Special issue on Dreams and the Organization

Citation

(2011), "Special issue on Dreams and the Organization", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 24 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/jocm.2011.02324eaa.002

Special issue on Dreams and the Organization

Article Type: Call for papers From: Journal of Organizational Change Management, Volume 24, Issue 5.

Guest Editor: Professor Francesco Schiavone, University Parthenope of Naples

The "psychoanalytic view" of organizations is a robust and promising domain of study within the research about organizational change. Organizational communication is a case in point. Open communication between employees is useful to overcome their psychological barriers and defensive behaviours towards change (Willcocks and Rees, 1995). Models of psychodynamics, introduced through psychoanalytical classics (cf. Jung's archetypes), are often perceived as providing a general framework for management and change (Carr, 2002). In every company there is an "unmanaged organization", a critical terrain governed by subjectivity – in which organizational myths and fantasies emerge (Yannis, 1995).

However, we have to note that, in general, organizational scholars paid little attention to a central notion of psychoanalysis: the dreams and their impact on the organizational action, evolution and survival. This is surprising, since the concept of a dream is often used indirectly in many branches of management and organization studies. For instance, over the first half of the last century the success of Fordism and mass-production are strictly related to the diffusion of the "American dream" within that society in that historical time. Many organizational and product innovations would not be developed without the dreams and visions of an entrepreneur, a manager or an R&D engineer. Recently Ulrich (2007) suggested that dreams offer mental prescriptions to organizations in order to define their future human resources needs.

All these considerations imply an acknowledgment of a dreaming individual and group dreams, of the conscious and unconscious processes by which people, working inside and outside organizations, dream and have visions about the future. Dreams can thus become a powerful mechanism to manage the change of organizations.

We invite articles that are conceptual in nature, for instance presenting case studies about the relationship between dreams and organizational change, or extending current lines of change scholarship. The Guest Editor encourages interdisciplinary and international contributions from organization, management and psychoanalysis scholars.

We would like to receive the proposed paper abstracts (maximum 1,000 words, following the usual Emerald structure for abstracts) before 15 December 2011. The authors of accepted proposals should submit the papers before 30 April 2012. The review and possible revision process should be completed before 1 July 2012 as we would like to publish our special issue in the first half of 2013. All proposals and submissions should be sent directly to the Guest Editor.

For all additional information, contact:

Francesco Schiavone, Professor, University Parthenope of Naples E-mail: schiavone@uniparthenope.it