6 Managing Tensions in an English Cathedral—An Embodied Spatial Perspective

Sarah Warnes

Introduction

In this chapter, I share with readers my experiences of spending time with the employees and volunteers at St Michael’s Cathedral (a pseudonym), a small cathedral in England. Ecclesiastical organizations such as cathedrals and churches are hitherto underexplored in the organization space literature and yet they provide a compelling site for exploration. Providing the conceptual framework underpinning the chapter is Henri Lefebvre’s (1974/1991: 196) notion of the ‘spatial body’ where space and body are “intertwined in mutually constitutive ways that need to be engaged jointly.” The body to which Lefebvre conceptualizes is a “total body” (Lefebvre, 1974/1991: 200), made up of its mental abstracts, movements and gestures capable of infusing prescribed space with a different space, a lived space. To gain a deeper, more holistic understanding of the lived experience of space a phenomenological approach is required. An approach which shifts from a representational understanding of workspace toward an experiential understanding. For before we start thinking and representing our spaces of work we embody them, we perceive them through the rhythms of our body which sees, hears, touches, smells and feels. As Lefebvre notes, we listen first to our body where we “learn rhythm from it, in order consequently to appreciate external rhythms” (1992/2004: 19). It is through our bodies that we are able to sense the rhythms of the workspaces we inhabit (Edensor and Holloway, 2008). The organizational space literature does contribute to our understanding of the lived experience of space through an experiential lens, but lacks a focus on the rhythms of the body. To begin to address this lacuna I suggest that it is worthwhile paying greater attention to bodily actions in the context of how, through an embodied spatiality taking into account the ‘total body’ (Lefebvre, 1974/1991), competing value claims are being managed within such organizations as cathedrals.

The contributions to the extant organizational space literature that this chapter makes are threefold. The first contribution draws on Lefebvre’s ideas concerning Rhythmanalysis. Currently, rhythmanalysis has not been widely explored in the organizational space literature, for exceptions see Beyes and Steyaert’s (2012) work which explores a performative approach to spatial understanding; Toyoki, Spicer and Elliot’s (2006) work who use the concept of rhythms as a way of understanding the social reproduction of organizations and Verduyn (2015: 641) who applies the concept of rhythmanalysis to the process of entrepreneuring. I argue that there is value to the spatial study of organizations in considering Lefebvre’s work on rhythmanalysis in terms of its role in furthering our understanding of the embodiment of space. For from this perspective, we can learn how organizational members are managing organizational pressures, reconciling organizational value clashes and resisting organizational change through the rhythms of their body.

The second contribution, linking to the first, builds on the body of knowledge which explores an embodied spatiality. That is literature which has moved on from focusing on calculable, external space to the complexities and tensions of the embodied lived experience of space (Beyes and Steyaert, 2011; Dale, 2005; Dale and Burrell, 2010; Halford, 2004; Kim and de Dear, 2013; Petani and Mengis, 2016; Wapshott and Mallett, 2012; Wasserman and Frenkel, 2010; Wasserman and Frenkel, 2015; Watkins, 2005; Zhang, Spicer, and Hancock, 2008). This body of literature contends that exploring bodily lived experience is a key means to understanding organizational space. Dale (2005), for example, draws on Lefebvre, shedding light on how organizational control operates through gestures, movements and the “ways of engaging our bodies with a certain materiality” (Dale, 2005: 657). In an organizational context, embodied spatiality has been explored in a number of ways, for example, the materialization of gender in the workplace (Tyler and Cohen, 2010; Wasserman and Frenkel, 2015); the spatial embodiment of sexuality (Riach and Wilson, 2014); the lived and embodied experience of working in sex shops (Tyler, 2011); the embodied dimension of organizational culture (Flores-Pereira, Davel, and Cavedon, 2008); ethics and embodiment (Dale and Latham, 2015; Pullen and Rhodes, 2015); embodied leadership (Bathurst and Cain, 2013); organizational gestures (Bazin, 2013) and organizational wellness (Dale and Burrell, 2014). Whilst research conducted within this embodied spatial perspective has increased, there remains an aspect that warrants further exploration. That is research which examines an embodied spatiality, with a particular focus on the way competing value claims are being managed through the conceptual notions of dwelling (Shortt, 2015) and dressage (Lefebvre, 1992/2004), that is, through bodily actions and the rhythms of the body.

The third and final contribution presents my interpretations based on empirical research, of the idea of cathedrals as organizations. Typically, cathedrals are studied from a theological perspective (Cameron et al., 2005; Hopewell, 1987), from an architectural perspective, namely the cathedral building and its sacred symbols (Maddison, 2000) and on the cathedral as a tourist destination (Francis, Mansfield, and Village, 2010; Gutic, Caie, and Clegg, 2010; Shackley, 2001, 2002; Voase, 2007). These studies do not focus on the everyday lives of those moving through the spaces of the organization and do not explore how value clashes are being negotiated and contested through the embodiment of space. In taking the idea of the cathedral as an organization, we can learn how tensions in organizations more broadly are being managed by the employees who inhabit a workspace. These three contributions support the main arguments of this chapter, which is to explain how, through an embodied spatiality, focussing on the rhythms of the body, the tensions associated in dealing with conflicting organizational value claims, are being managed through the body entwined with organizational space.

Following this introduction, the chapter presents the literature pertaining to the lived experience of space, which specifically draws on an embodied spatial view providing important links with Lefebvre’s spatial concepts. The methodology of Gadamer’s (1975/2004) hermeneutic phenomenology and the research site are then presented, followed by the methods of data collection and analysis. The chapter then continues with the presentation of the empirical findings, which are situated within the theoretical concepts of Dwelling and Dressage. The chapter closes with a discussion of the ways that the three contributions outlined in the introduction are realized in the empirical findings.

