Liminality and Communitas as new sources of Social Capital in Business
Relationship Dynamics
Dr Annmarie Ryan,
Department of Management and Marketing, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick,
Ireland.
Competitive Paper
Abstract
In this paper I develop a framework for the study of business relationships through the lens of liminality. This is achieved by discussing the work of Turner in relation to rites and rituals and their role in society. Those dimensions of the concept of liminality and communitas that are important for this study therefore include: that it involves interaction outside everyday lived experience; that liminality is constructed and is neither self-evident or naturally occurring; involves the transformation re-discovery and re-appropriation of every day spaces, through separation, or divestiture process, and subsequently (re)incorporated into the everyday through processes of investiture and importantly, incorporates a shared experience that can impact on relations between those who share the experience beyond the event itself. The concept of liminality is offered as a way to enable researchers to understand the interactions between managers in relationships in a new way. The focus of this paper is therefore threefold: 1/ to expand upon the concept of creating, holding and intensifying liminal space and 2/consideration of the effect of this on the organisation and 3/ reflection on this on-going entering into and leaving of liminal space as a way of conceptualising relationship development or dynamics.
1. Introduction
Within the extant literature on inter-organisational relationships is it widely acknowledged that social relationships are a key enabler to successful relationship development (e.g. Håkansson,
1982; Hutt & Stafford, 2000; Möller & Wilson, 1995). An emerging concern in this field is the distinction between business and extrabusiness interactions (Cova & Salle, 2000), that is, between social interaction focused on the enactment of economic exchange and those emerging out of interpersonal ties (Mainela, 2007). Mainela (2007) draws on Ring and Ven de Ven’s (1994) distinction in this regard, which addresses the relationship between qua performa (individuals enacting their role as representatives of the organisation) and qua performa (individuals acting as private persons). Ryan and Blois (2010), take a situational approach. Rather than assuming relations between people are either weak or strong (after Granovetter, 1985), they use Fiske’s
(1992) Relational Models theory to distinguish four relational models that vie for dominancy in the governing of almost all or any social interaction. These are based on deference to authority, market rationality, reciprocity, or kinship/communal considerations. Strong communal, or interpersonal ties more generally, are said to have a driving role in the relationship, reducing distance (Ford, 1980), facilitating information sharing, allowing parties to weather crises that emerge (Ryan & Blois, 2010) and even allowing the relationship to continue to develop through

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dormant periods (Cova & Salle, 2000; Havila & Wilkinson, 2002). However, what is less clear is the source of ‘strong’ personal relationships between business people.
The concept of social capital is one way to consider this. The literature on social capital is highly eclectic in nature. However, one key theme prevails, that is, the concept of ‘who you know’, and specifically the potential for leveraging social contacts for private benefit (Burt, 1992). This view of leveraging social capital is limited in two important ways. One, it limits much business success to the quality of the manager’s, often pre-existing, social circle and two it does not capture the depth and quality of personal ties that can emerge during the relationship itself.
Ryan and Blois’ (2010) concept of relationship identification provides a useful alternative. Building on the concept of identification from organisational psychology (e.g. Hogg & Terry, 2000),
Relationship identification seeks to elaborate on a form of organising and belonging to a business relationship, which creates sometimes competing demands between the relationship and the organisation the manager is representing. In this paper identification with the relationship will be explored as an entering into a liminal space by managers; a space which lies betwixt and between their ‘everyday’ organisational responsibilities. Managers sharing this liminal space are said to enjoy a particular sense of community that allows what may be seen as a disparate group, find a sense of coherence. This is termed communitas. This paper will examine and elaborate upon the role of communitas and the creation (and holding) of liminal space between managers in the development of strong social relations within business relationships. Moreover, the concept of liminal space within business relationships and the resulting communitas between managers (or initiands in ritual terms) has the potential to shed new light on our understanding of the complexity of relationship dynamics.
Czarniawska and Mazza (2003) for example discuss how liminality fosters deviation and creativity whereby initiands can emerge from their liminal state ready to revitalise and renew the community.
Liminality can be said to therefore enable a radical innovation environment, as it can be said to support “experimentation, risk-taking, and failure, and views trial-and-error as a viable process”
(Tetenbaum, 1998: 27).
These themes will be explored by way of a single case study where ritual, liminality and communitas were observed to play an important role in business dynamics. Drawing on data from dyadic longitudinal interviews (10), site visits and casual conversations with employees of both organisations, and analysis of a substantial amount of secondary data, (including all documented correspondence between the two organisations spanning ten years of the relationship) the paper elaborates on each phase of the liminal experience, the roles of liminar (those who experience liminality), guide and ally, the efforts involved in equipping, enabling and supporting liminars in making important transitions and finally the role the relationship as a hist site for these experiences.
The focus of this paper is therefore threefold: 1/ to expand upon the concept of creating, holding and
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intensifying liminal space and 2/ consideration of the effect of this on the organisation and 3/ reflection on this on-going entering into and leaving of liminal space as a way of conceptualising relationship development or dynamics.
The paper proceeds as follows: First the concept of liminality is reviewed, including an elaboration of the processual nature of liminality. The use of liminality in organisational and marketing research is also discussed. This is followed by a conceptual framework, outlining the roles and material elements of guiding and experiencing divestiture, liminality and investiture (3 phases of liminal experiences).
The methodology section outlines the case study approach adopted for this study, including details on data gathered and approach to analysis. The findings section, following a brief overview of the case, takes a more thematic approach; taking, in turn, the liminal experiences of each organisation in the relationship. The paper concludes with consideration for implications for research on business dynamics as well as implications for management in business relationships and the role that liminality and communitas might play.

