Interlude

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Interlude

Introduction

This chapter provides a roadmap for the second part of the dissertation. Chapters five through eight are the stories of the participants, the organizational energies, and me engaging in experiences of action and reflection to explore issues in the participants’ daily organizational lives. Chapter nine is the synthesis of all the stories and an exploration of the cross-experience themes, while chapter ten ends the dissertation with implications and conclusions. This interlude offers insight into why the individual participant chapters are written in letter form, an explanation of the tarot cards, as well as instructions on how to read the transcript excerpts within the letters. This interlude is a moment to shift gears from the theoretical frameworks into the more intimate dynamic experience that was the research. It is a time to gather the tools that are needed to help witness and engage; much like the experience of a play or a symphony.

Letters as a way to create intimacy

There is a time in the middle of a bat mitzvah (Jewish coming of age ceremony) where the bat mitzvah and her parents have a chance to speak. The parents’ talks usually fall into two genres, those who speak directly to the congregation about their child and her accomplishments and personality. The other is parents who speak directly to the child (sometimes in letter form) about their feelings and reflections on the child’s life experiences and accomplishments as well as the relationship. Those that speak directly to the child let the congregants listen in and experience the child by listening to the feelings and reflections of the parents. There is an intimacy and a “reflecting back” in this process. The parents and child gr...

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...s are more than silence. There is active work and dialogue going on during the silence and I ask that you keep that in mind whenever you encounter a significant pause. In addition, I have included moments of laughter and other expressions to give you a sense of the mood when the conversations were taking place.

Conclusion

In the following chapters, the reader enters the experiences of each participant. Each letter is the telling of the work that occurred between the participant, myself, and the organizational energy. Each participant’s experience was unique and at the same time similar to the others’ experiences. Each letter highlights the uniqueness and the defining moments of the work. Chapter nine - the cross-experience chapter - will show how the experiences connect together and uncover the rich experience of connecting to the organizational energy.

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