Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon

they still may be dealing with the same sort of unpredictable processes of which
tensions and conflicts will be part. How and what kind of patterns will be formed is
unknown; the results of human interaction are approached as temporarily and unpredictable.
Given this statement I hope that the performance agreements will trigger
some tensions to motivate people to cooperate in a productive way.
5.5 A complexity perspective: the corporate jester in an as
foolish experienced world
Looking back to my efforts in respect with the performance agreements I found
myself in a situation where prescribed standardization of Higher Education and my
preference for self-organization jarred. Given my non-threatening position regarding
status and positions of the others involved, I was alternately the moderator, mediator,
negotiator, arbitrator and appraiser (Csermely, 2009). Given the way I became involved,
for some time I was situated as an outsider, I assume expected to be realistic
and to communicate patiently with quite some people. Because I know most of the
people involved but have no strong connections with them I could act as the link who
bridges some of the contradictions, uncertainty and differences in opinion. In producing
and revising texts, in talking with different people with different opinions, by
staying out of discussions and by rounding up the differences at the end. Is being
weakly connected, bridging, revising and rounding up to qualify as the work of a
present day corporate jester?
A blend of roles
Modern corporations can be compared with courts. They are like giant hairballs in
which intangible routines and procedures sustain conformity and strategic behaviour
(Mackenzie, 1998). Apparently in these hairballs contemporary jesters are needed. In
general jesters are characterized as outsiders, realists, open and communicative (Firth
and Leigh, 1998). In contemporary times I would say that one of the jester’s main
contributions is to connect and to bridge the differences (Csermely, 2009; Firth and
Leigh, 1998).
I my acting a blending of a traditional and a present-day role of a jester can be distinguished.
In starting my involvement with proclaiming the vanity of all planning efforts
I take the role to limit the overestimating of someone’s powers (Kets de Vries, 1993) or
to say what other people only can think by mocking authority a bit (Otto, 2001). In
working towards a final draft I connected people and found ways to overcome difficulties.
I would say not as some sort of a change agent, but as someone who rather
flexibly keeps distance to remain able to connect. In my acting is little regard on
content, but quite some respect for local and tacit knowledge.
Although on the payroll of the organization, a jester is the outsider, someone who is
connected to the organization, but through his position is somehow disentangled
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