The Daily Grind: Embracing Absurdity in the Workplace

## Details

WHEN & WHERE

• 18:30 | Wednesday | 01 October
• Codebase | 37 Castle Terrace | Edinburgh | EH1 2EL

ABOUT THE SESSION
Absurdity represents a way of seeing things in the world as lacking inherent value or meaning, and perhaps also as being farcical, ridiculous, unreasonable, pointless or illogical. Yet absurdist perspectives in philosophy and culture often highlight the potential value of resisting despair or nihilism by embracing absurdity - staying engaged in life and continuing to search for personal meaning despite the impossibility of finding absolute answers.

Many jobs, workplaces and areas of organisational life - such as people management practices and policies - can clearly be experienced as absurd to the extent that they are perceived as lacking in meaning or a sense of value. This has profound implications for understanding, motivating, engaging and leading people and shaping workplace culture.

In this session we will:

• Explore definitions and meanings associated with perceiving and declaring something to be absurd in work and life.
• Review research on workplace absurdity, and some of the main topics, tools, frameworks and perspectives that can be delineated, and
• Reflect on benefits for individuals and teams in embracing absurdity are considered, as well as the risks of ignoring absurdity.

The session will conclude with critical reflections on how absurdity can be a hard pill to swallow, is not without challenges and never really goes away. Yet this is precisely why acknowledging and working with it can be rewarding for people trying to decide how best to make sense of their own experiences and accept the limits of human rationality and understanding. At its best, absurdity offers powerful and cathartic insights into coping with the chaotic, contradictory and unknowable aspects of the changing world around us.

Want to find out more? Join us on Wednesday October 1st from 6:15pm.

As with other sessions, there is an open invitation to head to the pub for a chat after the session too.

ABOUT TOM
Tom Calvard is Professor of Work and Organisation at the University of Edinburgh Business School. He has taught courses on strategic HR and change management for over a decade, and his research focuses on how organisations, groups and individuals make sense of shifting perspectives, limits and boundaries, with an emphasis on identity, diversity, technology, change and ethics.

WHO THIS SESSION IS FOR
Per the description of the group, this session is for people who are interested in people, team, leadership and organizational development and who want to be share their interest with others.

Typically, attendees are leaders or managers, work in Learning and Development, are consultants, students, psychologists, coaches or are personally interest in helping people develop and improving workplaces.

A THANK YOU
A big thanks to Techscaler and Codebase who are supporting this group!

All subject to change :)