Conceptualizations of Space

A key reason for adopting a Lefebvrian analysis in this chapter is Lefebvre’s (1974/1991) clear epistemology of space and the body. This epistemology sees space not as a fixed, stable, homogeneous entity which is external to the body, but instead sees space as fluid, irrational, dynamic and importantly entwined with the body. In the context of organizational space and in agreement with Lefebvre, there has to be a rejection of a “Cartesian split between mind and body” (Dale, 2001: 11). The idea of the body as an object needs to be replaced with “the body as experience” (Flores-Pereira, Davel, and Cavedon, 2008: 1011). From this perspective, there is no knowing outside of the body; we come to know the world through our body and its movements. For Lefebvre (1974/1991: 201), this is how space is produced, through the “body of space.” In order to gain an understanding of the embodied lived experience, the body in terms of its perceptions, senses and its movements must be considered as of space or through space, as opposed to in space.

Scholars seeking to conceptualize the lived experience of organizational space based on a Lefebvrian epistemology, include Dale and Latham (2015); Tyler and Cohen (2010); Wapshott and Mallett (2012), all of whom recognize that in order to understand space as lived we must start from the body, as, following Lefebvre (1974/1991: 405), “the whole of space proceeds from the body.” As such, conceptualizations of lived space necessarily imply an embodied dimension. Studies of organizational space from this experiential perspective explore the ways in which organizational space is being socially produced through the embodied actions of individuals. It is the space of human agency, where embodied experience has the potential to alter conceived or planned space (Lefebvre, 1974/1991) and is where “alternative imaginations of space” (Simonsen, 2005: 7) arise. Whilst workspace is imposed upon us by the organization, the literature here shows that employees seek to recreate the space, so that space “is at once a becoming of expression, and a becoming of our being” (Bachelard, 1964/1994: xxiii). Simply put, space becomes an expression of who we are, and we become an expression of the space we inhabit. These forms of expression emerge through the different ways that individuals seek to inhabit their workspace. For example, artefacts are being used by employees as a way to ‘manage’ workspace as opposed to being managed by their workspace. Imposed organizational space is challenged and an alternative space emerges, which takes on new meanings and which represents a spatial form of spatial ownership.

Through the appropriation of space, individuals are able to seek ownership of their workspace, assert their identity and reconcile organizational tensions, such as the feeling of ‘alienation’ or of being forgotten. Although the meaning of artefacts is often discussed in the organizational space literature, interestingly, artefacts have not been discussed in relation to liminal organizational space. In organization space studies, liminal space and liminality are typically studied from two differing perspectives. For example, Czarniawska and Mazza (2003), Garsten (1999) and Sturdy, Schwarz, and Spicer’s (2006) study applies the concept of liminality on people who are temporarily part of an organization, for example, consultants. Providing an alternative view is where liminal space is considered as the forgotten and taken for granted spaces of the organization. Such spaces are often cited as cupboards, doorways, ‘secluded corners’, toilets, backrooms and stairwells (Iedema, Long, and Carroll, 2010; Shortt, 2015). These studies of liminal space do not consider how personal artefacts can play a role in ‘crafting’ moments of liminality or respite from daily work pressures. Analysing artefacts from this perspective is of particular interest, for I consider that they have a role in producing liminal states of being within organizational space. This space does not have to exist amongst the previously mentioned forgotten spaces of the organization; it can appear in the ordinary space of work, for example, in the office. Liminal space considered alongside artefacts and the feelings they evoke provides a view of organizational space which accounts for how individuals need more than a functional space for work. They need a space where they can dwell, a space where they have a sense of belonging.

The applications of Lefebvre’s (1974/1991) spatial concepts in organizational space studies provide a significant body of literature. The most drawn upon is his spatial triad; Conceived Space (representations of space), Perceived Space (spatial practice) and Lived Space (representational space). Whilst this body of work contributes significantly to our understanding of the lived experience of space, it highlights a lacuna in the literature. This lacuna pertains to a lack of focus on understanding the habits and routines of the body as it moves through and coexists with space. To illustrate this lacuna, we can say that existing literature commonly applies the triad to explore aspects of power, including the controlling and ordering of employees placed within particular organizational spaces. In such works, instead of interpreting the meaning of embodied behaviours through the lived experiences of the employees, the focus is from the point of view of an observer looking in and reporting on spatial behaviours. For example, in Hancock and Spicer’s (2011) study of the Saltire Centre, observed were the outcomes of the spatial ordering by designers and managers who sought to dictate desired behaviours in the centre. The different floors of the centre were designed in order to elicit expected spatial practices. As in Peltonen’s (2011) study, there was resistance to this enforced ordering by students who wilfully contested the spatial design, with the researchers observing “students sleeping on beanbags … and instances of students using … hair-straighteners and razors at the table power points” (Hancock and Spicer, 2011: 103). These observations recognized that spaces are interpreted differently by users who become the “unofficial architects of space” (Hernes, 2004: 67). These ‘unofficial architects’ through their embodiment of space, produce a different space to the one imposed upon by the organization. It is understanding and interpreting this embodiment through the rhythms of the body, that present the previously referred to lacuna in the literature. A lacuna which can be filled through Lefebvre’s work on Rhythmanalysis entwined with the spatial triad, a coupling hitherto underexplored in the study of organizational space.