2. Liminality in Business Research
The concept of liminality has emerged from anthropology, primarily from the work of Turner (1969)
(add other years here). It was developed initially as a way to describe the experience of liminars
(Turner, 1969) during the initiation process and its effects thereafter. Turner (1977) defines liminality as “the state and process which is betwixt-and-between the normal, day-to-day cultural and social states and processes of getting and spending, preserving law and order, and registering structural status” (Turner 1977: 33). The meaning of this formulation becomes clear within the context of tribal rituals, such as rites of passage in which participants are temporarily removed from all that which constrains them in their day to day lived experience. Throughout the process of participation they are between distinctions, “beyond the limits of ordinary social sanctions, unconcerned with mundane affairs of everyday life” (Rowe, 2008:128). According to Turner, people who find themselves in a liminal state are "temporarily undefined, beyond the normative social structure. This weakens them, since they have no rights over others. But it also liberates them from structural obligations" (Turner,
1982:27). The sharing of liminal states can give rise to communitas (Turner, 1982), whereby people, with various backgrounds, disconnected from their everyday social status will experience a deep connection, the effect of which may sustain beyond the temporary nature of the experience (Celsi et al
1993; Willett & Deegan, 2001). For Turner, communitas emerges out of shared ritual experience, where liminars treat each other as equals regardless of any hierarchical differences that existed prior to the transition (Turner 1967). In communitas there is "full, unmediated communication, even communion" (Turner, 1992: 58) between the participants. Communal ties have been explored in the context of business relationships by, for example, Ryan and Blois (2010) and Blois and Ryan (2012)
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in their discussions of Fiske’s Relational Models theory. Here the authors elaborate on the role of strong communal ties that operate where a group of people have something (usually not a material
‘thing’) in common that makes the members of the group in some sense socially equivalent and also acts to distinguish members from non-members. However for Fiske (1992) these ties are pre-existing or occurring due to class, race or religion. What the concept of liminality offers more is a focus on the sources of communality, and not just effects.
The related concepts of communitas and liminality have already found fruitful ground within marketing and management research. For example Celsi, Rose, and Leigh (1993), with their study of consumption practices within the snowboarding community use liminality to describe the extraordinary space created within the snowboarding experience, where class, gender and other social structuring devices fade into the background. Similarly Arnould and Price (1993) describe the communitas enjoyed by participants in an outwards bound river rafting experience. What is interesting about this work, is that unlike much other contemporary work drawing on Turner, Arnould and Price (1993) pay particular attention to the role of the guide, and describe how, in their terms extraordinary, or we might say liminal experiences are designed, guided and held by people who remain outside the ritual experience. In parallel, liminality has gained attention within organisation studies, including those focused on inter-organisational settings. It has been used to shed light on the ambiguous positions of temporary employees (Garsten, 1999), consultants (Czarniawska & Mazza
2003) and project teams that cross organisational divides (Tempest & Starkey 2004); working 'betwixt and between' organisational norms and cultures. Czarniawska & Mazza (2003) describe the liminal position of consultants working within the client organisation, who never being fully incorporated into the client organisation remain an outsider. In this position the consultant can be a creative change agent, but can also experience a kind of limbo state; which can become a source of stress. In contrast
Tempest and Starkey, (2004) express the benefits of the temporary nature of liminal space as offering
"a range of different experiences which can enhance learning and potentially [a] gratifying lack of over involvement in the complexities of long term life….[in the other/partner organisation]".
Within business relationship research specifically, the 'in-between' quality of business relationships has enjoyed some attention in the literature. For instance Ellis and Ybena (2010) describe how interorganisational relationships expand social boundaries, and give rise to widening circles of identification, but that they are also a site of demarcation between 'them and us'. Sturdy et al (2006) importantly highlight that liminal spaces or times can be strategic or tactical, whereby employees intentionally incorporate ambiguities to further personal, organisational or relational goals. Cova and
Maltese (2010) explore the ritual nature of business interaction in non-trading situations. Specifically they suggest that liminal spaces need to be created through ritual and re-imagining of space. However, it is a more processual view of liminality that remains underexplored in the literature (Beech, 2011).
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However, according to Beech (2011) what is lacking is a thorough treatment of the processual nature of liminal experiences (identified by van Geenep, 1909). Instead there has been a focus on the 'inbetween', often perpetual state (Ybema, Beech, & Ellis, 2011) characterised by ambiguity and interstructurality (Garsten, 1999). What is less understood therefore are the efforts, as well as triggers
(Willett & Deegan, 2001), required to enter into liminality. More rare are discussions of closure or ending of liminality (Czarniawska and Mazza, 2003). In this paper, these 'in' and 'out' phases will be explored by drawing attention to two kinds of enabling roles, that is, guide and ally. These agents have the important role of setting up the conditions for liminal experiences, equipping liminars, and welcoming or supporting their re-entry back into the organisation. In the framework developed in this paper the role of guide and ally are conceived as being resident across organisational boundaries. This in essence captures the relational component of the liminal experiences explored here. That is, from a liminal perspective, the business relationship becomes an important site for organisational level liminal experiences. Here managers or guides can enable their employees or organisations to engage in what we can conceive of as rites of passage; that is, explicit attempts to incorporate change and take on a new or altered persona or indeed expertise.
Building on earlier work by van Geenep (1909), Turner (1969) distinguishes the processual nature of liminal experiences by the identification of three distinct phases: separation, transition, and incorporation. Liminality is conceived as a process, involving separation from the world of the profane, divestiture from pre-existing social norms, and an inverting of social structures. Following this the liminar enters a liminal state, itself transitory, finding themselves in ambiguous situations which emerge out novel encounters at the limits or margins of existing social structure (Tempest,
Starkey, & Ennew, 2007). For the transformation to be complete the liminar must move beyond the liminal, which involves investiture back into 'normal' life. This is a process of transformation however, and both the liminar and the 'community' of which they are a part are likely to be changed as a result of the experience. In traditional societies or rites, liminars will be guided through this process, by an elder or some other authority. The duties of the elder, or holder of ritual space will include efforts to transform everyday spaces into ritual spaces, for example we might consider the use of candles or incense in religious spaces. In short liminal spaces need to be created, which takes careful planning and the engagement in often quite mundane activities (Van Heerden, 2009); e.g. meetings, designing costumes, preparing music, learning the dance). The focus of this paper is therefore threefold: 1/ to expand upon the concept of creating, holding and intensifying liminal space and 2/ reflect on the generation of communitas amongst those who share liminal experiences and 3/ consider the effect of this on the organisation and relationship.

