2008

April 
Melbourne

Research Workshop

The University of Melbourne's Graham Sewell presented his research on institutionalisation as a form of re-enchantment at this ICRODSC research workshop.

His work examines the Weberian concept of disenchantment - a generalised process of secular rationalisation involving the progressive displacement of magical or supernatural explanations of cause and effect by scientific alternatives - and applies it to developments in management knowledge, using the concept of re-enchantment.

In this way, Prof Sewell accounts for the durability of some institutional features of contemporary organisations because they align with modern myths. For example, enduring allegorical narratives based on the extended use of a compelling metaphor.

Marcos Bosquetti, a visiting doctoral student from the University of São Paulo, presented his proposed study of the discourse of climate change and its effects on the energy industry. The study examines how the 'grand' discourse of climate change constructs this problem. For example, whether it frames it as an individual versus a collective problem and whether it is a problem that is 'out there' versus a problem which is indivisible from human activity.