Aesthetic Communication

This book deals with the organizational use of aesthetic means. Based on the idea that organizations are systems of communication, it is shown that consciously or not, organizations have always used aesthetic means to reinforce their communication. Man has always had a weakness for aesthetics, which secretly catch, enchant and seize the attention. Size and colour, form and rhythm affect the desire to say yes or no. In modern society art is pure and ruthless. But a price has been paid for this freedom: art has become irrelevant. The opposite of pure art is applied art, which not only must be aesthetically satisfying, but must also fulfil economic, political or religious considerations. Aesthetic communication explores how organizations use aesthetics. Beginning with an exciting chapter on aesthetic art and applied art it follows with an in-depth analysis of the different fields of organizational aesthetics; - Image, or the creation of an attractive veil; - rhetoric, or the use of words to affect people; - narrative, or the construction of seducing contexts; - design, or how to impregnate ordinary things with attraction and identity; - advertisement, or how to insert products in a heavenly world; and - architecture or how to use buildings to tell about greatness and power Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 List of Tables and Images......Page 10 Preface......Page 12 Introduction: the aesthetic gaze......Page 16 Aesthetic examples......Page 22 Constancy and variation – the aesthetic relevance......Page 25 The aesthetic – an interim conclusion......Page 29 The artistic, the erotic and the religious......Page 31 The work......Page 32 Aesthetic seduction......Page 35 The sensed, the imagined and the attuned......Page 37 Basic forms of attunedness......Page 42 From attunedness to feeling......Page 51 The aesthetic management of organizations......Page 57 Attunedness and feeling in organizations......Page 58 Aesthetics and strategy......Page 60 What is aesthetic strategy?......Page 63 The external relationship between art and organization......Page 65 The inner relationship between aesthetics and organization......Page 70 Summary: the distinctive character of aesthetic communication......Page 71 Six aesthetic domains......Page 73 An aesthetic profile?......Page 75 2 The Organizational Image......Page 78 The authoritative description......Page 82 The problem of power......Page 83 From singular to plural......Page 86 Identity, vision, image: initial remarks......Page 88 Branding......Page 89 Symbol of totality......Page 93 Identity and image: the suspicion of deception......Page 96 Identity as an effective illusion......Page 98 Mass media......Page 100 Reconstruction of the difference between identity and image......Page 102 Handling normal ambivalence......Page 105 Myth, presentation and vision......Page 106 The professional construction of an image......Page 111 Transition to rhetoric: symbol and function......Page 114 3 Organizational Rhetoric......Page 117 A rhetorical problem......Page 119 A shift in the balance between reason and rhetoric......Page 120 Reason and emotion......Page 127 Logos......Page 128 Pathos......Page 137 Pathos-management......Page 140 Ethos......Page 142 Ethos or aesthetics?......Page 147 The rhetoric of management......Page 149 Rhetorical rituals: necessary illusions......Page 154 Transition to narratives......Page 158 Narrative desire and the desire for narrative......Page 159 What is a narrative?......Page 162 The narrative bond......Page 164 The narrative as necessary pattern......Page 165 Organization, autopoiesis and narrative: the logic of the concrete......Page 168 The narrative as compensation for invisibility and complexity......Page 172 Time, space and distortion......Page 173 The sophistication of narrative......Page 174 The plot......Page 177 Narrative and dealing with values......Page 179 Organization and narrative......Page 181 The product's narratives: an expansion of meaning......Page 184 The organization's use of narratives: ten functions......Page 185 Transition to design......Page 192 Background of the concept of design......Page 193 As an introduction: what design does......Page 194 Design as 'giving form'......Page 198 Form and difference......Page 201 Form in society......Page 204 The sensed and the imaginary......Page 207 Eye and Hand......Page 208 Pure, decorative and metaphysical design......Page 210 Design as aesthetics and as ethics......Page 216 Collision of considerations......Page 218 Design in organizations......Page 221 The invisible, the symbolic and the desired......Page 223 Design between variation and constancy......Page 225 Transition to advertising......Page 227 Omnipresent appeal......Page 228 Three theses: desire, imitation, compensation......Page 233 The world of advertising......Page 236 The rhetoric of advertising images......Page 241 The artifice of advertising – some examples......Page 245 The rhetoric of advertising text......Page 246 Genre, self-reference, autocommunication and second-order advertising......Page 252 Luxury and prestige......Page 258 Transition to architecture......Page 264 The house......Page 265 Constancy and variation......Page 267 To dwell and to build......Page 271 From cave to house......Page 273 Architecture as communication......Page 274 Denotation and connotation......Page 276 The struggle between criteria......Page 278 Architecture as rhetoric......Page 279 The codes of architecture: identity and symbolism......Page 284 The first code: identity......Page 286 The second code: symbolism......Page 288 The dimensions of meaning......Page 291 The interplay of meanings: B&O's headquarters......Page 299 8 Conclusion......Page 304 Notes......Page 306 Bibliography......Page 327 Index......Page 334 This text deals with the organizational use of aesthetic means. Based on the idea that organizations are systems of communication, it is shown that consciously or not, organizations have always used aesthetic means to reinforce their communication