3. Conceptual Framework
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Those dimensions of the concept of communitas that are important for this study therefore include 1/ interaction outside everyday lived experience, 2/ a sense of equality where “secular distinctions of rank and status disappear or are homogenised” (Turner 1969:95); 3/ that is constructed and is neither self-evident or naturally occurring (Van Heerden, 2009), therefore requiring a guide or enabler 4/ involves the transformation re-discovery and re-appropriation of every day spaces, through separation, or divestiture process, and subsequently (re)incorporated into the everyday through processes of investiture, 5/ incorporates a shared experience that can impact on relations between those who share the experience beyond the event itself; where the “immediacy of communitas gives way to the mediacy of structure, while in rites of passage, men are released from structure into communitas only to return to structure revitalised by their experience of communitas (Turner, 1969:129). The conceptual framework for this paper is presented below. It is separated, vertically, into the three component phases required for 'complete' liminal experience (see Beech, 2011), that is, separation
(divestiture), transition (liminality) and incorporation (investiture).
Role of Ally

Create conditions for

Equip liminars (skills,

liminal experience

resources)

‘unpack’ or ‘takedown’ liminal spaces

Equip/create liminal spaces Role of Guide

Enable liminars

Support liminars

Create opportunities to

Legitimise activities in

alter ‘taken for granted’

the org setting

Welcome changed liminars back into the organisation norms
Liminar

Separation (divestiture)

Leave everyday space,

space

Incorporation

(liminality)
Liminars use of

Transition

(investiture)

