizing from a consciousness-based view.

This perspective is based on conceptual development and empirical findings in the

international data from the research stream on 'narrative knowing'.

Methodologically, this thesis applies both interpretive and reflexive methods, the narrative

streams of inquiry and organizational ethnography.

The contribution of this thesis is to suggest a consciousness-based view (CBV) of organizing.

In addition, the conceptual analysis of consciousness proposes that attention is a part process

of a bigger system of consciousness. Each of the five essays included in the thesis develops a

particular contribution to increasing the knowledge in organization theory on consciousness

and its distributed, entangled and fundamental nature in creating sustainable, ethical and

innovative ways of distribution of wealth through organizing.

Keywords organization theory, organizing, consciousness, storytelling, strategy, innovation