In his text Rhythmanalysis, Lefebvre presents two types of rhythms linear and natural. The linear rhythms impose themselves on the body and stem “from human activity: the monotony of actions and of movements, imposed structures” (1992/2004: 8). Lefebvre here is referring to the repetitive and routine nature of daily life, where actions are repeated day in and day out. These actions in an organizational context are often structured by imposed external factors. For example, work schedules and the following of stipulated procedures in stipulated workspaces are all deemed necessary in order to comply with organizational rules. These rhythms align with clock time, are quantitative in character and represent the imposed order which measures everyday life at work. Lefebvre and Régulier (1986: 73) consider these rhythms to be a “desacralisation” of time, a kind of disenchantment where any form of pleasure or spontaneity experienced in daily life has been sacrificed through a twenty-four-seven focus on work. However, this is not the only time, nor the only rhythms we experience, for they are in constant contact with “what is least rational in human being: the lived, the carnal, the body” (Lefebvre, 1992/2004: 9): namely, the natural rhythms of the body as irrational and full of personal expression. Natural rhythms produce a certain kind of organizational space, a lived embodied, unpredictable space, which at times can display a “victory … over the linear, integrating it without destroying it” (Lefebvre, 1981/2008: 131). Linear and natural rhythms cannot be separated; they intermesh in everyday life. They are “multiple interrelated rhythms, functioning independently, but influencing each other” (Verduyn, 2015: 641).

We can link Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis to his spatial triad, and do so through the empirical data presented later in the chapter. This data shows and explains how lived and perceived space contests and disorders conceived space through bodily action and rhythm, where natural rhythms seek ‘victory’ over the imposed and linear rhythms of the organization. Through the fieldwork conducted in the cathedral, the spatial triad is taken from its abstract form to something that is dynamic and real. This is achieved through observing and questioning the embodied actions of the employees as they move within the conceived, perceived and lived space. I claim that the triad along with the rhythms of the body, provide a conceptual framework which enables an understanding and interpretation of the ways in which value clashes are being managed through the daily experiences of the employees at St Michael’s Cathedral.

Methodology

Empirical studies of the lived experience of organizational space most commonly adopt a qualitative based analysis. The research undertaken for this chapter is no exception and brings together phenomenology (lived experience) with Gadamer’s (1975/2004) hermeneutics (interpretation). This was considered most suitable for the aim was “to understand an experience as it is understood by those who are having it” (Cohen, Kahn, and Steeves, 2000: 3). For Gadamer, understanding the experience requires a temporal focus in that experience is influenced by both the past and the present. Aligned with this, Lefebvre (1974/1991: 48) states that the history of a space forms “the basis of representational spaces [lived space].” Therefore, the temporal aspect of the embodied experience of space cannot be ignored, for we are at once situated in both present and past time, where past traditions join with and make up the lived experience in the present. At the heart of Gadamer’s hermeneutics is the art of conversation, and his approach to data analysis provides the ‘tools’ to interpret the lived experience, for example, through his notion of the hermeneutic conversation. For Gadamer, conversation and its analysis thereof is about language. For Lefebvre (1974/1991), language must include not only words, but also the interpretation of the ‘total body’ experience, including its mental abstracts, movements and feelings. Drawing together both Gadamer and Lefebvre’s conceptualizations enables an embodied interpretation of the lived experience which considers the impact of both the past and the present in its analysis.

The Research Context

To situate the cathedral in a wider context, it is important to understand the current challenges and tensions that this sector is having to manage. The last report published by the Archbishop Council (2014) shows that, over the last ten years, cathedrals have seen a steady rise in visitor numbers, which have increased from 9.7 million in 2012 to 10.2 million in 2013 (Ibid.). Two reasons are given for these growing numbers. The first rests in the nature of worship, where a more individualized practice of worship is desired, one not characterized by the communal experience of a tightly knit local parish church. The second reason is the versatility afforded by the size of the cathedral, allowing for a welcome that embraces and extends to those beyond worshippers. In acknowledgement of the different purposes that cathedrals serve today, research into the contemporary use of the cathedral was commissioned on behalf of the Association of English Cathedrals and the Foundation for Church Leadership. The research published by Theos (2012) entitled ‘Spiritual Capital’ reported a key finding: the tension between managing the pilgrims’ expectations and the expectations of the tourists. The root of the tension can be found in the popularity of the cathedral, which according to Engel (2011) can be explained as follows:

Engel strikingly likens the cathedral to a London West End production, which brings forth associations of entertainment, a spectacular staging, and marketization. Such framings of the cathedral highlight its juxtaposition of being a place of worship and a place of cultural interest. This co-existence of two different purposes and experiences in one space reinforces a perceived dualism which characterizes the contemporary cathedral. Whilst there has been a rise in visitor numbers, the cost of running cathedrals is high. For example, it costs some £60,000 per week to run Durham Cathedral and the average donation is only 32p per visitor (Kasprzak, 2012). This has meant that the raising of income levels through enterprise activities is now a fixed feature of the management of cathedrals. Indications of how cathedrals are responding to this demand can be seen in the news media. For example, on the Church of England vacancy page, with a closing day of May 24 2018, there is an advert for a Finance Director for the Diocese of Winchester and Portsmouth with a salary of £62,000—£64,000. The advert states the Diocese want to recruit a “strong leader with a proven track record of change management and strategic financial planning” (The Church of England 2018). Here we are seeing a ‘professionalization’ of cathedrals.

Modernization programmes are taking place within broader economic and social contexts, which affect the management of the organization and drive the need for change. For example, visitors now expect to have such facilities as lavatories, a shop and a refectory, satisfying the needs of consumption. In conjunction with managing the expectations of its different visitors, cathedrals are also faced with the challenge of negotiating a path between innovation and tradition. The sacred space of the cathedral is increasingly being used in commercially orientated ways, for example, Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford was used as a location for the Harry Potter films and Ely Cathedral, an established filming and recording venue, for the production of the Netflix drama The Crown. These, along with general events such as art exhibitions, concerts and dinners, all contribute to generating much needed income. Innovation in the form of technology is increasingly being used in cathedrals. Most cathedral websites now offer Twitter, Facebook and news feeds. Other technology-driven initiatives is the use of touchscreen multimedia tours at St Paul’s Cathedral and online shops. Such practices do not only furnish the traditional cathedral space with modern technology, but also serve to extend the cathedral space into virtual space.

