Stay on Target with Activity Tracker

Today I started using a new Google Gadget to boost my productivity in my writing process. One productivity activity that I sometimes use is alternating between activities every 15 - 20 minutes. This is good if you are bored or stuck. Using Activity Tracker I set up several sections of my dissertation as activities. I also included 3 non-dissertation activities that I needed to work on today. I set up Activity Tracker to prompt me every 15 minutes to change activities. You can choose different time levels and different languages and voices you would like for your your prompt. In addition to this, Activity Tracker tracks how much time you spend on each task. You can view your results on a graph, print your results, or export them to an Excel file.

Here's the office description from the Activity Tracker site: Track all your daily activity and find how you spend your time with this cool little punchclock gadget. Print cool graph and get a log or timesheet of all your activities. Punch-in when you start and punch-out when done. Let the gadget alert you when you forget to punchin or punchout. Use it - for improving productivity, as a recorder, as stopwatch, to jot down all tasks, for project management, for time management, as a counter, timer,simple tracker, to track todo list, to simply track your progress, to find time spent in meeting and appointments, as a graphing tool. Be productive and effective with this gadget. Perfect for anyone - student, consultant, employee, employer.

Download Activity Tracker for your Google homepage

Gearing up to write . . . again!

It has been awhile since I've done some serious work on my dissertation. The holiday's came and then I had an illness. All of this taken together through off most of what I had hoped to accomplish during the holidays. So, there is nothing left to do but regroup.

Once again MindManager had been a useful tool. I had to devise a plan for finishing my literature review. It was as simple as adding due dates to the branches of my literature outline map. Here's the map with the plan.

State of the 21st Century World - Part 1

Heading into the last two years of the first decade of the 21^st century, global problems weigh on our collective consciousness. J. F. Rischard (2002), former World Bank vice-president for Europe cites twenty contemporary global problems (p. 66).

Table 1: Rishard’s 20 Global Issues

Sharing our planet:Issues involving the global commons	Sharing our humanity: Issues requiring a global commitment	Sharing our rule book: Issues needing a global regulatory approach
Global warming	Massive step-up in the fight against poverty	Reinventing taxation for the 21st century
Biodiversity and ecosystem losses	Peacekeeping, conflict preventions, combating terrorism	Biotechnology rules
Fisheries depletion	Education for all	Global financial architecture
Deforestation	Global infectious diseases	Illegal drugs
Water deficits	Digital divide	Trade, investment, and completion rules
Maritime safety and pollution	Natural disaster prevention and mitigation	Intellectual property rights
		E-commerce rules
		International labor and migration rules

These problems are by-products of two major forces (a) demographic explosion and (b) the new world economy. According to Rischard these major forces will introduce unprecedented stresses on the world. At the same time, the technological and economic revolutions fueling the new world economy will introduce unprecedented opportunities (p. 7). Nevertheless, Rischard asserts that, “for many urgent global issues the turnaround time is now, in the next two decades, not in the next half century” (p. 200). Additionally, he argues that there exists “an undeniable failure of the entire international setup and the world’s nation states at the task of fast and effective global problem-solving” (p. 201). This is the case because the exploding population causes an exponentiality of scarcity. Simultaneously, the new economy offers an exponentiality of plenitude. Together these forces create a crisis of complexity, because the rate of change exceeds traditional institutions capacity to change rapidly (p.38).

Although Rischard insists on a 20-year window of opportunity to deal with these global issues, he does not specify the consequences of failure to address them. He does offer a solution. Rischard calls for a move from hierarchal government to a system of networked governance. Central this concept is the creation of Global Issues Networks (GIN). Each GIN addresses a specific global problem. The composition of the GIN is comprised of three types of partners: (a) national governments concerned by or experienced in the issue, (b) international civil society organizations who can contribute individuals with deep knowledge of the issue, and (c) businesses that have both knowledge of the issue and the ability to represent other business (p. 172).

In summary, Rischard uses twenty global issues which he admits is not an exhaustive list, to call attention to the crises of complexity caused by exponential growth in world population and creation of wealth by the new world economy. Fueling this crisis is the inability traditional nation-states and other international governance institutions to keep pace with the rate of world change. Rischard’s work appears grounded on three assumptions (a) a general sense of global crisis of complexity, (b) a perceived inability of nation-states and other international governance organizations to address the sense of global crisis and (c) and an implicit failure of leadership (national and international) to effect the necessary changes in nation-states and international governance organizations.

Reference

Rischard, J. F. (2002). High noon: 20 global problems 20 years to solve them. New York: Basic Books.

Starting the Literature Review Today

Here's a draft of the introduction to the Lit. Review


The central concern of this study is “What does organizational leadership mean in a chaotic, nihilistic, and apocalyptic era?” I posit that applying Paul Ricoeur’s theory of interpretation to John’s Apocalypse offers a relevant response to this concern. This chapter provides a foundation from the scholarly literature supporting the appropriateness of the data source and the method of analysis in addressing this question.

Beginning this foundation, I answer from the literature two questions:
(1) Does the state of the 21st century world support the research question’s underlying assumption of a broadly chaotic, nihilistic, and apocalyptic contemporary reality?
(2) If there is support of this assumption, what evidence of chaos, nihilism, and apocalypticism exist in contemporary organizations?
In the course of answering these questions, I define chaos, nihilism, and apocalypticism.

Continuing the foundation, I turn to an examination of the current philosophical and theoretical models generally applied by leaders within their 21st century organizational realities. I explore the apparent inadequacy of positivistic epistemology to respond to the contemporary organizational context. Within the literature, Chaos Theory and theories of spirituality rooted in postmodern epistemology emerge as alternatives to theories grounded in positivistic epistemology. Consequently, a thorough discussion of these two theoretical orientations follows. As a part of this discussion, I define organizations and organizational leadership.

