Exploring the Lived Dimension of Organisational Space

320 Pages·2015·3.24 MB·English

by  Sarah Warnes

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Exploring the Lived Dimension of Organisational Space: An
Ethnographic Study of an English Cathedral.

Sarah Elizabeth Warnes

A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management
Studies

Essex Business School

University of Essex

August 2015
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Declaration

This is to certify that

The author of this thesis declare that it does not include work forming part of a thesis
presented successfully for another degree,

All work presented represents the author’s own original work except for when referenced
to others,

This thesis is less than 80,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, bibliographies and
appendices.
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Table of Contents
List of Images ............................................................................................................................. 5
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... 7
Chapter One: Introduction to the Thesis ..................................................................................... 9
1.1 Key Debates in the Organisational Space Literature: A brief Overview ....................... 11
1.2 Introducing the Context of the Cathedral ........................................................................ 15
1.3 Outline and Contributions of the Thesis.......................................................................... 17
Chapter Two: Space in Organisation Studies ............................................................................ 23
2.1. Key Ontologies and Epistemologies of Space ................................................................. 24
2.2 Spatial Conceptualisations in an Organisational Context .............................................. 30
2.3 Lefebvre’s Conceptualisations of Space .......................................................................... 52
2.4 Chapter Summary.............................................................................................................. 71
Chapter Three: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Approach to Exploring Organisational
Space ............................................................................................................................................ 74
3.1 Introduction to Phenomenology and Hermeneutics ...................................................... 75
3.2 Language and Conversation: The Process of Understanding ........................................ 80
3.3 Bringing Together Gadamer’s Hermeneutic Phenomenology with Lefebvre’s Spatial
Concepts ................................................................................................................................... 89
3.4 Applying an Embodied Hermeneutic Approach to Research Practice ......................... 91
3.5 Chapter Summary.............................................................................................................. 94
Chapter Four: Research Methods and Analysis ........................................................................ 96
4.1 Research Questions ........................................................................................................... 98
4.2 Choice of Research Site and Gaining Access ................................................................... 99
4.3 Designing the Research Strategy – Organisational Ethnography in the Context of
Hermeneutic Phenomenology .............................................................................................. 102
4.4 Researcher Reflexivity .................................................................................................... 120
4.5 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................... 122
4.6 Considerations given to Research Ethics ...................................................................... 132
4.7 Chapter Summary............................................................................................................ 134
Chapter Five: Situating the Lived Experience of Organisational Space in the Cathedral .... 135
5.1 Managing the English Cathedral: Challenges and Tensions ........................................ 137
5.2 Introducing the Organisation: St Edmundsbury Cathedral ......................................... 143
5.3 Navigating the Moral Landscape of the Organisation .................................................. 151
5.4 Chapter Summary............................................................................................................ 156
Chapter Six: The Role of Immediate Workspace for Understanding Lived Space ............... 158
6.1 Arranging Personal Workspace ..................................................................................... 160
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6.2 Shifting Organisational Power Dynamics ...................................................................... 186
