Inviting original manuscripts for a Special Issue on “Imagination and Organizational Lives: Exploring the Liminality of the Human Experience”
In this special issue of the Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion, we invite conversations on the significance of imagination as an essential human need and as an essential human capability. This need and capability, we argue, enable individuals to shape and understand their experiences in work organizations as well as social communities.
Imagination defines human possibility more than the qualities of reason and logic. It provides ways to regenerate our ethical engagements and to re-instil much-needed spiritual meaning when organizations and institutions fail to serve humanity. When the imagination is present and engaged, boundaries shift and thresholds appear, opening a space for individuals to meet with one another in different ways.
This liminal “in-between” quality of the imagination makes it a precious, yet under-researched and possibly under-appreciated, resource for the development of soulful, dynamic, nurturing and resilient organizations and organizational members.
We encourage researchers and practitioners to share their imaginative explorations of what it means to be human in the context of organizations. We seek to engage with the richness and diversity of imagination to help organizations understand complex realities and transcend what may be perceived as limitations. We especially invite contributions that situate, explore, and/or discuss the following:
- How imagination is experienced and manifested in organizations and social communities.
- How imagination contributes to our understanding of ourselves and of our lives as organizational agents and as social change agents.
- How imagination informs reflections on spiritual aspects of management and leadership.
- How imaginative stories are expressed and manifested in organizations and/or communities, and what role they play in these contexts.
We welcome manuscripts that explore the imagination in a variety of formats, including creative writing, poetry, visual arts, embodied practice, sonic and musical performances, improvisation and more. We encourage submissions that reflect on practice as well as concepts.
Submission process
Authors are invited to submit their papers (between 6,000 and 9,000 words) by June, 15th. Submissions will be managed through ScholarOne (Manuscript Central) and we invite authors to consult the instructions below. The manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with manuscript guidelines of the Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion and should be submitted by June 30th, 2021. The full manuscripts will undergo a blind peer-review process. We expect the Special Issue to be published in early 2022.
Please email the guest-editors Dr. Cécile Rozuel (crozuel(at)ustpaul.ca) and Dr. Lauren Michelle Levesque (llevesque(at)ustpaul.ca) for any questions regarding the Special Issue.