Designing and developing beautiful organizations

The concept of the beautiful organization has a strong intuitive appeal. It can be a powerful concept in developing or studying organizations. However, it proves to be an elusive concept once one actually tries to use it. The objective of the Workshop on Beautiful Organizations is to develop some aesthetic sensitivity for organizations and to develop together with the participants the potential of using beauty as an issue in organization design and development as well as in research. The conversations on these issues will be supported by a conceptual framework concerning beauty-at-work and the beautiful organization. After the workshop the participants should have become more sensitive to aesthetic issues in organizations and be able to use the concepts discussed at the PDW in their work in and on organizations, possibly resulting in a follow-up PDW next year. The PDW consists of three parts. In the first one the general aesthetic sensitivity of the participants will be stimulated, followed by a brief interactive exploration of aesthetic experiences at work and a presentation of the conceptual framework, mentioned above. In the second part there will be small group conversations on beauty-at-work at the individual level. The third part will start with a case-study of a beautiful organization. After this there will be again small group conversations, now at the level of organizations or organizational units, first on a further elaboration of the concept of the beautiful organization and subsequently on the use of beauty as an issue in organization studies and in organization design and development.