Furthering the foundation, I show from the literature how Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutic phenomenology philosophy offers a step forward in constructing theories and best practices in organizational leadership within contemporary reality. Here I discuss the current application of Ricoeur’s hermeneutic phenomenology to organizational leadership studies.

Concluding the foundation, I demonstrate from the literature the potential of John’s Apocalypse to speak meaningfully to contemporary reality in general and in specific to the realities of 21st century organizations. Finally, from the literature, I offer an explanation of the appropriateness of Ricoeur’s hermeneutic phenomenological philosophy, and the theory of interpretation derived from it, in explaining and understanding John’s Apocalypse.

A Milestone - first chapter draft complete!

Since my last post, I've spent two weeks working in Africa. However, before I left the USA, I finally finished a reasonable draft of the first chapter of my dissertation. It got a good review from my dissertation chair. It's nice to have something about this dissertation that I can call somewhat finished.

In order to graduate in May, I really must finish my proposal by the end of December. That means two chapters must be finished in the next 20 days.

Patience Required

I was on a roll. Last week I finally finished reading Ricoeur's Interpretation Theory. Over the weekend, I wrote about 8 pages on the philosophical basis of my methodological approach. Then I hit a road block. I realized that before I could continue further, I had to have a good understanding of the first three chapters of Ricoeur's Time and Narrative (Vol. 1).

This was discouraging, I thought I had enough conceptual knowledge to complete the methodology section of the introduction. However, when it came down to it I needed a bridge between Ricoeur's theory of interpretation and my application of it to John's Apocalypse. That bridge is in Ricoeur's understanding of mimesis as the mediator between time and narrative.

So, I have spent the last three evening working through one and a half chapters. Patience. I have to remember that "reading is writing" in the sense that it is what I read that produces what I write. Perhaps the drive to keep getting words to page is a good thing. I hope it makes me read faster . . . it certainly makes me want to read faster!

The first chapter of Time and Narrative (Vol. 1) explores St. Augustine's concept of time from his Confessions (Book XI). I have found it intriguing how St. Augustine combines intellectual inquiry with communion with God. Indeed, his learning is expressed in a conversational (prayerful) interaction with God. Here's an example:

I would hear and understand, how “In the Beginning Thou madest the heaven and earth.” Moses wrote this, wrote and departed, passed hence from Thee to Thee; nor is he now before me. For if he were, I would hold him and ask him, and beseech him by Thee to open these things unto me, and would lay the ears of my body to the sounds bursting out of his mouth. And should he speak Hebrew, in vain will it strike on my senses, nor would aught of it touch my mind; but if Latin, I should know what he said. But whence should I know, whether he spake truth? Yea, and if I knew this also, should I know it from him? Truly within me, within, in the chamber of my thoughts, Truth, neither Hebrew, nor Greek, nor Latin, nor barbarian, without organs of voice or tongue, or sound of syllables, would say, “It is truth,” and I forthwith should say confidently to that man of Thine, “thou sayest truly.” Whereas then I cannot enquire of him, Thee, Thee I beseech, O Truth, full of Whom he spake truth, Thee, my God, I beseech, forgive my sins; and Thou, who gavest him Thy servant to speak these things, give to me also to understand them. (Book XI, Chapter III)

As a matter of a spiritual experiment, I want to try applying this approach in my own intellectual inquiry concerning this dissertation.

Catching Up

Well, I am supposed to be posting something on a daily basis to help me verify my progress to myself. As you can see, it has been several weeks since my last post. Thankfully, that does not mean that I have not been working on my dissertation! It does mean that I've been very busy doing my dissertation and other things.

Two weeks ago, I traveled to Vancouver to present a paper at the International Leadership Association's annual conference. I was able to meet with my dissertation chair at the conference. Since I am doing my dissertation away from campus, it was a delight to have the opportunity to speak with him face to face. He was encouraging and I needed some encouragement at this stage in the process! Looks like I'm still on target for a May graduation!

Writing the introduction has been painfully slow. I have had to spend a great deal of time learning Ricoeur's interpretation theory before I could write about it. I am happy to say that I've gotten about 15 pages done on the methodology section of the introduction. I am beginning to see light at the end of the introduction tunnel!

So, what have I learned in the past few weeks about the dissertation process?

1. Keep plugging away at it - a paragraph here and there eventually turns into a page, a page here and there eventually becomes a section, a section here and there eventually becomes a chapter.
2. Maintaining other academic projects in addition to the dissertation provides for variety and increases your doctoral skills. The paper I presented at the ILA conference was totally different research from my dissertation topic. I also have another research project going that will hopefully lead to a conference presentation at an international conference in July. It is good to note these are not projects that I started during my dissertation, but research that began (in both cases) about two years prior to beginning my dissertation.
   
3. Take advantages of opportunities to meet with your dissertation chair face to face. Although, we have been communicating via phone and email during the writing process, it was really good to have the face to face time.
   

An Introduction to Ricoeur's Interpretation Theory

Ricoeur’s (1976) work, Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning provides the foundation for this my dissertation's research procedures and analysis. The central aim of Ricoeur's work is to provide an understanding of the operation of language at the level of an entire literary work. The key problem in developing his interpretation theory is overcoming the apparent conflict between explaining the text and understanding the text. Ricoeur traces the source of this conflict to the 18^th and 19^th century Romanticist movement in hermeneutics. Romanticists created a dichotomy between explanation and understanding. The movement created two polar understandings of spheres of reality: nature (objective) and mind (subjective). Hermeneutists grounded their methodologies for explaining texts in the objective paradigm of the natural sciences. On the other hand, they grounded methodologies for understanding the text in the subjective paradigm of the human sciences. Over time, each term (explanation and understanding) became “a distinct and irreducible mode of intelligibility” (p. 72). In this system, interpretation was “a particular case of understanding” (p. 73). Ricoeur addresses this problem by asking four questions (p. 71):

(a) What is meant when somebody speaks?

