ABSTRACT
This chapter explores and illustrates how the notion of social poetics can play an important role in action research processes. It unfolds four ways in which social poetics can be used in research conversations and group dialogues: (1) by using metaphors to create connections; (2) by exploring embodied gestures; (3) by creating memories about the future; and (4) by tweaking resonance and juxtaposing words and phrases.
The aim of the chapter is to describe how social poetics in action research informed by social constructionist ideas underline the significance of engaging in research as a situated and collaborative process. A collaborative practice between researchers and co-researchers, where subtle, mundane everyday practices can be explored in a joint effort to change the ways in which organizational members deal with organizational life. The chapter illustrates how researchers and co-researchers become future-formers, transforming organizational reality in new and imaginative ways through their engagement in research processes inspired by social poetics.
