Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
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As the reader will notice it has not been the most comm<strong>on</strong> way of doing research<br />
which is reported about in this thesis. The research as reported about has been research<br />
from a reflexive and as the case may be from a ‘pers<strong>on</strong>al’ point of view. Although<br />
reflexive research already has a traditi<strong>on</strong> of more than 30 years, this kind of<br />
research often leads to intense debates about the demands for sound research.<br />
To introduce and explain the reflexive research I have undertaken I will discuss different<br />
topics in this chapter. Due to the ‘pers<strong>on</strong>al’ point of departure I will explain something<br />
of the background of my work within the University of Applied Sciences I work<br />
for (from now <strong>on</strong> abbreviated as UAS; see further 1.1). As an adviser to the board an<br />
important duty of me is to develop and implement policy at an instituti<strong>on</strong>al level. In<br />
my experience instituti<strong>on</strong>al policy is subjected to the demands of <strong>performativity</strong>, a<br />
topic of which I better learned to understand the whereabouts during my research. I<br />
will indicate how <strong>performativity</strong> came to be the main subject of my research (see 1.2). I<br />
will do that by indicating what an <strong>on</strong> <strong>performativity</strong> oriented instituti<strong>on</strong>al policy<br />
implies, and at the same time stipulate that even if <strong>performativity</strong> is taken seriously<br />
the results of policy appear to be quite paradoxical. Next I will clarify why I came to do<br />
research from a reflexive and/or ‘pers<strong>on</strong>al’ perspective <strong>on</strong> instituti<strong>on</strong>al policy. I will go<br />
into the subject of insider research. The rise of insider research during the last 30 years<br />
is related to discussi<strong>on</strong>s about the practical results of research within the field of<br />
Organizati<strong>on</strong> and Management Studies (OMS). Shortly I will elaborate <strong>on</strong> these discussi<strong>on</strong>s<br />
(see 1.3). C<strong>on</strong>cerning insider research I will offer a first introducti<strong>on</strong> of what it<br />
means to do research from a complex resp<strong>on</strong>sive process perspective, being a specific<br />
approach of insider research (see 1.4). A complex resp<strong>on</strong>sive process-approach evolved<br />
in the last decade of the 20th century and is an approach of research which I came to<br />
know during my research. To finish this chapter I will present a short overview of what<br />
to expect from my research (see 1.5).<br />
1.1 Pers<strong>on</strong>al, professi<strong>on</strong>al and societal background of my<br />
research<br />
For more than 30 years I work for the UAS in positi<strong>on</strong>s varying from lecturer, dean and<br />
adviser to the board. If I have to believe the caricaturist way all UAS’s are framed in<br />
Dutch public media I would say that I work for an immoral organizati<strong>on</strong>. UAS’s are<br />
framed as having bad educati<strong>on</strong>al quality, committing financial fraud, lacking supervisi<strong>on</strong><br />
of students, and undertaking ill-c<strong>on</strong>sidered and unsuccessful educati<strong>on</strong>al innovati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
(Gendt and Ritzen, 2011). On top societal commoti<strong>on</strong> stirs up about exorbitant<br />
salaries, fraudulent declarati<strong>on</strong>s and megalomaniac plans (Berkelj<strong>on</strong>, 2012; Bommeljé,<br />
2013; Cort, 2012; Giesen, 2010; Goossen, 2012; Heuvel, 2012; Pous, 2012; Willigenburg,<br />
2011c). It seems that a lot of public m<strong>on</strong>ey is spent <strong>on</strong> wr<strong>on</strong>g things.<br />
During all these 30 years the UAS is safeguarded against eye-catching derailments,<br />
but as other UAS’s the UAS internally and externally is called to account for an assu-<br />
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