The changes in the cathedral sector, which sees cathedrals increasingly having to be managed in a commercial way, can be clearly seen at the research site—St Michael’s Cathedral. Here we are able to see the co-existence of the sacred and the commercial through the organization’s structure. At the most senior level sits the Dean of the cathedral with line management responsibility for the Cathedral Administrator; the Canon Precentor responsible for worship, liturgy (the order and performance of services) and music; the Canon Pastor responsible for the pastoral care of the congregation, visitors and wider community; the Canon Curate responsible for theological education, and the Cathedral Chaplain. The organization has seven departments, each led by a manager who oversees their teams. Managerial positions include the Finance Manager; the Public Relations Manager; the Refectory Manager; the Shop Manager; the Education Officer, the Head Verger responsible for preparing the cathedral for service and an IT Manager. In the managers’ titles we see typical organizational roles which point to a division between the sacred and the secular. For example, the Refectory Manager, Shop Manager and Finance Manager are roles with a greater commercial orientation than the Education Officer and Head Verger who share a greater focus in upholding the sacred values of the organization. In order to manage the commercial side of the organization, ‘St Michael’s Cathedral Enterprise Ltd’ was set up in 1973. Today the enterprise comprises a board of volunteer members from local businesses, who advise and support the cathedral’s commercial operations, for example, the shop and the refectory. These enterprises are significant income generators for the organization and are as such treated as economic units in terms of having to manage budgets and meet financial targets. All are charged a rental fee and administration costs by the Cathedral Chapter. There are four full-time Clergy, nine lay staff who are full-time and sixteen part-time lay staff. In addition to these paid staff there are approximately 250 volunteers (figures confirmed 11th July 2014). This large number of volunteers is typical of cathedrals, which rely on volunteers to ensure that the organization can serve all of its visitors, sacred and secular, every day of the year. The hierarchical structure of the organization and the key roles within it, point to an organization which is attempting to manage competing value claims. These claims are associated with having to meet the commercial needs of the organization, the sacred needs and expectations of the pilgrim and the secular needs and expectations of the tourist. In addition, it has to manage a team of employees who have different understandings of the organization. What became clear during the fieldwork was a perceived separation between the cathedral as sacred and the organization as secular. These differences in perception exemplified key tensions associated with the inevitable bringing together of the sacred and the secular and it is this that presents the organization’s problematic—its value clashes. These clashes are caused by the differing needs and demands of its key stakeholders driven by the commercial pressures facing the organization. These contrasting needs inevitably lead to tensions which are present due to the particular expectations of the organization, which in this case are overtly based on Christianity. Without the secular activities of, for example, ticket sales from concerts hosted in the cathedral, along with the purchases being made in the cathedral shop and refectory, the longevity of the cathedral is at risk. It is the income generated from these commercial enterprises which are contributing significantly to the running of the cathedral. From this perspective, the secular actually upholds the sacred. What is having to happen is a reconciliation of the fact that the secular is becoming as equally important as the sacred.

Data Collection

The fieldwork at St Michael’s Cathedral took place between June 2011 and October 2011. A focal point of the research was to observe the routine and mundane aspects of the everyday organizational lives of the employees of the cathedral, as they moved through their workspaces. Following the interpretive nature of the research, the sample was selected purposively. The level of detail required in order to understand individual lived experiences meant that, intentionally, the research sample was small, considered to be typical of hermeneutic phenomenological research (Symon and Cassell, 2012). The ten employees making up the sample represented a cross-section of departments and roles: the Refectory Manager; the Education Officer and Administrator; the Public Relations Manager; the Canon Pastor; the IT Manager and the Shop Manager. Completing the sample were three volunteers who represented the cathedral flowers, the cathedral tour guides, and a retired chaplain.

The first phase of data collection was observation through shadowing, considered to be a suitable way to understand and represent employees’ embodied experience of organizational space. Through the process of shadowing, rhythmanalysis is made possible, for, as Lefebvre (1992/2004: 27) states, for those wishing to analyse rhythms there is a need to “situate oneself simultaneously inside and outside.” In other words, instead of immersing oneself in the field carrying out the same tasks as the employee, rhythmanalysis researchers need to observe from a point of distance. This allows a level of objectivity enabling researchers to become aware of the different aspects of rhythms, such as sounds, repetition, habits and pace, along with how these respond to one another through the actions of the body. Some distance enables researchers to observe, for example, the way the pressures of deadlines increase pace and reduce the sounds of chatter, or a spontaneous encounter with a colleague, slows the rhythms of the body down and increases the sounds of chatter. Whilst we need a level of exteriority when analysing rhythms, at the same time, there has to be closeness whereby we can be grasped (ibid.) by the rhythm, where we can, as far as is possible, experience the rhythms others are experiencing as they embody workspace. Each employee was shadowed across three working days, spanning a seven-day week. Detailed fieldnotes were taken of everything observed, and whilst acknowledging that it is not possible to observe ‘everything’, it enabled an exploration into the employees’ “role in, and paths through the organization” (McDonald, 2005: 457). The detailed fieldnotes were transcribed and shared with each employee. This was part of the methodological process of joint interpretation. In being given the transcripts, they had the opportunity to re-acquaint themselves with their daily habits and routines.

The second chosen research method was photo-elicitation, whereby employees were given a simple brief to take photographs of spaces in the organization which were significant to them. This method is complementary to shadowing, as it puts the participant in control of the data being produced. Participant-led photography followed by conversation “provides a direct entry into [the participant’s] point of view” (Radley and Taylor, 2003: 79). This helps to ensure that the photograph is the participant’s representation as opposed to the researcher’s representation. When discussing the taken photographs, the employees’ narratives extended beyond the visual representation, suggesting that the “intention behind taking the photograph may be more relevant to the research than the actual product” (Barker and Smith, 2012: 94). Whilst the visual image alone cannot be said to represent the ‘reality’ of experience, when interpreted alongside our conversations, the photograph does and did provide a way of accessing embodied experience.

