Co-Operative Processes: An Approach From Social Constructionism

Abstract

Keynote address to the 7th International Conference on Multi-Organisational Partnerships and Co-operative Strategy. Leuven, Belgium, July 6th-8th, 2000 Organisational worlds increasingly are felt to be fragmented, equivocal, and constantly changing. ’Today’s’ knowledge may be found to be more local than anticipated and seems quickly out of date. Factors such as globalisation and webbased communications mean that organising involves interdependent relations between diverse and changing interests and identities. How then to facilitate & support co-operation in this ’postmodern’ context? The present contribution suggests that social constructionist arguments about possible people and possible worlds may have much to offer. More narrowly, arguments about the processes of social construction - rather than socially constructed ’products’ - are offered. These will suggest one view of how identities, relations, and cultures are made, maintained, and changed in ongoing processes. Of particular importance is the argument that construction processes very often construct ’mono-logical’ relations between separate and independent identities where knowledge is ’about’ Other and power is ’power over’ Other. However social constructionism opens up other possible ways of relating - multi-logical ways in which identities and cultures are understood to be interdependent, power is ’power to’, and knowing is in action. This chapter finishes with an overview of multilogical ’construction principles’ and practices.