Title: Role expansion of individual workforce through a drama based organisational intervention

Authors: Noha El Attar

Addresses: Toulouse Business School, 13 Rue Saint-Lambert, 75015 Paris

Abstract: This study explores the impact in organisations of a form of applied art, namely dramatic enactments inspired by psychodrama as a means for role expansion and self-awareness. The goal of dramatic enactments in organisations in this study is to help individual workforce use their imagination to expand their identity away from the roles they play and move toward an inner self-manager (Meta Role) enabling them to expand their role repertoire. The research was a case study entailed conducting individual dramatic video recorded sessions for managers and staff, observing them in the process, conducting interviews to elicit their own reflection of the experience and its effects on their learning and self-inquiry. An abductive thematic analysis resulted in two underlying dynamics: splitting and role exploration. Using this data, this study discusses the impacts of dramatic enactments on individual workforce which aides as an influence on their attitudes towards themselves and their organisation.

Keywords: role expansion; self-awareness; art based research; visual data analysis; dramatic interventions in organisations; self-inquiry; imagination; improvisation.

DOI: 10.1504/EMJM.2023.128235

EuroMed Journal of Management, 2023 Vol.5 No.1, pp.29 - 45

Received: 02 Aug 2022
Accepted: 03 Aug 2022
Published online: 12 Jan 2023 *