The third and final phase of the research was the hermeneutic-based conversations. Like shadowing and the use of photographs, conversations provide an opportunity for the researcher to “enter the participant’s lifeworld” (Smith, Flowers, and Larkin, 2009: 58). The conversations focused on the transcribed fieldnotes and the employees’ taken photographs. When constructing how these conversations would evolve, a two-way flow of communication following a conversation style was essential. The key aim of the conversation was to co-construct the interpretation of the transcribed fieldnotes and the taken photographs until consensus in terms of what represented a momentary truth of the embodied experience emerged.

Data Analysis

By the end of the fieldwork, the data corpus comprised of fieldnotes totalling 182 pages of typed text and 105,709 words. A total of ninety-six photographs had been taken and ten hours of conversation were recorded. In line with the taken methodology, the approach for analysing the field data followed elements of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Typical of IPA, once fieldnotes for each employee had been typed, they were read and re-read as a way of re-immersing oneself with the original data (Smith, Flowers, and Larkin, 2009). Through the reading and re-reading of fieldnotes, coding the data followed a manual process advised by Saldaña (2009), of first, second and third cycle coding. Away from the field, the photographs were analysed following a similar coding process. The conversations taking place in the field were later subjected to formal analysis, following the same process of coding. The conversations were recorded and transcribed and later re-listened to alongside the fieldnotes and photographs, providing further interpretive analysis. Each phase of the research represented a different aspect of the employees’ embodied experience. This was a form of data triangulation which, when viewed in its totality, led to the identification of a number of themes centred on dwelling and movement. These conceptual themes provided a way of understanding the embodied experiences of workspace and are discussed in greater detail in the following section of this chapter.

Active Bodies at Work

This section of the chapter presents some of the findings taken from the fieldwork in St Michael’s Cathedral. The theoretical notions of dwelling and dressage provide the lens through which the findings are presented. The presented data and accompanying discussion show that the ‘total body’ (Lefebvre, 1974/1991) entwined with space, emerges as the agent which manages the competing value claims taking place within the organization.

Dwelling in the context of this chapter is considered as a concept which can be used to explain how employees seek to belong in their place of work. The theoretical heritage which the concept of dwelling acknowledges is Heidegger’s (1971) perspective according to which, dwelling is considered as centred on our very being. It is a key feature of human existence: ‘‘to be a human being means to be on the earth as a mortal, it means to dwell’’ (Heidegger, 1971: 147, my emphasis). Dwelling, then, is considered as a mode of being; a spatial expression of ‘feeling at home’ in one’s immediate workspace. Dwelling, then, is more than an occupation of space, it is a representation of the way we are, a representation of being in the world. What this means is described well by (Ingold, 1995: 76), who says that “the forms people build, whether in the imagination or on the ground, arise within the current of their involved activity, in the specific relational contexts of their practical engagements with their surroundings.” Our being is thus intertwined with the ‘forms’ that we build. To dwell is born from a subjective knowing and an embodied engagement with a given space. Making workspace a dwelling necessitates the undertaking of labour and in the following empirical examples we see the crafting of dwellings within the workspaces of the cathedral.

Dwelling at Work

Two participants are presented, first Valerie, the Administrator to the Education Officer, responsible primarily for helping to co-ordinate educational events both inside and outside of the cathedral. Valerie’s narrative revealed that her immediate workspace was a space she had appropriated in order to be able to dwell and escape the pressures of work. Our conversation began with Valerie talking me through the artefacts she had placed in and around her desk area:

Figure 6.1 Computer screen and artefacts.

Picture by author.

Valerie’s narration of the paper copy of the labyrinth at a well-known place of pilgrimage, and the image taken at her annual retreat, which she had set as her screen-saver, is set in the context of work pressures. Her narrative can be examined through the notion of rhythm, more specifically the juxtaposition of Lefebvre’s (1992/2004) different rhythms, linear and natural. While organizational pressure can be understood as an intensification of the imposed linear rhythms required of the body to meet required deadlines, the alternative more natural bodily rhythm is a slower pace, here symbolized through the labyrinth and image of the retreat. Through these artefacts the body can, as it needs, seek respite from the pressures of the daily grind. This deliberate placement of pictures enables Valerie to create lived space by bringing the rhythms of the retreat into her office.

Following a similar theme, Valerie explained the paintings positioned above her computer screen (Figure 6.1):

Like the labyrinth and picture of the retreat, the paintings evoked feelings in Valerie which enabled her to momentarily escape the pressures of the working day. Regulating and monitoring her breath in a natural way allowed a slowing down of her body, providing her with a liminal space for moments of reflection and calm. In this way, Valerie is able to humanize the space to meet her own needs; it enables an embodiment of workspace, which resists the hurried linear rhythms of work. Valerie, through her pictures, was crafting a dwelling space where her personal values could be expressed and where her spatial practices could be slowed. This notion of dwelling was enabled by an appropriated overlaying of the physical conceived space (Lefebvre, 1974/1991) of work, whereby her embodied responses stemming from her carefully placed pictures, produced a way for her to ‘be’ in her workspace. Valerie was able to express herself through her immediate workspace by the connections that she had created with the retreat and her meditative practice.

Much of Valerie’s time was spent conforming to the organizational norms that seek to order and control her spatial behaviours in the conceived space of her office. However, through her pictures, Valerie showed that this ordering is shot through with potential difference, a difference stemming from her body which has “the capacity to open out experience and even sketch out alternative ways of being” (Obrador Pons, 2003: 55). This alternative way of being for Valerie shows a body in moments of peacefulness and calm, following the natural rhythms of her body, within the hurried space of work.

The second example of dwelling at work was provided by David, the IT Manager, whose remit is to provide IT support to all departments and employees. Known widely as ‘the hovel’, David’s office is located beneath the body of the cathedral. David’s narration below presents the tensions between how the organization values his work and how he values his work. These value clashes are depicted through the montages of two photographs (Figures 6.2 and 6.3):

Figure 6.2 The invisible ‘hovel’.