6.3 Situating the Concept of Dwelling used in this Thesis ................................................. 189
6.4 Chapter Summary............................................................................................................ 192
Chapter Seven: The Role of Bodily Movement for Understanding Lived Space .................. 194
7.1. Walking Through Organisational Space ....................................................................... 196
7.2 Performing Organisational Rituals ................................................................................ 212
7.3 Conceptualising Gestures: ‘Dressage’ ............................................................................ 221
7.4 Situating the Concept of Dressage used in this Thesis ................................................. 224
7.5 Chapter Summary............................................................................................................ 226
Chapter Eight: The Role of the Imaginary for Understanding Lived Space .......................... 228
8.1 Organisational Spatial Reality Juxtaposed with Organisational Ideals ...................... 230
8.2 The Role of Memory and Nostalgia in Understanding Lived Space ............................ 243
8.3 Furthering Understandings of Organisational Space through the Imaginary ............ 254
8.4 Situating the Concept of the Imaginary used in this Thesis ......................................... 259
8.5 Chapter Summary............................................................................................................ 263
Chapter Nine: Conclusions and Final Reflections ................................................................... 265
9.1 Contributions to Research into the Lived Dimension of Organisational Space ......... 267
9.2 Foregrounding the Body in Hermeneutic Phenomenological Research .................... 274
9.3 Presenting the Empirical Contribution to Organisational Space Studies ................... 277
9.4 Limitations of the Thesis ................................................................................................ 279
9.5 Avenues for Future Research ......................................................................................... 281
9.6 Closing Reflections .......................................................................................................... 283
References ................................................................................................................................. 285
Appendices ................................................................................................................................ 314
Appendix A – Participant Information Sheet ...................................................................... 315
Appendix B – Consent to Participate in Academic Research ............................................. 317
Appendix C – Email Outlining the Photograph Brief .......................................................... 318
Appendix D – Essex Business School Ethical Guidelines abided by in this Research ...... 319
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List of Images
Image Number Image Name Page Number
of Image in
Thesis
1 St Edmundsbury Cathedral 143
2 The Cloisters 146
3 The Cathedral Shop and ‘The Office’ 147
4 Computer Screen and Artefacts 161
5 Stationery Cupboard 166
6 Stationery Cupboard in the Youth Basement 168
7 The Invisible ‘Hovel’ 172
8 The Visible ‘Hovel’ 175
9 The ‘Hovel’ 177
10 The Discovery Centre 182
11 The Youth Basement 182
12 Tea and Biscuits 183
13 The Cloister 197
14 Shortcut 203
15 Rose Pathway 204
16 Cathedral Chairs 216
17 Desk 218
18 Welcome Area 231
19 The Chapel of Transfiguration 233
20 Cathedral Tower 234
21 Portacabin 236
22 Portacabin Sign 237
23 View from Office Window 238
24 The Car Park 239
25 Central Altar 250
26 The Lady Chapel 252
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Abstract
This thesis aims to extend current understandings of the production of organisational space,
with particular attention paid to its embodied characteristics. Empirically, this thesis
explores the everyday lived experience and understanding of organisational space of
employees and volunteers at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in England. Current empirical
studies exploring the phenomenon of organisational space do so primarily from the
perspective of space and the body, separating the body from space and viewing the body as
being in space as opposed to of space. This perspective provides only a limited view of the
lived experience of organisational space, for it does not consider that space and the body are
intertwined, with the body shaping space and space shaping the body. To address this
research gap, the thesis draws on the work of Lefebvre’s (1974/1991; 1992/2004)
theorisation of space. Data is collected through the methods of shadowing, photo-elicitation
and hermeneutic conversations. Underpinning all of the stages of the data collection and
interpretation is a Gadamerian approach to hermeneutics, which requires a joint
interpretation of the data between myself and the research participants.

