Browsing by Author "Bradford, Mark"
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- ItemBeWeDō® : co-creating possibilities with movement : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Massey Business School, Department of Management, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2015) Bradford, MarkOne of the main challenges in contemporary creative practice is shifting beyond collaborative thinking to more relational ways of engaging co-operatively with each other. The interdisciplinary research focused on investigating how can the movement practices of the Japanese martial art of Aikido facilitate leadership development for co-creation. This research synthesised diverse literatures focussed on aikidoka, leadership development, and creative modes of practice as processes in action and in relation to collective creativity and the context of co-creation within the experience economy. The Aikido principle of aiki was used as a theoretical framework where experiential knowing – anchored in relational processes – focused on engaging my body and its experiences as a site of learning and a participatory way of knowing. This design-led ethnography combined autoethnography and visual ethnography through two Phases of fieldwork. The findings from Phase One highlighted four concepts zanshin, hipparu, extension, and common center, which were blended into the BeWeDō® conceptual framework. The BeWeDō® framework was investigated experientially in a series of workshops as part of Phase Two. The workshops involved me being immersed in a relational leadership process which encouraged participants to be in the moment and generate co-creative movement. Six key themes emerged: Aikido is not BeWeDō®; BeWeDō® is more than collaboration; Aiki involves “the two of us”; an aiki approach invites co-operation; BeWeDō® positions the body to lead co-creative movement; and BeWeDō® moves the conversation to a different place. This research is the first to investigate how Aikido movement practices can facilitate leadership development for co-creation. Beyond the influential act of an individual or individuals, the BeWeDō® framework is a relational leadership approach founded on the idea that individuals are constituted by social processes: a new way of co-creating possibilities to facilitate leadership development specifically for co-creation. BeWeDō® is a unique co-creation experience innovation. Furthermore, BeWeDō® extends beyond notions of embodied leadership and embraces the role of emplacement for transforming co-creative possibilities.
- ItemBeyond the Individual: the Complex Interplay of Creativity, Synthesis and Rigor in Design Led Research Processes.(International Association of Societies of Design Research, 2009-10) Bradford, Mark; Tomassen, AukjeThis paper sets out to provide insight into the current debate on art, science, and the need for rigor in providing a framework for the interpretation of creativity within design. A literature overview will outline the common concept on creativity processes. The model will be critiqued from various theoretical perspectives. The theory and approaches are then applied to a case study through which the conceptual framework of creativity will unfold. It is, however, not an exhaustive literature review, as the literature chosen is in particular very applicable to the case study in this paper. The paper will represent ongoing research.
- ItemTakemusu Aiki: Insights into Optimizing Ideational Flow(2008-07-21) Bradford, MarkThis paper will investigate how designers can connect broader understandings of ‘leadership’with specific design knowledge to enhance creative performance. The emphasis is on how designers can potentially ‘manage’ their thinking within the ideation process – maximise “ways”to spread ‘memes’. A meme is a rule, concept, or idea that can be spread from one person to another. Designers have been described as ‘memetic engineers’ (Dawkins, 1989) because they produce memes or units of cultural information that are recycled and evolve over time. Memes emerge through ‘imitation and recombination’ according to Blackmore (1999), by mixing up ideas to produce new combinations. One approach to understanding and reflecting on existing disciplinary experiences, as well as challenging creative potential, is through researching other conative “ways” – such as ‘Aikido’ – to embrace and reflect on ‘how’ we think instead of purely ‘what’ we think.
- ItemTheory as Process: “Keiko” and ‘Co-Creative Movement’.(International Association of Societies of Design Research, 2009-10) Bradford, Mark; Thomassen, AukjeThis paper explores how designers can connect broader understandings of leadership with specific design knowledge to ‘manage’ their thinking within the ideation process. The research outlines creativity as a rigorous process – focusing on ‘how’ we think instead of purely ‘what’ we think, as design leaders in an ever-changing design environment. One way of understanding and reflecting on our existing disciplinary experience is through researching other creative “ways” such as the Japanese martial art of ‘Aikido’. Both designers and Aikidoka refine through practice – a process of shifting and reframing knowledge – with the awareness coming through the ‘doing’. In Aikido this process is conveyed by the Japanese word “keiko” which means to train, to practice, to learn, or to engage in. The aim of this autoethnographic research – based on a Grounded Theory approach to data evaluation [5] and participant observation techniques, is to structure and visualize the initial findings. The results analyze the conceptual possibilities of extending Aikido theory beyond the conventional ‘dojo’ setting in order to develop a systematic methodology for thinking about ‘co-creative movement’ as a specific form of flow [3] for enabling knowledge exchange.