Picture by author.

In this image, David comments that the cathedral represents “the management of the cathedral, the Chapter, the management hierarchy.” The cathedral characterizes the business-orientated realities of the organization, reflective of a calculative and at times political organization. When viewed from this perspective, there is a clash with the Christian values which disappear and are replaced with managerial values, which David feels disconnected from. In his account of the image, David portrays himself and his work as being invisible and detached from the organization; his office is not considered as a space in which he can dwell. Through the image, David expresses an experience of a manifestation of organizational power which spatially structures and controls its workforce and provides an order of ranking. The assigning of David to an office beneath the cathedral signifies to him that the importance of his work is questionable; his work is taken for granted and hence made invisible.

In contrast, David then showed me a second montage he had created using the same two photographs as the ones above (Figure 6.3). This time, the photograph shows his office as a space of dwelling, a lived space (Lefebvre, 1974/1991). The office is now made visible and through his narration of the image, we can learn how David reconciles his place in the ‘underworld’ through his physical connection to the cathedral:

Figure 6.3 The visible ‘hovel’.

Picture by author.

In this image, David defines his position as one of support, shown in his representation of the organizationally connected, warm, embracing office. The hovel is now represented as literally physically supporting the structure of the cathedral and this is aligned with how David views his role as supporting the continuation of the daily life of the cathedral. David’s narrative mirrors the twofold organizational representations of his two montages. The first representation is of the cathedral as a rational-logical, economically driven organization and the second as an ecclesiastical organization encompassing Christian values which he fully supports. This dual representation reflects tensions and value clashes which he seeks to manage through the embodiment of his workspace. The hovel becomes a way of spatially expressing the values of the cathedral as a sacred organization to which he is supporting, as opposed to an economically driven organization, to which he feels an outsider.

The hovel is now imbued with personal meaning and whilst still being considered as physically disconnected from the organization, his appropriation of the space has ensured it is connected to home and therefore creates a feeling of belonging:

For David, his home and his office were viewed as a space existing inside of him. This representation of the space transcended the physical conceived space (Lefebvre, 1974/1991), for home and work become a part of his body. By doing this, David is able to experience the space in a personal way. The physical space remains a part of his spatial understanding and informs his spatial behaviours, but this is not the only way in which the space is being understood and experienced. Like Valerie, David’s lived space (Lefebvre, 1974/1991), is being produced through the exterior physical space, but is also being produced through the space existing on the ‘inside’, the felt experience of space. The interior and exterior are entwined producing a space for David to dwell, a space which allows him to experience the intermeshing of both the linear rhythms of the organization and the natural rhythms associated with the sense of being at home. Dwelling, then, is more than just occupying a space; it is about being at one with the space, bringing together the outside and the inside, the interiority of the body with the exteriority of the physical space.

David’s production of his organizational space described as intimate, cosy, warm, secure can be seen in the light of Bachelard’s (1964/1994: 91) imagery of the nest. Bachelard describes the nest as a refuge, a shelter, somewhere we retreat to, a place in which we can “withdraw.” Through shaping the conceived space of work through his body, David created a lived space “a personal house of his own, a nest for his body padded to his measure” (Bachelard, 1964/1994: 101). He produced a space to dwell in, along with a way to be and belong in his space of work. This crafting of a dwelling through overlaying the conceived space of work with lived space and its associated spatial practices (perceived space), enabled David to reconcile the negativity he associated with his role’s being rendered invisible by the placement of his office underneath the body of the cathedral.

Organizational Dressage: Pace and Action

The second theoretical notion I would like to share is the concept of organizational dressage. Dressage is applied in this chapter as a way to explore the ways employees of the cathedral were ‘playing out’ conflicting organizational value claims through their embodied actions in workspace. Lefebvre (1992/2004: 49), defines dressage as the action where “one breaks-in another human living being by making them repeat certain acts, a certain gesture or movement.” We can say that dressage in an organizational context is a form of training, of learning, imposed by the organization onto the body. It is a form of organizational power that is inscribed on the body and is observed through the actions of the body. Dale and Burrell (2014: 170), can be said to provide a contemporary conceptualization of dressage as “the organizational shaping of the body,” whereby our bodies are being shaped through our occupations (Ibid.). While dressage occurs in any organization to some extent, cathedrals provide a particular example of how the organization seeks to control bodily movement. For example, dressage is clearly on display through the regimented way of the daily service where we are instructed where to sit; when to sit; when to stand, when to bend in prayer and when and how to exit. Here the body is conforming to and orientated towards a sacred mode of being which stipulates the spatial behaviours expected in the conceived space (Lefebvre, 1974/1991) of the cathedral. Such bodily conforming is aligned to Lefebvre’s linear rhythms (1992/2004), where the body follows expected organizational norms which “embody ideology and bind it to practice” (Lefebvre, 1974/1991: 215) and, in so doing, help to ensure that organizational norms and traditions are upheld. The daily experiences shared in this section present a more complex view of dressage. That is a view which observes actions which both challenge and uphold the competing organizational tensions of preserving sacredness whilst increasing income levels. Actions are presented which can be argued as benefiting the organization on a sacred level or a commercial level. Not observed are actions which successfully uphold both the sacred values and the commercial needs.