The three main findings of the thesis extend existing conceptualisations of the lived
experience of organisational space. The findings show that first, artefacts play a role in
contesting the conceived spaces (Lefebvre, 1974/1991) of the organisation, producing
spaces to dwell. A second key finding is the role that gestures play in understanding the lived
experience while the third key finding highlights the role of the imaginary, in particular
memory, death and nostalgia to spatial understandings. The latter are especially considered
hitherto underexplored areas of the lived experience of organisational space. The final
chapter of the thesis presents the overall conclusions, establishing how the conceptual
contributions provide alternative ways of exploring and understanding the lived dimension
of organisational space.
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Acknowledgements
This PhD was undertaken on a part time basis and has taken over seven years to complete.
During that time I have been fortunate to have the continual support of many people. Now I
have the opportunity to express my gratitude in writing.

My first thanks go to Dr Marjana Johansson, my supervisor whose support has been shown
in so many ways. There is absolutely no doubt that if it were not for you I would not have
reached this point. The guidance and knowledge you have so generously shared and the
support you have continually given has been invaluable – thank you. Thanks also must be
given to the late Professor Heather Höpfl, my first supervisor. I am so sorry that you are not
here to see this day, for if it were not for you I would not even have started my PhD, thank
you for giving me this opportunity. I would also like to thank Associate Professor Kathleen
Riach, firstly for the seminars you delivered where your passion and enthusiasm provided a
great source of motivation and secondly a huge thank you for so generously taking on the
task of reading and providing critical feedback on my first draft.

My sincere thanks go to Colchester Institute for funding the first five years of my PhD and to
University College London (UCL) for funding my last two years. Thanks must also go to the
Science and Bartlett Libraries at UCL, who have provided me with much needed material and
to the University of Essex (UoE) library, for so patiently retrieving and sending to me many
of my research articles.

To the Very Reverend Dr Frances Ward Dean of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, thank you for
allowing me to undertake my field research with you and to Sarah Friswell, thank you for
being my ‘gatekeeper’. Great thanks and appreciation go to all of my research participants.
You were all so generous in allowing me to be your ‘shadow’ and in sharing so openly your
lived experiences at work. Your photographs have adorned my office walls, giving me
moments of inspiration and have served as a constant reminder of my time in the field which
I so much enjoyed.

To my PhD friends and now Doctors, Charlotte Smith, Sarah Watts and Laura Jackson-Willis.
Your kindness in sharing your experiences and knowledge has been invaluable, I am so
pleased that I can now be a member of your club! To my other PhD comrades and good
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friends, Jan Wilcox and Fran Hyde, I promise to offer you both any support that I can give
and hope that you will enjoy and gain as much from the PhD experience as I have.

Throughout these last seven years it has been my family who have carried me forward. Mark,
thank you for being my brother and friend, your strength, courage and determination are a
continual source of inspiration to me. Mum, thank you for your constant love and for the
unfailing belief that you always have had in me. To Dick, the first Doctor in our family, thank
you for all of your encouragement. It has been a great source of comfort in knowing that I
have someone close by who truly understands the highs and lows of undertaking a PhD.

To my beloved Dad, I thank you for living on in my heart and soul where I feel your love and
support every day. The last words I said to you was that I promise to make you proud and I
seek great joy in knowing that you are proud today.

Finally to Michael, my husband, this PhD has been with us for all of our married life! Thank
you for accepting all the compromises that we have had to make and thank you for your
constant source of love and patience, I am glad they did not run out! Our time is now our own
to enjoy.
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Chapter One: Introduction to the
Thesis
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Introduction
This thesis explores the lived experience of organisational space. In doing so it embraces an
epistemological understanding which examines the lived, embodied experience of space and
considers space and the body as “intertwined in mutually constitutive ways that need to be
engaged jointly” (van Marrewijk and Yanow, 2010: 3). Attention is given to the everyday
experience of individuals as they go about their daily organisational life. The everyday is
understood as “the most universal condition, the most social and the most individuated, the
most obvious and the best hidden” (Lefebvre, 1987: 9). This is a view which can be related
to the context of organisational life. The everyday is experienced by everyone, it appears as
obvious; indeed so obvious that much of the everyday goes by unnoticed due to being
habitualised. Whilst I consider that much of everyday experience stems from observable
facets such as spatial design and movements through space, other more hidden facets are
equally important. Both the tangible and the tacit make up the lived experience of
organisational space. Whilst space can appear homogenous and stable, this thesis examines
how multiple representations of organisational space are produced through bodily
experiences and practices.

This chapter provides an introduction to the thesis, beginning with a discussion of the key
debates surrounding conceptualisations of organisational space. A significant stream of the
extant organisational space literature focuses on the ways in which spaces are planned and
designed (e.g. Leonard, 2013; Taylor and Spicer, 2007) and the power of the built
environment in shaping behaviour and practices (e.g. Hancock and Spicer, 2011; Kenis et al.,
2010; Kingma, 2008). Whilst this thesis acknowledges the value of these positions, its focus
is on the individuals’ lived experience of organisational space, where the individual and
space are intertwined, each shaping the other. Having outlined the key debates and