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Excerpts from
EXECUTION AS AN ARTFORM
Maintaining Ambition and Creativity within Postmodern Organizations
by Michael Dequin
A Senior Essay [Project]
Submitted to the Interdisciplinary Studies Program
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
BACHELOR OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES
June 1998
Excerpt from Introduction
Within most individuals, and perhaps born into each of us, is a desire to do things well.
We attempt to satisfy this desire in a variety of ways, as we channel energies into
personal pursuits, career ambitions, and routine duties contributing toward our
livelihood. Internal desires underline all of our activities, and are ever-present in both
personal or occupational endeavors. These may include physical fitness and competitive
athletics, participation in organized groups, development of artistic skills, enjoyment
that we seek from our hobbies and special interests. Especially important is the capacity
to balance attention to duties while caring for a household and our careers. As we plant
gardens, prepare meals, mow lawns, develop proposals and presentations; or plan functions,
projects, schedules, and manage the tasks that accumulate on "to do" lists; we
are compelled to execute our movements with excellence, feeling a sense of accomplishment
and pride that identifies our performance and abilities. Even during instances when we
just want to get something done and over with, we sometimes struggle to accept a lower
standard, and reluctantly "lower the bar". Internal desire, a passion, pushes
the bar upward, maintaining a sense of personal gratification and self-satisfaction. As
humans we take pride in our accomplishments, and also crave a sense of belonging-ness.
This craving too touches each aspect of our life, our friendships and both personal and
professional relationships. Fulfillment of these needs provides strength that sustains us
throughout our lifetime. We cherish such strength. This internal choir of natural desires
provides a voice for our needs, singing music of our soul, halting motion to a pause; as
we reflect upon our efforts, and pose the question, "has it been worthwhile"?
Typically, employers are focused more toward productivity and profits than they are an internal choir singing refrains of natural desires. The sweetest music in the world of business is connected to a cash register. Modern organizations demand optimization, and strive toward highest forms of excellence. Organizational excellence is partially dependent upon individual performance, and without participation and contributions of motivated individuals most business ventures would be unsuccessful. Although we associate business ventures with the terminology of organization, we are reminded that "everyone in this society lives and works in some kind of organization, group, or system" (Schaef, Fassel 1). And all of us include elements of organization in every aspect of our life. Whether it is the sock drawer of our dresser, or the furniture in our home; food in refrigerators, or table settings for meals; tools, toys, and knick-knacks--all are all arranged according to our preferences. We plan our activities to fit within time-managed days and weeks, according to organized months of years. Elements of organization, in one form or another, are virtually connected with everything that we do. Everything has a place, and most often we prefer to have our things in their place.
With everything in place, the elements of our life fit comfortable together. We can awake each day content that everything is arranged and organized to our satisfaction. Each workday too must fit comfortably into our scheme of things. It is important that work efforts contribute toward goals and expectations of our employer, and also satisfy our sense for order. It isn’t enjoyable to face each day with dread. There can be little enjoyment or pleasure derived from avoiding responsibilities and challenges. If we must force ourselves to crawl out of bed each day, dragging our heels as we travel to our daily destinations, we arrive at our responsibilities devoid of human spirit and our soul. It is my contention that to prevent deterioration of human spirit, we must apply creative methods for rejuvenating our passions. As workers, we must continually engage ourselves with activities in such a way that we create an energy that sparks self-renewal. Revitalization of a workplace will not be effective unless workers actively engage themselves in the process. Erosive conditions that destroy our souls will ultimately attack effectiveness and functionality of any organization.
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For organizations, operating on automatic pilot mode can enable benefits of a robot-like labor force to complete jobs and tasks. In a "business as usual" environment, workers are rewarded with paychecks, and a benefit package that affords a moderately comfortable lifestyle. Although these conditions minimize requirements for daily decision making, which may appeal to both employer and employee, this mode of operation is outdated. Postmodern organizations understand that their lifeline to survival is the enthusiasm of the workforce. If we view organizations along a time-line that depicts their evolution, we would see that a distinction appears toward the final fifteen years of this century. During the industrial era, a period spanning the latter 1800’s and entire twentieth century, organizational theory "flourished" with various structures applied to operating businesses. As technology advanced, the term "modern" was attached to connote a sense of timeliness. The postmodern era in organizational development marks a revival of traditional elements and techniques. Even though evolving technology is a life-blood of a flourishing business, it is the workforce that defines organizational culture and the spirit of an enterprise.
