In the face of global challenges such as digitalization, climate change, demographic shifts, and democratic tensions, organizations are increasingly required to adopt innovative, collaborative, and future-oriented practices. Charting the way forward necessitates new ways of visualizing, engaging, and co-creating organizational futures. This proposal builds on the special call’s focus on organizational education as a practice and epistemic space that navigates the intersections between strategy, experimentation, and socio-technical material assemblages.

Charting, understood both as a metaphor and a practice, emphasizes visualization and the relational processes that give form to organizational strategies and practices. As Knorr-Cetina (1999) suggests, epistemic cultures organize how knowledge is created and shared, shaping the material-discursive practices of organizing. In this sense, charts are not merely tools for mapping but performative practices that construct the realities they represent. Foucault’s (1977, 1981) insights into discourse and orders of seeing remind us that charting involves both the production of knowledge and its materialization within organizational contexts.

This proposal invites participants to engage with charting as a networked, performative, and participatory process. Organizations must navigate complex, contested terrains, where strategy is intertwined with societal transformation. The epistemic practices of charting—whether through diagrams, models, or improvisational actions—reflect the co-constructed nature of organizational knowledge. As Strati (1999) and Linstead and Höpfl (2000) note, such practices also engage with aesthetics and embodied forms of knowing, offering rich opportunities for rethinking organizational futures.

By emphasizing relationality and networked approaches, this proposal highlights the role of organizational education in fostering collaborative foresight, participatory strategies, and design-based methods (Barone & Eisner, 2012; Bergold & Thomas, 2012). Charting, in this sense, becomes an act of boundary-crossing and co-creation, where strategy and practice are continuously negotiated and reimagined.

This workshop will explore charting as a means of navigating ambiguity and positioning organizations to address current and emerging challenges.

This workshop invites participants to experience Barcamp as both a methodology and a space for rethinking how organizations navigate contemporary challenges, emphasizing its relevance to the theme of “charting the way forward” from the organizational education perspective.

Participants are encouraged to bring any research topic relevant to the future directions of organizational education research perspectives, methodologies, and practices. These topics may address, but are not limited to, the following questions:

• How can organizational education research contribute to charting future directions for organizations?

• What methodologies best support participatory and networked approaches in organizational education?

• How do charting practices influence decision-making, strategy formation, and organizational learning?

• How can organizations leverage research-based insights to navigate uncertainty and global complexities?

This research workshop adopts a BarCamp format, offering a democratic and participatory approach within our network. Unlike traditional conference sessions, which follow a predetermined structure (Boule, 2011), BarCamps are often referred to as ad-hoc conferences or unconferences. According to Budd et al. (2015), BarCamp is a participant-driven unconference that facilitates informal networking interactions, making it an innovative platform for fostering meaningful professional connections. By allowing attendees to shape the agenda and engage in open discussions, it creates a dynamic environment where ideas flow freely and interactions develop organically. This format encourages collaboration among participants with shared interests and provides networking opportunities that extend well beyond the event. The structure of the session is planned as follows: Initial Impulses: The session will begin with three short introductory impulses, each lasting five minutes. These introductions will focus on three thematic areas: research perspectives, methodologies, and research practices. The brief presentations will emphasize the organizational educational perspective, providing an overview of key topics and expanding the horizon for the future of organizational education research. Thematic Exploration: Participants will then introduce their own thematic interests, connecting with the initial topics and expanding beyond them. Self-organized interest groups will be formed based on expertise and shared interests. Each group will be facilitated by a thematic host, who will guide reflection and discussion. These groups will work towards identifying and outlining the most relevant future potentials in their respective subject areas. Additionally, they will explore possible approaches for addressing these potentials through further theory-building, methodological developments, or research infrastructure advancements. Participants may also discuss the next steps for network development and potential collaborative initiatives on the identified topics. Synthesis and Presentation: In the final step of the research workshop, the outcomes of the self-organized discussion groups will be systematically summarized. A space will be provided for short, one-minute presentations of key insights and conclusions. This workshop is designed as a double research workshop with a total duration of 180 minutes. Participants will also have the opportunity to propose additional topics for discussion during the session. This flexible and interactive format fosters an open, collaborative, and forward-thinking environment, encouraging participants to actively contribute to shaping the future of organizational education research.

This workshop aims to generate a collective, participatory, and forward-looking discourse on organizational education research by leveraging the BarCamp format. One of the key outcomes will be the identification of emerging research agendas at the intersection of organizational education, strategy, and socio-technical complexities. Through interactive discussions, participants will outline thematic priorities that can shape future research directions in the field. Another expected outcome is the advancement of methodological approaches, particularly in exploring networked, performative, and participatory methodologies. The workshop will provide a space for scholars to examine alternative research methods, refine theoretical frameworks, and identify new methodological synergies within organizational education research. This process will contribute to a deeper understanding of how knowledge is constructed and shared in organizational settings. The workshop will also facilitate knowledge co-construction by engaging participants in charting practices through visual models, performative methods, and discursive processes. These practices will illustrate how knowledge is actively co-created within organizational contexts, reinforcing the importance of material-discursive and embodied forms of knowing. Beyond theoretical contributions, the workshop is expected to foster collaborative networks and future research initiatives. The BarCamp format encourages organic, self-organized networking that extends beyond the event itself, enabling participants to establish new research collaborations, initiate joint projects, and explore potential funding opportunities. Additionally, the workshop will emphasize the practical implications of organizational education research, particularly in navigating uncertainty, digital transformation, and socio-political change. By synthesizing insights from discussions, the event will contribute to the development of research-based strategies that organizations can apply in real-world contexts. By the end of the session, participants will have concrete takeaways, including new research questions, collaborative opportunities, and methodological innovations, all of which will contribute to the broader academic and professional discourse on charting the future of organizational education research.

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