(b) What is meant when somebody writes?

(c) What is meant when somebody means more than they actually say?

(d) How do we make sense of written discourse?

In response to these questions Ricoeur (a) establishes language as discourse, (b) shows that written language most fully displays the criteria of discourse, (c) demonstrates that plurivoicity (multiplicity of meaning) belongs not just to words or sentences, but to whole works, and (d) seeks resolution through the dialectic of explanation and understanding (p. xi).

Reference

Ricoeur, P. (1976). Interpretation theory discourse and the surplus of meaning. Fort Worth, Tex.: The Texas Christian University Press.

Ricoeur's Theory of Metaphor

Ricoeur's Theory of Metaphor changes the understanding of the the function of metaphor by modifying the classic substitution theory of metaphor into a theory of tension. The following mindmap outlines the development of this theory. Click on the image to make it larger.

Ricoeur, P. (1976). Interpretation theory discourse and the surplus of meaning. Fort Worth, Tex.: The Texas Christian University Press.

Getting at Ricoeur's Interpretation Theory with MindManager

I've not written a post lately. However, that is not to say that I have not been working. I have been reading through Ricoeur's book Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning. It is an excellent, but complex, explanation of his theory of interpretation.
To help me truly understand this theory, I've been using MindManager Pro 7, a mind mapping software to help me outline his arguments, keep track of all its internal references, and record my reflections as I learn.

My base map for the book is pictured above. Of course, each of these branches expand to show an unlimited amount of information. For another example, of what can be done in MindManger, see my post of 9/30/2007. The illustration of Ricoeur's Hermeneutic Arc was created in this program.

The real beauty of the program is the multiple ways you can illustrate relationships between topics/concepts. It's my favorite productivity tool. I've been using MindManager since 2002. If you writing a dissertation, want to better manage your projects at work, or even plan your next vacation, I highly recommend that you download the free trial and give it a try.

Get the books!!

I've spent months trying to learn Ricoeur through reading collections of his essays. These collections are fine, but its difficult to pull together the "big picture" of Ricoeur's thinking through reading lots of individual essays - even though the essays are grouped by subject. The advantage has been that I've gotten a pretty good overview of the breadth of his work and its been a good introduction to his concepts, how he uses language, and his style in writing and approaching philosophical problems. The downside is that one misses any complete systematic working out of his major themes.

Currently, I'm struggling to get my mind around his Interpretation Theory. So, I finally bought his book on the subject, and his three volume work Time and Narrative along with Oneself as Another, and The Rule of Metaphor. I've just started to delve into these books this evening and I'm already glad I got them.

For example, in just reading the introduction to Interpretation Theory, I learned that the central aim of the theory is to resolve the apparent conflict between explanation and understanding. Ricoeur does this by first establishing the nature of language as discourse. Then he establishes that only written language fully displays the criteria of discourse. In a third step, he extends plurivocity beyond words and sentences to full works of discourse. The fourth step shows how the conflict between explanation and understand can be overcome by showing how they are dialectically related to each other. Here the term dialectic, I believe, is intended in the Hegelian sense referring to a process of change in which a concept or its realization passes over into and is preserved and fulfilled by its opposite (Merriam-Webster 11th ed.).

The moral of the story: When learning Ricoeur, reading the essay collections is helpful, but don't wait too long to get to the books.

Ricoeur's Interpretation Theory

I've spent the weekend trying to get my mind around Ricoeur's Interpretation Theory. The figure at the left summarizes what I have learned.

Historically, exegesis and appropriation have stood in opposition to each other . It has been thought that an epistemological hermeneutic (Schleiermacher) stands in natural opposition to a ontological hermeneutic (Heidegger). Ricoeur attempts bridge the gap between the two in his concept of a hermeneutic arc. Ricoeur accepts the necessity of exegesis as a grounding point for appropriation. This is appropriate because of the nature of text. Text differs from discourse in the sense that the fixation of text in a medium has endowed the text with a life that is separate from the author, obstensive references, and its original audience. Thus, the text is an object for analysis. Second, it is not in acquiescence to some superiority of the natural sciences that calls for an epistemological starting point, but rather the nature of linguistics that provides text with a structural system that can be analyzed.

Appropriation is the ontological grounding of interpretation in lived experience. For Ricoeur (1981) appropriation means "to make one's own what was initially alien" (p. 185). Appropriation "actualizes the meaning of the text for the present reader" (p. 185).

It is the hermeneutic arc that restrains appropriation from becoming simply a subjective interpretation and that prohibits the relativism of all interpretations to same value; which, of course, would mean that no interpretation could be generalized outside of the interpreter.

By proceeding from an epistemological grounding toward an ontological grounding, the rigor of various exegetical and hermeneutic methods are applied to the text that allow an appropriation to emerge that "follows the 'arrow' of meaning [within the text] and endeavors to 'think in accordance with it'" (p. 193). The callouts above the arch: intertexture analysis, metaphor analysis, and plot analysis are the analytic tools I intend to employ the find the "arrows of meaning" that will point me through the text to new new understandings about organizational leadership and new self-understanding.

Reference

Ricoeur, P. (1981). Appropriation (J. B. Thompson, Trans.). In J. B. Thompson (Ed.), Paul Ricoeur hermeneutics and the human sciences: Essays on language, action, and interpretation (pp. 182-193). New York: Cambridge University Press.

How I Regrouped and Re-Started the Writing Even When Life Encroached

Sep 22nd, 2007 by Nancy Whichard

I’ve been on a trip, away from my writing projects and away from other job-related commitments. It’s hard to come back.

I enjoy writing my blog. I also have another writing project that is new and important to me, but re-starting takes effort.

Coming back to most writing tasks requires more of us than just doing it.

1) It takes self-awareness.
I needed to give myself permission to feel whatever it was that was getting in my way.