Competitive business environments today depend upon flexibility and are sustained only by creativity that can be unleashed by an atmosphere of spontaneity. A vibrant cultural spirit is constantly renewed by enthusiasm. Authentic enthusiasm cannot be forced; rather, it is a natural but precious resource, a healthy dynamic that can become contagious, and therefore self-perpetuating. Some of the elements that comprise current business and process improvement trends can be cultivated. Individuals can be educated, increasing the knowledge base of an organization. They can be persuaded to adapt, opening doors that lead to change. It is also possible to convincingly argue a case, enlisting support and commitment to new programs and their principles. However, it is extremely difficult to force enthusiasm, which stems from sincere beliefs or inspiration and from the organizational stakeholders’ understanding that they are doing meaningful work and contributing to the world. Enthusiasm requires that those directing the organization enroll the stakeholders’ in a vision that goes beyond money-making and the sweet song of profit--both important as means rather than ends of organizational life. Enthusiasm arises rather from a commitment to noble possibilities. It may even be the primary role of leaders to create this vision of the nobility of work.
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Postmodern organizations can only flourish if they are structured and staffed to operate on state of the art frontiers. Organizations are potentially works of art. Works of art are entities of surprise. They open up a new way of looking at the world, make us aware of life’s possibilities, and they do this by creating structures of beauty and grace that appeal to our minds, our senses, and our hearts. To stand in the presence of great art is to be moved by the possibilities in the ordinary, taken-for-granted things of life. A simple table, by Van Gogh, a water lily by Monet, the human face by Rembrandt--art uncovers the beauty and power in ordinary things and increases the pulse of life. The challenge for postmodern organizations is to create artistic entities--spaces in the workplace where possibilities in the ordinary, taken-for-granted routine tasks are surprisingly uncovered and brought forth in powerful ways, in ways that grab the minds and hearts of organizational stakeholders.
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Passion expresses the content of our soul. It allows us to live deeply and uncover meaning in everyday life. Without passion, we go through the motions of living and working. Without passion, life is dry and over time withers easily. Without passion, art is not possible.
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The creation of spaces of alignment is management’s role in the postmodern era. That alignment, then, frees people to be creative, to find the surprise in ordinary tasks. Step one requires accepting responsibility for our actions, in owning our experiences we create opportunities for renewal of everyday life.
In order to meet this challenge of organizational transformation we need some basic tools. [Author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi refers to the flow experience as a creative state.] Creativity arises in this flow state when we are completely immersed in our activities. Attaining a state of flow becomes a benchmark, a target to aim for when seeking engagement with everyday life. By combining this principle, along with author David Whyte’s guidelines for arousing hearts and retaining passions, we have widened a foundation to support the human spirit. A strong argument emerges that defends the value for encouraging an energized existence, enabling human excellence.
There are a number of responsibilities that commonly prevent us from engagement with our daily life. Working for an income is a requirement that few of us can avoid. Our workplace demands commitment and involvement, daily routines that lead to a conditioning of our actions. Too easily our days can become a series of habits, enacted within a repeating timetable, slowly disengaging the human spirit. ... Various blockades and ruts in the road ... can derail us. These traps are described within a context of addictions, or as referred to by organizational theory, escalating commitment. It often becomes easier to continue on a path that leads to failure, than it is to stop ourselves and change course. Postmodern organizations too must cope with necessities for changing course. Unfortunately, in our present post-capitalist society, many of the roles and responsibilities of the working life must be adjusted. The time that we are living in, the post-capitalist era has evolved from an economy that flourished amidst capitalism. Productivity within business communities, along with a standard of living within households, prospered and grew to record levels. Two important distinctions must be made regarding a transition into post-capitalism. First, methods that have previously attributed to widespread well being in the form of prosperity may no longer be effective. Secondly, addictive modes of operation may provide a high standard of living in the sense of financial wealth; however, our human spirit requires much more than a job, a routine, and a paycheck. Allowing life to become mere habits and routines will seldom lead to personal fulfillment.