In the data presented below, dressage is viewed specifically through an awareness of pace and bodily action. The first example is provided by Robert, the shop manager. Robert shows how the body can resist the linear rhythms of the organization, resist the conforming to new organizational ideals, refusing to ‘perform’ in certain ways, and thereby challenge organizational progress and change. The shop plays a key role in terms of revenue generation, and is therefore an important part of the organization, whilst also being the object of some contention. Robert’s narrative of what it is like to work in the shop portrays feelings of frustration caused by competing value claims which affect the ways in which he is required to manage the shop:

Robert was anxious that a particular valued past was vanishing amongst the required practices of the present. His past was a past which stood in contention to the modern organization. Observing Robert, it became clear that he was resisting attempts to modernise the working practices taking place in the shop:

Robert’s resistance was directed at new ways of working, in the face of increasing commercial pressure he was, through the rhythms of his body, hanging on to old values. He was seeking to uphold what he considered to be the Christian values of the organization, namely the ‘ministry of welcome’. In so doing, his working behaviours and routines deviated from the required purpose of the space, which was primarily to increase income. Robert’s traditional ways of working resist the linear rhythms (Lefebvre, 1992/2004) of the organization, which require ways of working aimed at enhancing efficiency and productivity. Through Robert’s pace and spatial practices, we are able to see the appropriation of or the reconfiguring of conceived space (Lefebvre, 1974/1991).

In contrast to Robert’s movements is Maggie the PR manager. Whereas Robert’s working practices were slow, Maggie’s were fast, and this was seen in the pace that she moved around the organization. Maggie’s key purpose was to be productive. Her pace was always fast and purposeful and when she could she would plan her routes so that she could complete other tasks on the way:

Maggie’s routes to the shop and the cathedral were chosen for their efficiency, for they met her criteria of being able to perform the greatest number of tasks en route. Maggie’s body, unlike Robert’s, was performing in such a way that was reflective of the organizations need for change, that is, moving toward a more efficient, productive and commercial direction. The route to the shop took Maggie outside, onto a public pavement and in so doing meant that she was unlikely to bump into work colleagues which would slow her down. Whilst the routes she chooses to take help her to manage her time, they do provide Maggie with a dilemma:

Time management for Maggie overrides the official guidelines of the signs, which represent a way of ordering people. Signs are a form of dressage, an expectation that the body will move in a certain direction. However, Maggie performs a circumventing of organizational rules, a disregard of a prescribed path and in doing so Maggie ensures that she is more efficient at work and therefore produces greater value for the organization. Maggie’s body was a productive body being put to work for the benefit of the organization.

Maggie’s rapid movements continued in the spaces of the cathedral, the fast pace changed the atmosphere of the space and challenged the sacred values inscribed in the space. Instead of the space imposing its ideals on Maggie’s body, for example, through the slowing of pace, her body resisted such prescribed conformity, refusing to be shaped by it. This resistance of the body conforming to the ideals of sacred space, was also observed with Jill the education officer:

In my observations with Maggie and Jill, the aisles of the cathedral became the connecting corridors of the organization; they symbolized action and movement, as opposed to the conceived ideals of the space namely stillness and reflection. Like Maggie, Jill created shortcuts which enabled her to be more productive at work. They both present a form of bodily resistance which, whilst it did not serve to negatively disrupt the running of the organization, could be viewed as serving to disrupt the sacred values of a Christian organization. Their bodies were not orientated towards a sacred mode of being; their bodies were orientated toward a work mode of being. Whilst their pace contested the sacred space of the cathedral, it mirrored organizational goals in terms of movement always heading somewhere; speed in terms of deadlines and time pressures and direction; purposeful and ever changing.

Providing a final example of dressage were the actions of Richard, the cathedral tour guide who described his tour as ‘formulaic’. Richard had clear limitations imposed on him throughout his tour. He was controlled physically, spatially and temporally, expected to follow a prescribed path around the cathedral, follow a set script and given a set time by which to complete the tour. At times, Richard’s body obeyed these orders and at other times he challenged them. For example:

By entering this space, Richard is displacing the conceived meaning of the space, like Jill’s and Maggie’s fast pace around the cathedral, the act of crossing the boundary can be interpreted as reducing the sacredness of the space. The boundary is momentarily not observed resulting in the experience of the tour group being heightened. In another observation, Richard entered a door to the cathedral which is not meant for use on tours and said to his tour group, “we will go in this entrance, we are not meant to, but we will.” This was similar to Maggie’s use of prohibited entrances in order to shorten her walking route. The reason for Richard was to improve the experience of the tour. On both occasions that Richard crossed the boundary into a prohibited space, he was actively making decisions which increased the spaces of the tour, but which conflicted with the prescribed tour guidelines. Whilst seen as bodily contesting the spatial order, this defiance, like Maggie’s and Jill’s, ultimately serves the organization that benefits from the likelihood of increased visitor donations. Whilst Richard was trained to adhere to the rules of the tour, his movements on the tour were being shaped by conflicting forces, both economic and sacred. His role as a guide was, first, to preserve the sacredness of the cathedral, second, to share the history of the cathedral and, third, to contribute to visitor donations. For Richard, meeting these competing value claims was challenging, and at times sacred values were compromised.

What we can observe through this data are the complexities of managing the conflicting values of the organization. For whilst we can see differing value claims in terms of the movements of the body in the sacred spaces of the cathedral, such movements served to benefit the commercial needs of the organization both in the sense of money and time. For example, adopting a pace reflective of time pressures and deadlines, Maggie and Jill were seen to be in rhythm with the commercially orientated organization, but were observed as being out of rhythm with the organization’s sacred values. And in contrast, Robert’s actions can be seen as being out of rhythm with the commercial needs of the organization but in rhythm with the sacred values of the cathedral. The organization dilemma presented here is that, whilst conflicting in nature, Robert, Maggie, Jill and Richard, through their spatial embodiment, were all producing and re-producing the conceived spaces (Lefebvre 1974/1991)of the organization in ways which served their own needs, and in some way, also the needs of the organization.