2) I am free to choose.
I had quite a bit of work piled up from all corners of my work life, and some of it was stressful—the kind of piddly stuff that clutters my brain and annoys me. But in my absence, the piddly stuff had grown to a nose-high level. I could groan and moan and continue to push through that work, becoming increasingly cranky, or I could give myself permission to choose.

3) Take a moment.
I needed to give myself a moment to settle in and regroup. I needed to sit quietly.

4) Write whatever comes into your mind.
Usually ideas come to me as I write, and I need to write in order to remember this. I am often surprised as I start to write that ideas actually start coming to me, just as they usually do. I tell my clients to trust themselves. Likewise, I need to trust myself. And take a moment. And remember that I am free to choose.

See this and other similar tips at Successful Writing Tips

What to do when it all falls apart?

Well, the past two weeks have been almost a complete loss as far as my dissertation progress is concerned. Work has been overwhelming. The time I would have spend working on my dissertation in the evenings and on the weekends has been devoted to meeting deadlines for work.

Consequently, I am very off target on all of my self-imposed deadlines for my dissertation. So what to do?

1) Remember to trust the process. Their are forces at work that I cannot see. Personally, I believe the hand of God is directing my path. So, I need to have faith that what seem to be diversions "from the straight and narrow path" are, in fact, God's way of taking me on a better route.
2) Get back in the saddle and keep doing the right things. Today, I spent all day reading.
3) Remember that reading is writing. One cannot write until one reads and reflects. It is difficult because I want to see text flowing on my computer screen. However, the reading and reflecting that I am doing will eventually give way to the flow.

Getting Things Done in Academica

Check out this excellent website created by Dr. Mike Kaspari . This blog is dedicated to exploring the strategies and tactics of the academic life.

Dr Kaspari is Director of the Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Oklahoma. When he is not teaching, he studies the evolutionary ecology of ants and the brown food web.

You will find the link to this site in my blog roll Dissertation Help Online in the left column on this page.

Building an argument for John's Apocalypse as the data source

Today I made more progress on the introduction and submitted what I've done to my dissertation chair for comments

I've spent a good deal of time setting the conceptual ground work for the choice of John's Apocalypse as the data source. I wrote a little over two pages on this - which I will not post. Here's the central proposition:

Like John and the first century Christians, our ordinary lives are full of contingencies. Some are locally chaotic and threaten global chaos. There are so many potential disasters on our horizon that finding “meaning,” if it exists, may seem pointless. As John spoke meaning into the chaotic and nihilistic context of the first century through his Apocalypse, his words as we experience them in the 21^st century context speak to our time – our chaos, our nihilism, and our contingencies.

Trusting the Process

Today I worked about 4 hours on my dissertation and wrote about 2 pages. I'm please with that progress, but progress is feeling mighty slow right now! I had hoped to finish the first chapter by tomorrow but I'm far from done.

As I was reflecting on this situation this evening, I remembered the words of Dr. Mike Hartsfield, who was the Program Director of my PhD program when I started in 2003. In reference to becoming a doctor and being discouraged by one's perceived progress he said, "You've got to trust the process." I've always taken that to mean, if you keep working hard and doing what you need to do you can trust that through that process you will eventually become a doctor.

So, in the face of this slow going, I have to just keep working hard (and try to work smart) and keep doing what I know I need to do. As I trust that process, the dissertation will get done.

Took the day off

I took the day off from writing today. I spent it mostly with my son Mark. We took our new Sea Eagle 330 on its maiden voyage today. We also played catch, cut the grass together, went to Subway for lunch, and had a family cookout this evening - and that's a good slice of the meaning of life for me!

What is the meaning of life?

Tonight I spent the evening looking for literature that would help me answer that question - well, actually, that will help me answer the question "How do people find/construct/discover etc meaning in life"

Remember the research question is “What does organizational leadership mean in a chaotic, nihilistic, and apocalyptic era?”

My objective is to finish a draft of the first chapter by Tuesday!!!

Wandering in the Revelation Wilderness

Tonight I have spent the evening trying to unravel who are the important Book of Revelation/Apocalypse scholars. There is so much literature that finding a path through it all feels like wandering though a wilderness trying to discover landmarks left by previous travelers who can point the way to a my destination.

I'd like to thank two travelers who have been especially kind: Harry Maier and David Barr.

Harry Maier has a short but helpful review of the contemporary literature in his book: Apocalypse Recalled: The Book of Revelation after Christianity.

David Barr has excellent bibliographies in his books Reading the Book of Revelation: A Resourse for Students and Tales of the End: A Narrative Commentary on the Book of Revelation.

In surveying these works, I've discovered a list of important scholars. They are:

• David E. Aune
• David L. Barr
• Richard J. Bauckham
• Adela Yarbro Collins
• Tina Pippin
• Jean-Pierre Ruiz
• Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
• Leonard L Thompson

A little of this and a little of that - and a great little tip

Tonight I cleaned up the new database so that it works more efficiently. I imported a number of books from WorldCat into my Endnotes dissertation library.

Here's a great tip I learned from my boss and fellow doctoral student. You can search for a book in WorldCat and import the citation directly to Endnotes. This saves a lot of time if you have a several books you want to enter into your Endnotes library.

I also requested a book chapter from Regent Library.

Last but not least, I read Du Rand's article: An Apocalyptic Text, Different Contexts and an Applicable Ethos.

Reference

Du Rand, J. A. (1992). An apocalyptic text, different contexts and an applicable ethos. Journal of Theology for Southern Africa no 78 Mr 1992, 75-83.