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As an illustration of power that can be derived from immersion into creative experiences, I have chosen to examine characteristics of Diego Rivera’s artistic style. The processes that Rivera incorporated into his daily life enabled him to deliver finished works that represented a profound dignity to his artistic vision. He challenged processes, pushed beyond limitations, and remained loyal to his creative passions. His commitment to follow his own inner voice becomes an example for those who wish to live with hearts aroused.Excerpt from Section 1
The importance of emotional involvement with our work-life is articulated in David
Whyte’s book The Heart Aroused / Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in
Corporate America. This work centers on themes that identify crisis in today’s
postmodern businesses. Humanizing the workplace, giving voice to workers, encouraging
creativity and "out of the box" thinking, creating a learning environment where
everyone benefits as stakeholders and shareholders of processes, an atmosphere of
voluntary participation, instead of mandatory involvement. Whyte’s placement of
preservation of a worker’s soul at the forefront of his argument is in perfect
harmony with current business trends. Without soul, without passion zeal and enthusiasm,
no movement in business realms will ever be able to sustain itself and provide lasting
value.
Whyte suggests the propelling emotional ingredient that lures us to our jobs each day as being a "soul [that] loves the journey itself" (89). Arousal of the heart is what springs us out of bed with ambition for returning to our work place. Arousal of our hearts becomes a drive that transcends boundaries of potential limitations. With hearts aroused we find ourselves alive, alert, engaged with every breath; we have courage to push ourselves, every move, every thought, every statement becomes focused, each moment finds in itself empowered by ambition to push beyond opposed resistance. Creative people in the workplace are enthusiastic about their jobs because they know that the simplest, most ordinary, most routine job has within it a potential for creative action.
The human spirit is confronted by an organization that professes through its mission statement to value lofty goals. These statements promote value systems that advocate the advancement of human resource development. Many companies boast of their commitment to training programs that center on trends and current movements. Herein rests the paradox of business process improvements, or transformation and renewal efforts. Organizations, in an effort to remain on frontiers of these spawning movements, typically swim crowded business waters amidst schools of other trendy fish.
Overpopulation is a malady common among all ecosystems. Ecologically, business populations also face both overcrowding and toxic waste. There is a difference between professing to strive towards excellence and actual execution. Total Quality Management, Reengineering, Learning Organizations, and Organizational Transformation are all buzz-words for trendy programs, and each can be driven into the ground by over-use, non-commitment and insincerity. Workers want to believe that their company is committed to principles of change and innovation, but all too often feel bombarded with fads that reek, just as toxic waste. Somewhere amidst these waters of change, the worker struggles to hear his or her own voice, to get a bearing on which direction these improvement efforts are taking themselves and the company. And yet, too often the human spirit simply surrenders. Enough is enough. Although it wants to believe that a better workplace, conducive to both corporate needs and desires of individuals is possible, the spirit itself is no longer up for the journey. It doesn’t believe that the company is willing to do what is necessary to get there.
This is the critical juncture, and we can either reconcile our work lives to become drudgery and boredom, or we can push ourselves to battle forward with determination toward a distinction. This is precisely where our passions, where the soul and essence of our human spirit must be enlisted by corporations to authenticate improvement efforts. There is safety, and for some, perceived security when swimming with the other fish. It takes remarkable courage to turn and swim away from, or turn and swim against a group. But being courageous enough to accept this challenge is exactly what our human spirit cries out for. That is the voice inside us. If we choose to listen we can tune that voice into moments of clarity, guiding us as a beacon toward a career well spent. David Whyte describes rewards that benefit an organization when it supports the courage of impassioned human spirit, unafraid to challenge a process, intent on developing effective and lasting improvements with the organization. He states that "ironically, we bring more vitality into our organization when we refuse to make their goals the measure of our success" (280).
