Insight and Imagination: A Study in Knowing and Not-Knowing in Organizational Life - Softcover

Stein in Insight and Imagination intersperses his thoughtful and reflective discussion of the psychological nature of the workplace with poems...this much needed, playful but yet intensely thoughtful book makes an important contribution to the discussion of knowing and not knowing of the workplace for what it is...I recommend this book to anyone seeking to more thoroughly understand one's experiences at work. -- Dr. Seth Allcorn, Texas Tech . . . a book that demands the reader's full attention, promising to reward it with an insightful and imaginative approach. . . -- Richard V. Badalamente * The Applied Anthropologist, Spring 2008 * Howard Stein's new book, Insight and Imagination: A Study in Knowing and Not-knowing in Organizational Life, is an important book. I believe it can have a profound impact on the many practicing anthropologists working with, and more commonly, within organizations. I sense it is going to have a profound impact on my own professional developmentttt -- Darby C. Stapp * The Applied Anthropologist, Spring 2008 * Stein takes an innovative approach, drawing from over thirty years of personal experience as a psychoanalytic anthropologist and organizational consultant. He crafts an engaging, exhilarating, and often depressing narrative of the pitfalls surrounding organizational change. . . . By providing a window into the emotional center of organizational life and culture through the use of artistic means, Stein manages to create an anthropological set piece that is at once instructive, challenging, and rewarding. -- Satish K. Kedia, Ph. D., University of Kentucky * The Applied Anthropologist, Spring 2008 * Howard Stein's new book, Insight and Imagination: A Study in Knowing and Not-knowing in Organizational Life, is an important book. I believe it can have a profound impact on the many practicing anthropologists working with, and more commonly, within organizations. I sense it is going to have a profound impact on my own professional development -- Darby C. Stapp * The Applied Anthropologist, Spring 2008 *

Insight and Imagination explores the primacy of the self in organizational research, consulting, and management / leadership. Contesting the radical dichotomy between 'objective' and 'subjective' understanding, and the devaluation of the latter, Professor Howard F. Stein argues that the imagination of the observer, informed by his or her unconscious, can lead to a greater understanding of the psychological reality of the workplace and in turn to better informed problem solving. Insight emerges from the disciplined use of the imagination rather than its repudiation. The book brings countertransference to center stage as a tool for understanding the emotional experience of organizational life and for formulating interventions. One often neglected use of the imagination is the capacity to not have to know beforehand what one needs to learn_what poet John Keats called 'negative capability'. Insight and Imagination proposes the use of the humanities as a means of expanding and deepening one's access to the inner life of organizations. The author draws from the art created by others and from his own poetry written and often used during an organizational consultation. Among the specific contexts discussed in this book are the experience of organizational downsizing; helping organizations to grieve after change and loss; recognizing 'red herrings' in organizational decision making; the language of organizational change; recognizing hidden agendas in meetings; and reflective practice in organizational life.