Creating a Concordance

Tonight I began to wonder how I could create a concordance to keep track of themes across works. So, I experimented with a simple Access database. It has three tables: Master Table, references, and themes. I imported the references from Endnotes using a txt file export/import. It has two forms: a master form and a sub form for entering new themes. Here's what the master form looks like. I tested it and it may be helpful. If it works well, I'll let you know

Establishing the chaotic background of John's Apocalypse - Part 1

Tonight I began to explore the chaotic context of John's Apocalypse. I delved into an interesting book, Reading the Book of Revelation: A Resource for Students edited by David L. Barr. Chapter 2 is an essay by Leonard L. Thompson titled "Ordinary Lives". Thompson argues that contrary to the typical approach of attributing the persecution of Christians during the reign of a particular Roman Emperor (typically Nero or Domitian) as the causal context of John's Apocalypse; the text was motivated by the day to day ordinary life for Christians in the Roman Empire. Generally, the official attitude of Rome was not to hunt down Christians. In fact, Christians could live, work, and prosper in the empire. However, if charges were brought against them, they could be executed just for being a Christian.

"Some could travel throughout the empire, taking advantage of its peace and prosperity, visiting and founding Christian congregations. Others might immediately be viewed with suspicion and killed by officials of that same empire. Thus, some could view the Roman Empire as a source of divine blessing, while others could see it as an evil power destroying the godly. Every Christian, however, would be more or less aware of the contingency of life" (p. 37).

A Good Night's Sleep

Last night I had the best night's sleep that I've had in years. So, I have been reflecting on what I did differently that would have contributed to such a restful night. I've had no great revelations. However, yesterday I felt like a learned more about my subject and made good progress in writing was a contributer. Although I spent most of the day reading and writing, I also had a lengthy phone call with a friend, cut grass in the back yard, and watched TV with my family in the evening. In terms of time investment it was a healthy day.

Hermenutic Phenomenology and The Revelation to John

I spent today primary reading Ricoeur's essay Phenomenology and Hermeneutics. One of the main ideas Ricoeur advances in this essay is the interdependency of these distinct disciplines. You can find the essay in John Thompson's collection of Ricoeur's writings titled: Hermeneutics & the Human Sciences .

From this reading I attempted to construct a hermeneutic phenomenological philosophic foundation for The Revelation to John as the data source for my study.

Here's what I wrote:

Hermeneutic phenomenology provides the philosophic framework for this study. The goal of hermeneutic phenomenology is to describe and interpret lived experience. Hermeneutic phenomenology always asks questions concerning the meaning or nature of being in the world (Van Manen, 1990).

Ricoeur (1981) underscores the parallel nature of hermeneutics and phenomenology in the following definitions:

Phenomenology begins when, not content to ¨live¨ or ¨relive¨, we interrupt lived experience in order to signify it. . . . Hermeneutics similarly begins when, not content to belong to transmitted tradition, we interrupt the relation of belonging in order to signify it. (pp. 116, 117)

Hermeneutic phenomenology is concerned with interpretation of lived experience. However, what is open to philosophical reflection is lived experience within the “lingual condition of all experience” (p. 115).

Lived experience ultimately finds lingual expression (oral or written). However, there is a mediating stage, the “epoché”. The epoché is that moment of interruption with lived in experience in which the subject signifies the experience linguistically. Ricoeur (1981) remarks that “hermeneutic philosophy begins with the experience of art” (p. 117). By an “experience of art”, Ricoeur refers to the epoché as a creative process that is “the virtual event, the imaginary act . . . by which we exchange signs for things and signs for other signs” (p. 116). This creative event – art – precedes and supports the linguistic expression of life experience. In the epoché, the subject distances self from experience in order to interpret the experience and present it symbolically for self and others.

Likewise, Ricoeur (1981) proposes that the hermeneutic counterpart of lived experience is “consciousness exposed to historical efficacy” (p. 117). The hermeneutic counterpart of epoché is “distanciation”. In distanciation, the subject find “empty space” between self and his or her participation in a historic tradition in which to construct the signification of the historical tradition, to which he or she belongs, for self and others. In the same sense that the creative epoché precedes and supports language, it is “the interplay of distance and proximity, constitutive of the historical connections, is what comes to language rather than what language produces” (p. 118).

Ricoeur (1981) identifies the common source of meaning in phenomenology and hermeneutics when he writes, “The reference of the linguistic order back to the structure of experience (which comes to language in the assertion) constitutes, in my view, the most important phenomenological presupposition of hermeneutics” (p. 118). The hermeneutic phenomenologist is concerned with describing and understanding the background structure of experience through the foreground representation of the linguistic expression of experience. Consequently, the philosophical reflection of hermeneutic philosophy revives this “empty space” where the creative epoché and distanciation occur “to render thematic what was only operative, and thereby makes meaning appear as meaning” (p. 116).

Language as the mediator of lived experience opens up the possibility that the interpretation of any linguistic of expression of the nature of human being within chaotic, nihilistic, or apocalyptic realties could be informative for a hermeneutic phenomenological exploration of the research question at hand. Likewise, language as a mediator of historical connection makes it possible to “render present the historical past.” This hermeneutic phenomenology philosophy undergirds the choice of The Revelation to John as an appropriate data source for this study.

References

Ricoeur, P. (1981). Hermenutics and phenomeology (J. B. Thompson, Trans.). In J. B. Thompson (Ed.), Paul Ricoeur hermeneutics and the human sci-ences: Essays on language, action, and interpretation. New York: Cam-bridge University Press.

Van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Acts of God and writing a dissertation

Well, I had good intentions of writing some on my dissertation last evening, then the storms hit. My basement was flooded and I spend the night pumping and bailing water. Today we cleaned up the mess and tried to be better prepared for storms predicted for tonight. Tomorrow will be the real clean up of the basement.

This experience caused me to think about the many unexpected things that come up during the dissertation writng process - things out of your control - that eliminate writing time. It wouldn't be so bad if I was planning on taking several years to writing it - but I'm on a short time frame. I'm also off the pace I set for myself.