This voice that we each have inside of us is continually seeking recognition. Too often, it becomes worn down and chooses a road of resignation. Also, often it cries out to say that we are lost, we no longer know our way. Admitting that we are lost is not an announcement of failure, rather only a declaration that we are unsure. It becomes a wake-up call that brings us to our senses for our next decision. It is only a point on the map for our adventure when we choose a new road, or bridge, to connect us with the next experience. We are fueled by our ambition, and motivated by a creative force that compels us toward new roads and bridges. We, in each organizational capacity from which we make our contribution toward individual tasks and business objectives, must be courageous enough to choose new routes, and unafraid of making mistakes and wrong choices.
There are few people who claim to have traveled and never made a wrong turn. Recovery from mistaken turns, and deciphering direction while we are lost, these are ways we learn to navigate unfamiliar territory. Whyte encourages us to "understand the necessity of failure," because as a result of failures we "begin to understand the magnificence of even the humblest human path" (288). He cites Thomas Edison as an example of a highly creative, innovative, and imaginative individual who not only was unafraid of failure, but an inventor who learned to "embrace failure as an essential part of the path of creation" (95). We try, we fail, we try again, and if fortunate, through persistence and ambition, we eventually taste the sweet reward of success. Perhaps the human spirit owes organizations some recognition for their persistence as well. With each trend, the energy from a new wave of potential discovery is released. Like Thomas Edison, their intention is to eventually succeed and light the world.
If we analyze motivational factors for individuals and organizations, we recognize a shared desire for success. The organization continues ever forward to amass more of the market, which is measured in financial wealth. The individual also marks and measures success in financial standards; however, at the core of the worker beats a heart that cries out for arousal. This is clearly David Whyte’s contention. He states that we work because we are driven by our passion and desires to do so. In his words, "at that center we work because we love our work" (241). Peter Senge also speaks of this type of commitment that individuals have for their work, he refers to it as having "a high level of personal mastery . . . [that] they approach their life as an artist would a work of art . . . by becoming committed to their own lifelong learning" (7).
Just as the learning organization that continually reinvents new ways to improve, we too return each morning to our jobs, pushing ourselves to try again and grasp a measure of self-satisfaction and success. There is a significant connection between the passions of our heart and our physical being. Dick Dauch, a renowned automotive executive, equates this driving force with the title of his book, A Passion for Manufacturing. Passion becomes a thirst that awakens you each morning, demanding that it be quenched. Passion is more than just an urge; it is desire that borders on being uncontrolled, becoming a force that pulls us, an exciting force that we cannot resist.
Few of us can hope to enjoy success on the magnitude of Dick Dauch; however, each of us is motivated by desires that are in parallel with his desire to do things well. Organizations that focus on strategies that develop and enable opportunities for individuals to become excited are on the right road. Through excitement we revitalize passions which fuel us for a journey into re-enchantment of everyday life. We discover through worlds of imagination and creativity ways to make it all seem new again. We have an opportunity to creatively reinvent our lives each day, to set our own goals for new learning, to gradually "raise the bar". We can plan our time away from work so that we benefit from timelessly meandering in the liminal zones, to dream the ways we choose to re-create ourselves, and to restore our energies that fuel our passions. When we accept responsibility, as keepers of our souls, and wake each day committed to renewal, we arrive at our jobs with courage, and can join forces with an organization to destroy those former gates of hell. By doing so, we preserve our soul; we retain our human dignity, and creatively contribute toward our organization's benefit as well. Although preservation of the human spirit does not appear within strategic plans, only a fulfilled workforce can make the types of contributions that best accomplish business objectives.
Passion, fulfillment, ambition, motivation, inspiration, innovation and creativity, all of these are tools that guide us as a compass and fuel us on our travels throughout our working life. Together, these tools allow an opportunity for active engagement with what would otherwise become an ordinary life. The intent is not just to crawl out of bed, to routinely execute each motion and activity. The objective is to attain that personal mastery, to seize each moment with intensity, and to execute our actions as if they were an artform. David Whyte refers to this type of engagement as "the great art of working in order to live" (298). "This simple ability to pay attention to the world as we find it may be at the heart of a soulful life worth living, inside or outside the office" (Whyte, 262).