Discussion

The aim of this chapter has been to explore, explain and interpret through a Lefebvrian lens how competing organizational value claims associated with meeting the commercial needs of the organization, along with upholding the sacred expectations associated with being a Christian organization, are being played out through the embodied spatial experiences of employees at St Michael’s Cathedral. Three contributions were promised at the beginning of the chapter, the first contribution rests with the application of Lefebvre’s work on rhythmanalysis along with his spatial triad, which provided a way of exploring organizational value clashes, interpreting how these value clashes are being played out through Lefebvre’s (1974/1991) notion of the ‘total body of space’. The second contribution was in adding to the body of literature on organization space and, in particular, literature that focuses on an embodied spatiality. To do this, I applied the concepts of dwelling and dressage to assist with our understanding of how, through the embodiment of space, competing value claims facing the organization are being reconciled. The final contribution rests in the taking of the cathedral as a compelling site for organization studies. The cathedral is a modern organization, and, like many organizations today, it is an organization in transition. Based on the research presented, I suggest that what makes the site particularly interesting to organization studies is its key challenge of managing the competing value claims imposed upon it in modern times, value claims which the employees of the cathedral have shown are difficult to reconcile, due to the differences being so great.

The findings presented raise the importance of two key issues to organization studies. The first is why there is a need to dwell in organizations, along with how we dwell in organizations. Valerie and David both showed a need to dwell in their workspace, and this was evident through their spatial appropriation of their workspace. I conclude that their appropriation enabled them to just ‘be’ in their space of work, to be able to feel at home at work. How this sense of being at work was produced is of great interest and I contend that this was assisted by the entwining of the exterior physical space with the interior felt experience of space. This brings Lefebvre’s (1974/1991) notion of the total body from the abstract to something that is real and experienced. Valerie and David’s appropriation of workspace meant that they could, through their body of space, adopt bodily strategies which enabled them to cope with the conflicting representations of the organization. How Valerie did this was through alternating the rhythms of her body through her strategically placed pictures, enabling liminal moments in the day to pause and reflect, thereby escaping the pressures of work. For David, crafting a workspace that evoked feelings of home, provided him with a clear reminder of the purpose of his work, to support the cathedral as an ecclesiastical organization, as opposed to the economically driven organization to which he felt alienated. Valerie and David’s spatial appropriation created a sense of intimacy at work, transforming workspace into a deeply felt, embodied space which provided a way of reconciling organizational value clashes, associated with managing the tensions with trying to marry the sacred and the secular.

The concept of dwelling at work in terms of why we seek to dwell and how we enable a sense of dwelling, provides organizational researchers with a further way to explore ways that conflicts in organizations are being experienced and managed. It takes the concept of spatial appropriation a step further by requiring the interior experience of space to be considered as entwined with the physical experience of space. There is no separation. In organization studies research pertaining to how artefacts and the appropriation of space are being explored goes some way toward bringing the exterior and the interior together. For example, when artefacts are viewed as expressions of identity construction (Elsbach, 2003; Tian and Belk, 2005) or from an aesthetic perspective (Warren, 2002, 2006). In these studies, the felt experience is certainly not ignored, and is considered alongside physical workspace, but there remains a separation; there is not a sense of body of space, but instead a sense of body in space (Lefebvre, 1974/1991). This idea of space and body as one is difficult to express, but I hope that I have gone some way in doing so through the concept of dwelling and the embodiment there of. From this perspective, physical space is not only appropriated through artefacts; entwined with this is a form of internal appropriation. That is, there is a recognition that feelings, emotions and behaviours are changing at the same time as the physical appropriation of space, showing that space and the body are both shaping and being shaped by the other.

The second key issue raised in the chapter observes the significance to organization space studies of exploring bodily action and pace through the Lefebvrian lens of dressage. Through the bodily actions of the participants presented in this chapter, we are able to appreciate the different ways the body can assist in understanding organizations and in particular interpret how conflicting organizational values are being spatially enacted. What the data presented highlights is the complexity of managing and reconciling the cathedral’s two distinct and contentious value claims, namely the sacred and the secular. How Lefebvre’s (1992/2004) notion of dressage is applied in the context of the cathedral contributes to the organizational space literature, in that it affords a different perspective to the more common view of the body being placed in a designated space, conforming to the conceived ideals of the space. Instead, in this chapter I have conceptualized dressage from the embodied experience of being entwined with space, according to which dressage is viewed as both “the organizational shaping of the body” (Dale and Burrell, 2014: 170) and the bodily shaping of the organization. This perspective of dressage is one which is explored through an awareness of pace and bodily action, without necessarily attending to it as a means to an end in terms of maximizing levels of production. From this view, we see the inhabitants of workspace not passively accepting the imposed spaces of the organization, but instead orientating their bodies in ways which meet their own needs and values and which uphold either one or other of the organization’s competing value claims.

Through the concept of dressage, we are able to see the reason for the complexity of reconciling these two differences. For whilst bodily action may be showing a resistance to one value claim, it is at the same time, showing an upholding of the other value claim. For example, we were able to see from Robert’s bodily actions a resistance to the increasing need to raise income levels. His spatial practices mirrored the slow pace of halcyon days which were considered to be out of rhythm with the values of the commercially driven organization. By holding on, through his bodily actions, to traditional values he was able to deal with the changes going on in the organization which he did not fully agree with. For others, we see further incongruities at play. Maggie, Jill and, at times, Richard performed bodily actions more aligned with upholding the commercial needs of the organization whilst embodying the sacred spaces of the cathedral. This showed a bodily resistance to conforming to the conceived space of the cathedral, but a body conforming to the values of the commercially orientated organization.

So whilst the participants’ bodies were actively orientated towards upholding the particular values that they considered to be most important, interestingly the desired goals of bodily resistance or conformity were the same—ensuring the longevity of the cathedral as a space where all visitors are welcomed every-day of the year. So, rather than viewing the different value claims as competing, through the interpretation of the bodily actions of the participants, we can instead conclude that, whilst indeed different, the upholding of both is essential. So, rather than competing against one another, these organizational value claims can be reconciled by viewing them as supporting one another.