My solution - stay focused, recommit to doing what I know is right - write something everyday even if it is only 15 mins. Finally, trust God that he will redeem the time. He has throughout my program.

Another part of my solution is to eliminate known distractions that I can control. For instance, I was recently asked to sing at a wedding. I love sing. I have a master's degree in music, but I rarely get to do anything musical. I would really like to do this. However, it means learning new music, at least two rehearsals and the wedding. All of this falls within days of an international trip for my work which may take me away from writing consistently for up to 12 days. As much as I would like to do the wedding, it is something I can choose not to add to my schedule that will not take away from my writing time.

Even More Thinking Biblically

How can a hermeneutic philosopher think exegetically?

1. Become a reader of exegesis and through understanding that literary genres are forms of discourse that give rise to philosophical thinking.
   
2. Moving beyond the traditional philosophic texts, and embracing discourse that is not scientifically descriptive, explanatory, apologetic, argumentative, or dogmatic and embracing a world where the metaphoric language of poetry is the closest secular equivalent .
3. Understand the relationship between the text and historic communities of reading and interpretation. It is being willing to enter sympathetically the hermeneutic circle in which, it is in interpreting the Scriptures in question that the community in question interprets itself p. xvi).

LaCocque, A., & Ricoeur, P. (1998). Thinking biblically: Exegetical and hermeneutical studies (D. Pellauer, Trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

More Thinking Biblically

How can an exegete work philosophically? By incorporating concern for the "foreground" of the text into the method of historical-criticism. Attention to the "foreground" involves three disciplines for the exegete:

1. Understanding that reading is a response to writing. The first effect of reading is to give a life to the text that is autonomous. This opens the text up for further development and enrichment that affects the meaning of the text. The autonomy of the text is the abandonment of the idea of the recovering the original intent of the author in order to impose these "intentions" as the guide to all interpretation.
   
2. Awareness of the "trajectory" of the text i.e. the journey the text has taken through its traditional readings that has left an imprint on the text. This trajectory has its origin in the text itself not in the author's intent.
3. Taking into consideration the connection between the text and a living community.

In other words, if we take the relation to its author as the background of a text, the relation to the reader or readers constitutes the foreground. We must therefore say emphatically that the foreground outruns the background (p. xiii).

LaCocque, A., & Ricoeur, P. (1998). Thinking biblically: Exegetical and hermeneutical studies (D. Pellauer, Trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Thinking Biblically

Tonight I did some initial reading in Thinking Biblically by André LaCocque and Paul Ricoeur. In this volume LaCocque, an exegete and Ricoeur, a heurmenutic philosopher, write essays on the same biblical passages. The point of the work is not to illustrate how the two approaches differ, but rather how they work in tandem. It illustrates, how the exegete can think philosophically and the hermeneutic philosopher can think exegetically.

I'd love to write more, but its time for bed!

Revised problem, purpose, and question

Here are the summary points that were revised today

Research Problem

The research problem this study addresses is the need for organizational leaders to discern meaning and act meaningfully in a chaotic, nihilistic, and apocalyptic world.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study is to elaborate and apply a philosophic framework for organizational leadership in the contemporary organizational context. At this stage in the research, the general definition of philosophic framework is a hermeneutic phenomenological method for critically describing, interpreting, and initiating meaningful organizational leadership behaviors within the chaotic, nihilistic, and apocalyptic reality of contemporary organizations.

Research Question

The overarching research question is, “What does organizational leadership mean in a chaotic, nihilistic, and apocalyptic era?”

Focusing the study

Today I am continuing to work on the three items that give the study focus: (1) the research problem, (2) the purpose of the study, and (3) the research question(s). I am happy with the draft of the first two. The research question is the main issue for today. In order to help me see the flow between between these three items, I will summarize them below.

The research problem
How can leaders and organizations discover meaning in their nihilistic world?

The purpose of the study
The purpose of this hermeneutical phenomenological study is to elaborate and apply a philosophic framework for organizing and leading in the chaotic 21st century context.

The research question
The overarching research question is, “What does it mean to organize and lead in chaotic – even apocalyptic –times?”

When I look at the summaries group together, I'm not so happy with the research problem. It looks like a research question to me. It makes me wonder if in my writing, I have really uncovered and presented a problem or just raised a question that I'm personally interested in answering and called it a problem.

So, my work for today is refine these statements so that it is obvious how the three are interdependent.

Searching a specific journals uncovers some gems

Doing meta-searches in databases such as Proquest or Business Source Complete is a good thing, but I discovered tonight that querying individual journals you can uncover some important articles that may not show up in meta-searches.

I was delighted to find that the most recent issue of Leadership Quarterly is a special issue on leadership and complexity. Additionally, in 2003 there is a special issue of leadership and spirituality. So, I intend to do more specific searches in top journals.

Purpose statement summary

It felt good to get back to writing tonight after taking several days off. I worked on the purpose statement tonight. While there quite a bit of text that builds the argument for the study's purpose, here's a first draft of the summary statement:

The purpose of this hermeneutical phenomenological study is to elaborate and apply a philosophic framework for organizing and leading in the chaotic 21^st century context. At this stage in the research, the general definition of philosophic framework is a hermeneutic phenomenological method for critically describing, interpreting, and initiating meaningful organizational and leadership behaviors within the chaotic reality of contemporary organizations.

Not so Quick!

Well, it appears that I will not be writing as quickly as I thought. After work today, I had some yard work that had to be done.

Tomorrow is our 25th wedding Anniversary - so I definitely will not be working on my dissertation tomorrow evening!

Back to the Writing!

I spent a great weekend at Potato Creek State Park with Stephen and Mark. It was good to get a way both from work and from thinking about the dissertation for awhile. I do feel ready to tackle them both again tomorrow.

Picture: Taking off for the weekend. Stephen is at the wheel. Mark is in the middle. I'm the guy in the hat.