Excerpt from Chapter 6Within that area of the museum I planned to align my inner passions with those released by Diego Rivera’s brushstrokes, captured onto frescoes that adorn the courtyard walls. An inner calmness has always settled upon me whenever I have entered this room. It feels as though I am passing through a slipstream of Diego Rivera’s own consciousness, a force enabling his presence, and his human spirit forever remains in that room. As a child I loved to slowly walk through the vast entrance hallway, fascinated by suits of armor and a display of medieval swords, before stepping into this courtyard that seemed so large. Inside this space I feel a reverence, a powerful force as real as spirituality that one senses inside a place of worship. I am moved, my eyes transfixed by light that emanates throughout the room. The light illuminates the figures of the frescoes, casts their bodies against the machines in reverencial tones, as if passing through stained glass windows in a great cathedral. The colors come alive. And the figures seem to move in their factory environments. At every point in my life when I have stood or sat within this room, my human spirit has been moved.
Rivera was in this room on a daily basis for approximately eleven months. I suspect that he was enraptured many times in flow experiences. He not only illustrates facets of factory life, the complexity of industrialization, but also manages to create an accurate historical representation of Detroit’s core industry. He depicts this link between a city and its society as "a microcosm of the industrial age" (DIA 49). This city in that era represented the industrial core for all of the United States. The power of these factories was instrumental in unfolding developments of world societies, as they became dependent on automobile transportation. Detroit factory power also became a primary source for manufacturing various types of military vehicles, making it a principle resource for our countries strategic defense planning. Rivera had come to Detroit commissioned to paint two large panels, the only stipulation was that these were to portray the city’s role in industrialization. He immersed himself so deeply in this work, that he requested permission to paint all twenty-seven panels in the room.
Rivera had an affinity with engineering since early childhood. "His parents called him ‘ . . . the Engineer’ because of his passion for tearing apart and trying to put together again mechanical toys" (DIA 47). This perhaps helped draw him deeper into Ford Motor Company’s Rouge complex where he acquired an understanding of various manufacturing processes. By developing first his engineer’s perspective, he was then prepared to present technical illustrations in a coherent and realistic sequence that accurately depicted automotive manufacture. This realism is a strong feature; it explains why these factory scenes excite personal appeal and fascination for so many individuals who have seen inner workings of a factory, especially in the city of Detroit.
Rivera’s portrayal of a Detroit factory captures "movement, rhythm, and energy" of industrial complexes with only one element missing, that of the "deafening sound" (DIA 50). As a child, staring into these factory scenes was foreign; today it is more like looking into mirrors of my life. As I look into these panels many years past my youth, and with my own personal collection of automobile factory experiences, I not only hear the sounds of conveyors and machinery, but also smell the factory air. I recognize the power of the factory scenes, its capacity for processing "raw materials, aged thousands of years in the earth, transformed from their primordial state into modern self-propelled machines" (DIA 49). And I now understand a connection of these factory scenes with all the other panels in the room. Rivera’s message is delivered by combining all the images and panels, which collectively depict transformation processes connecting various forms of life. The room is painted full with symbolism that combines and blends geological stratas with agriculture, science, sociology, and religion; all aspects that sustain and destroy life. Rivera arrived in Detroit commissioned to complete two panels, and left behind a "final composition [as] an elegant analogy that is more than the sum of its parts; it dramatically presents the universal idea of the interdependence of all living and non-living things" (McMeekin 21).
This perspective of interdependence is what Rivera’s masterpiece successfully conveys. Metaphorically, a serpentine conveyor winds throughout factory scenes to interconnect processes as it transports components for automobiles being assembled. As viewer’s eyes wind and are conveyed between painted scenes, Rivera’s philosophical message becomes assembled also. The complexity of industrialization is presented in parallel with life’s cycles of human beings, animals, plants and minerals. He has "synthesized the ideas from art, science, industry and literature in a fashion parallel to the way in which organisms couple energy and matter to promote growth" ( McMeekin 60). These murals, by conveying interconnectivity between elements of the earth, reveal a transformation process that Henry Ford believed could be used to "grow an automobile" (McMeekin 60). This is the thesis of Diego’s frescoes in Rivera court. A suite of metaphors and symbols configure the industry of a city, a representation that reveals the connected-ness and interdependence of all living things.
