Experiencing communality in collective activity: Four ways to generate sameness in differences

Abstract

In this introductory article of the special issue ‘Experiencing communality and togetherness at work: Phenomenologies of a shared existence’, we suggest exploring the issue of sameness and differences at stake in collective activity. In a post-pandemic world of work, a weak sense of co-presence is fostered by hyper-individualization, fragmentation, liquidity, geo-political tensions and a widespread distrust of social institutions. In this context, communality is less than ever a given. In this context, we ask the following question: How can we experience communality together in collective activity while acknowledging our often profound differences? This essay and special issue address this question by investigating how sameness can be experienced in and through difference. Specifically, we do so by focusing on commons and the process of communalization as it has been explored in Management and Organization Studies. We propose a typology in which we specify four perspectives shedding light on four experiences of communality in collective activity through and beyond differences. This typology offers a lens to present the articles selected for this special issue, as well as generating implications for research and education in Management and Organization Studies.