Here are my goals for this week:1) finish the entire research problem section by then end of the weekend.2) finish reading Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction3) make a plan to finish the rest of the introduction by my target date.

Tomorrow I will work clean up the purpose statement and work on the research question statement (both of which are subsections of the research problem).

Picture: My idea of a good time!

Some progress - gone for the weekend

I got some work done on the purpose statement tonight. However, I spent most of the evening getting ready to go camping with my sons Stephen and Mark over the weekend. Tomorrow morning, I plan to do some work on the research question before I leave with the boys after lunch.

Plan for today

Just to keep me on track, I want to state my plan for today. This evening I plan to work on the subsections of the Research problem: (1) the purpose of the study and (2) the research question.

Yes, I cleaned up the introduction

Tonight I cleaned up the text to the introduction to the research problem statement. I also cleaned up the research problem section. Here's the introduction to the problem statement which is the opening text of Chapter 1.

Chapter 1 – Introduction

Unexpected phenomena continually pierce the fabric of the 21st century organizational context. Change processes initiated by events, both internal and external to organizations, are continuous. Leaders are fearful that they cannot keep up with the pace of change in their organizational environment. Yet, they know survival of their organization depends on its ability to adapt its equivocal environment. With response times shorter and the stakes for failure ever raising, knowing and implementing what must be done is increasingly difficult (Conner, 1998, pp. vi-vii).

Traditional models of organizing seem ineffective in a world of constant flux and unpredictability (Wheatley, 2006). Bennis (2006) notes the traditional leadership ideal of the triumphant individual directing downward from the pinnacle of a bureaucratic hierarchy “is dysfunctional in today’s world of blurring, spastic, hyperturbulent change and will get us into unspeakable trouble” (p. 131).

Appearing to make the traditional forms of organizing and leading obsolete, the chaotic times of the 21st century introduce a crisis of organizational form and leadership behavior. A postmodern analysis of contemporary organizational reality assumes the underlying positivistic assumptions of traditional organizational forms and leadership behaviors are undermined (Johnson & Duberley, 2000). Consequently, one can postulate that the fundamental problem for 21st century organizations and their leaders is the rediscovery of meaning. What does it mean to organize and to lead in chaotic – even apocalyptic - times?

References

Bennis, W. (2006). The end of leadership: Exemplary leadership is impossible without full inclusion, initiatives, and cooperation of followers. In W. E. Rosenbach & R. L. Taylor (Eds.), Contemporary issues in leadership. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Conner, D. R. (1998). Leading at the edge of chaos: How to create the nimble organization. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Johnson, P., & Duberley, J. (2000). Understanding management research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Wheatley, M., J. (2006). Leadership and the new science: Discovering order in a chaotic world (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Reasons why I didn't write yesterday

I did not write yesterday, because we had a special opportunity with my family last evening. However, I felt bad because I did not do anything, and in retrospect I could have done at least 15 mins. The reason I didn't is because I did not have a plan for the day and I did not follow the "write first" rule. So, today it is at least 15 min:

Cleaning up what I have already written on my introduction.

No Progress Today - Revised timeline

I did not work on my dissertation today, because I had to do some edits for an article that Dail Fields and I co-authored: Exploring Servant Leadership across Cultures: A Study of Followers

in Ghana and the USA . It will appear in the Nov. 2007 issue of Leadership (Sage Publications).

Dail is presenting our paper at the Academy of Management meeting in Philadelphia this week.

Due to my travel schedule at work I had to revise my timeline to complete my proposal. Here's the new one

• August 22 - Chapter 1 finished
• September 7 - Chapter 2 finished
• October 1 - Chapter 3 finished.

Taking Sunday Off

It is Sunday and I took the day off. I went to church this morning. This afternoon the whole family went to the Bass Pro shop to get some supplies. I'm taking two of my sons Stephen and Mark on a camping trip next weekend. This evening, we all played Phase 10 together. I registered for the ILA conference Vancouver for October 30 - Nov 4 - and I made hotel reservations. I already had my plane tickets so that's all set now.

Trying to keep a balanced life when working full-time and writing a dissertation is a challenge, but taking time for God and family is worth it - and necessary.

Goal for today writing the Research Problem

My goal for today is to work on my research problem (i.e.) define it. The major issue is getting at what do I mean when I assert that the current organizational leadership crises is loss of meaning. I've looked at the literature on meaning in leadership and meaning in organization. However, it appears that the crisis goes much deeper than what is happening in contemporary organizations. Indeed, what is happening in organizations today is merely symptomatic of the world catching up to (in an experiential) way to Nietzche's understanding that the logical outcome of Kant's work to unify transcendental idealism and empirical realism. In the end, Kant regulates God, freedom, and immortality to the realm of cognitive meaninglessness. Thus producing two important philosopical assumptions:

(1) the radical finitude of the human subject i.e. there is no-God-like point of reference that humans can know and that could otherwise serve to evaluate human experience and (2) human experience is completely contingent and created. Human experience is made and remade by humans embedded in contingent circumstances(Critchley, 2001).

If human experience is a contingent creation, then it can be recreated in other ways. This is the demand for transformative practice of philosophy, art, poetry, or thinking that would be capable of addressing, criticizing, and ultimately redeeming the present. The demand, then, that runs through much Continental thought . . . is that human beingsemancipate themselves from their current conditions. (p. 64)

Nietzsche clearly identifies nihilism as the unforeseen crises in Kant’s criticism of metaphysics (Critchley, 2001). “For Nietzsche, nihilism as a psychological is attained when we realize that the categories by means of which we had tried to give meaning to the universe are meaningless” (p. 84).

It is clear then, that by the end of the 19th century, Nietzche had correctly foreseen the trajectory for humanity intent of pursuing empirical realistic knowledge through a positivist epistemological paradigm.