Throughout his life Rivera sought to bring a wide range of interests together within his work. He had strong political interests, and particularly was concerned for the social well-being of his countrymen in Mexico. Although he was committed to formal studies as an artist, honing his skills in Paris among aspiring artists from the cubist school, he had a very humble viewpoint regarding his role as a painter. "I am not merely an artist, but a man performing his biological function of producing paintings just as a tree produces flowers and fruit" (Arquin 4). Rivera understood painting was as natural as trees producing fruit. The artist was unable not to paint. His existence depended upon painting, as if art were a form of breathing, as if artistic performance were a biological function.
By including subject matter that he was passionate about, Rivera coupled his desires and interests with his need to paint. The fresco style of painting requires artists to work quickly, the images must "flow swiftly out of the brush’s tip onto the resisting-yielding surface of the moist plaster that in a few short hours will be too dry to absorb another stroke" (Wolfe 120). This technique forced Rivera to deeply engage himself with his work, and resulted in powerful expressions reflecting his creative visions. The technique or process is organic, water mixed with sand and minerals from the earth--an appropriate medium for the Detroit frescoes, works depicting processes to transform organic substance. The process of preparing wall panels with carefully mixed wet plaster establishes a timing sequence that demands the artist’s response and concentration. While working on the fresco murals in Detroit’s museum, the wet plaster walls were prepared by assistants. They would notify Rivera, who had taken residence several blocks away from the museum, when preparations were complete. He often waited several hours before walking back and beginning to paint. This self-imposed delay reduced the time he had to paint, forcing him to concentrate intently as his brush moved quickly over moist plaster.
Diego Rivera combined elements of his painting technique, his biological need to paint, with subject matter that satisfied his genuine interests. By doing so he struck that perfect chord that sounded harmony within his work with these stirrings of his human spirit. His working style aroused the passions of his heart, the hearts of his viewing audience, and engaged him deeply into the creative process. By immersing himself in details surrounding subject matter he continually increased his knowledge, adding accuracy and power to his painted images. He approached his work with mastery, and was rewarded by the enjoyment he received from doing the work. Rivera was committed to remaining loyal to his own beliefs, he maintained a realistic perspective regarding his own achievements, and with his murals provided a vision that offered hope for his countrymen.
My afternoon within Rivera court helped me study details of the artist’s life and the frescoes themselves. I observed a steady stream of on-lookers--parents with children, school groups, guided museum tour groups, couples, pairs and individuals. Some of those who knew the frescoes well would point to details as they provided information for others. There were those who observed quietly, or sat and rested, several situated themselves to sketch their images of Rivera’s images.
My passions push me away from repetitious tasks. Yet, in this room the walls are painted with rows of men rhythmically engaged with repetition. Only when observing Rivera’s work as a whole can we realize a power that results from this rhythm of workers. They flex their muscles in unison, and share common commitment that is evident by the determination showing on their faces. These workers are intent on performing their tasks, and such collective harnessed power is transformed into the force of industrialization. Historically, industrialization created jobs which were coveted by many, and provided prosperity, and hope for millions of men and women who came to Detroit to attain all that may enable a good life.
My own career has followed a serpentine path that has woven me through many automotive plants in different cities, states, and countries. I have experienced many facets of life cycles from within factory walls. Long distance telephone conversations with family, friends or co-workers that have conveyed news of births or deaths, weddings, birthdays, illnesses or funerals. I have wound paths through these facilities and complexes that have led to rooftops and into subterranean levels deep beneath the factory floor. Some plants have evolved far beyond the environment and production pace depicted in Rivera’s frescoes. Some plants, or manufacturing operations still appear quite similar, with workers falling into the rhythm of unison, the cadence of production’s pace. Regardless of whether we can become engaged with work, our ultimate opportunity lies in how we disengage ourselves from demands of our working life. I am curious how Diego Rivera spent those several hours while he waited for plaster panels to begin to dry; what he did before stepping back onto the scaffold, where with brush and pallet in hand he once again became engaged with painting. Renewal rests as much in what we do while disengaged, as it does in our attempts to engage our passions with our work life and our jobs.