Yet it is the positivist epistemology that has dominated the practice and scholarly understanding of organizational leadership through the 20th century. Johnson and Duberley point out, "the dominance of this perspective is such that it is ingrained into commonsense assumptions about how to do research . . . . . Even some of those who clam to reject positivism have not necessarily eschewed all the elements of the positivist approach" (p. 38). Much of the criticism directed at positivist research and practice in organizational leadership in the later half of the 20th century centered on its disconnect self-induced disconnect of theory and practice. "In searching to identify causal relationships, the focus has become narrower and narrower, to the extent that propositions being tested do not reflect the complex situations in which managers actually find themselves" (p. 43).

Consequently, the contemporary loss of meaning in organizational leadership is the logical out working that Continental philosophers identified in the late 19th century as the double failure of the Enlightenment (Critchley, 2001):
(1) The values of modernity or Enlightenment do not connect with the fabric of moral and social relations, with the stuff of everday life . . . . Enlightenment values lack any effectiveness, and connection to social praxis.
(2) However, not only do the moral values of Enlightenment fail to connect with the fabric of morel and social relations, but - worse still - they lead instead to the progressive degradation of those relations. (p. 86)

Consequently, 21st century leaders and organizations are left with a meaningless universe. In the face of nihilism how do leaders and organizations emancipate themselves from a situation that in which Dostoevsky identifies as suicide as the only solution (Critchley, 2001). The crisis is how do leaders and organizations construct meaning in their nihlistic world .

Focus on Efficiency, Not Perfection

Source: Complete Your Dissertation

by Dr. Rachna D. Jain

If you're stuck at any point in the dissertation process, borrow my phrase: "focus on efficiency, not perfection." What this means is that you find the fastest way to get out of the quagmire and moving ahead on the path. This will mean different things to different people, but the focus needs to be on finding an efficient and effective way to move ahead, even when it's not perfect.

For example: let's say that you've been working on a particular chapter, writing it, rewriting it, re-rewriting it. You are using a lot of energy and making a lot of effort, but, somehow, it's just not quite right (yet.) So you have to ask yourself, do I need to be efficient? or do I need to be perfect? (Answer: you need to be efficient.) This means, you then ask yourself: how can I wrap this up as quickly and painlessly as possible? What is the most efficient method to get through this material and on to something else?

Just the act of asking yourself this question may free you up enough to finish whatever you've been working on. But, even if it doesn't, just complete what you can, and then do the next thing and so on. The dissertation writing is sometimes an iterative process, where you write some, then write on something else, then come back to the first concept and write some more. Allow yourself to have that iteration time, by focusing on being efficient, first, and drafting as much as you can- and then polishing/refining your writing later.

If you're feeling frustrated or stuck, it's time to go for efficient completion of this stage, and forget about getting it perfect.

Outline for Chapter 1

Tonight I constructed the outline below for Chapter 1 and sent it to Dr. Bekker, my dissertation committee chairperson, for review. This took more time than I anticipated. The structure of an introductory chapter for a phenomenological study is somewhat different form an experimental study. Typically, a phenomenological study will not have hypotheses. In consulting Dr. Bekker’s guide, Creswell (1998), Van Manen (1990), and Moustakas (1994) , I arrived at the chapter structure below. The outline reflects what I anticipate the actual headings to be within the chapter. In parentheses, following the headings, I placed my estimated number of pages for each section.

Chapter 1 – Introduction
(1 page introductory text)

Research Problem (5)

Purpose of this Study

Research Question

Study Overview (28)

Relevant Theories

Chaos theory.

Spirituality.

Methodology

Philosophic framework.

Research procedures and analysis.

Scope, presuppositions, and limitations.

Significance of This Study (6)

Identifying its Place in the Scholarly Dialog

Anticipated Outcomes for the Practice of Organizational Leadership

Personally Engaging the Quest for Meaning

Timeline and Budget (1 paragraph)

References

Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Positioning My Disseration in the Philosophic stream

Tonight I wrote 4 pages on Continental Philosophy.

Tasks for tomorrow:

1. define the outline for the research problem section.
2. determine the page proportion I will give this section within the introduction.
3. write 4 pages of the research problem section.

60 days to write my Proposal

I have revised my timeline. I want to defend my proposal in October. So, I want to submit it by October 1. That gives me exactly 60 days. Three chapters in 60 days! That's 20 days a chapter. So here are my targets:

• Chapter 1: Aug 22
• Chapter 2: Sep 11
• Chapter 3: Oct 1

I expect each chapter to average 40 pages that equals 120 pages. So, I need to write 2 pages of usable material a day. So, I am going to set myself a goal of writing 4 pages a day, with the expectation that 2 pages of that content will be usable somewhere in the work.

Goals for Tomorrw - and beyond

OK this is my last post for today. Bloker says you should have reasonable daily goals. What's my goal for tomorrow. Factor: Stephen and Ruth are coming home, and we have Mark's birthday party so, time will be really limited. Also, I have to get to work tomorrow before 7:30.

So, I can stop working at 4:00 on BL stuff and work on my dissertation stuff at least until 5:00

So tomorrow I will:
a) manually revise my timeline
b) read Continental Philosophy (Critchely, 2001) and make some notes.
c) make a post on my progress

Beyond:
download MS Project on my home computer
make changes to my timeline
get more literature on organizational meaning and leadership meaning

Prareto's Principle and the Dissertation

Remember Praeto's Principle - the 80/20 rule.

The 80/20 is based on the principle that 80% of results are produced by 20% of the effort. This comes into play in many circumstances, such as marketing, sales and productivity.

i.e. Most of the work you do may actually be the result of only 20% of your time, the rest you’re procrastinating etc.

How would this apply to writing a dissertation? Well maybe it means that of all the literature you have collected to review, one should start with identifying the top 20% high value articles and books.

Task: identify the top 20% value of the literature I have for review.