Experience new space

Return to everyday

enter new space (or re-

space

imagined/re-appropriated space) Liminars use of

Leave ‘normal’ time

Enter ‘here and now’

time
Manifest change

Return to ‘normal’ time Enter into new ways of

Embody new ways of

Enact new ways of

working

working

working

Figure 1 Conceptual Framework: Roles and activities required for complete liminal experience
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Along the horizontal axis we consider the different roles in liminal experiences (liminars, guides and allies) and below this are the particular organisational elements implicated in liminal experience
(space, time). The experience of re-appropriated or re-imagined time and space are necessary conditions for liminal experiences. ‘Normal’ every day spaces become liminal spaces when they go through a process of ritualised transformation. For example, witness how street theatre artists can transform an everyday thoroughfare into a theatrical space, where ‘magic can happen’. In our study we will consider the different liminal spaces where communitas is formed and reproduced. Moreover, we will consider what enables these spaces to become liminal, as well as the effects in situations outside of the liminal. Through a study of the efforts that go into this, as well as the experience of these provide insight into the ritual nature of business interaction (Cova & Maltese, 2010). Finally we consider the organisational and relational effects, by way of the concepts of learning and change. It will be important to track the organisational changes emerging out of an exploration of liminal space, as well as the on-going effect on the relationship. This will achieved through an analysis of a single case study.

3. Methodology
The research design for this study is a single longitudinal case study approach (Easton, 2000). Casestudy research has been most commonly used in organizational research as a method for theory development (Yin, 2003). However, the argument that case studies, due to their observational richness, can be used in theory advancement and refinement (Dubois & Araujo, 2007), is gaining increasing attention. The empirical evidence presented here relates to a sponsorship relationship between a multinational telecommunications organization with a subsidiary facility in the west of
Ireland (hereafter referred to as Telco) and a local arts organization who run a multidisciplinary annual arts festival (hereafter referred to as ArtOrg). The work is exploratory in nature; it is an exploration of ritual, liminality and communitas in a business relationship setting. This includes an exploration of nature of liminality and communitas in this context as well as an exploration into the potential for these concepts to shed light on relationship dynamics.
In this paper we are taking a processual view on liminality. This has implications for method. The assumption behind processual thinking is that social reality is not steady state. According to Pettigrew
(1997: 338) social reality "it is a dynamic process. It occurs rather than merely exists. Human conduct is perpetually in a process of becoming". Processual case study research is therefore the appropriate methodological approach for this work. Processual case research, as a research design, has been developed by a number of authors within the management literature, namely Van de Ven
(1987, 1990, 1995) and Pettigrew (1997). While the search for single causes refers back to a variance theory paradigm, Pettigrew (1997) suggests “we are now attempting to theorise about
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constellations of forces shaping the character of the process (context) and its outcomes”.
Context refers not only to the stimulus environment, but also to a “nested arrangement of structures and processes where the subjective interpretations of actors, perceiving, learning and remembering, help shape process” (Pettigrew 1997: 338).
The study was longitudinal in nature, with data gathered pertaining to 10 years of interaction between the two organisations. The nature of access to data during the research offered the researcher the opportunity to engage in historical and real-time analysis (Halinen & Törnroos, 1995). Real time data collection included two rounds of in-depth interviews (10 in total) with the Financial Controller and the Marketing Manager at Telco as well as the General Manager and Artistic Director of ArtOrg. The focus on these managers is significant to our study, as they represent the roles of guide and ally. The interviews lasted between one and two hours each, and were recorded and transcribed in full. Part of the data collection involved spending a number of days at the ArtOrg offices, informally talking with people with regard to the festival, reading through documentary data, and conducting interviews. The focus of the interviews was the on-going relationship between the two organisations. It was during the research that the concept of liminality and communitas emerged as important. While the interviews were not specifically conducted about liminality, they were conducted in such a way as to enable analysis of the data from that perspective. This is because the interviews were semi-structured in nature, where the respondents were encouraged to narrate events (Alvesson & Skoldberg, 2000)and incidences pertaining to the relationship between them, their organisation and the relationship.
Importantly this research also included a high level of desk research, which involved collecting and collating documentary evidence (Bowen, 2009) including annual sponsorship proposals from ArtOrg to Telco; annual joint submission to the Business Sponsors of the Year Award’ from; numerous press cuttings kept on file by the Festival; a number of internal memos, reports and notes kept on file by
ArtOrg. This research included the analysis of over 150 individual items of correspondence between the two organizations and other 3rd parties. Analysis of this correspondence played a vital role in this study as it acted as observational data where the day-to-day interactions were recorded. Key events were examined from the documentary evidence as well as from interview material in a process of triangulation (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000).
The conceptual framework presented in section three guided the analysis and the catagorisation of data through coding. The focus of the analysis was the tracing of people, spaces and things to understand their role in the emergence of liminality in the business relationship setting. As part of the case analysis a 20,000 word case history was written up. At the end of the empirical data collection phase, the case was shared with interviewees from both organizations and acknowledged to be a fair and recognisable account of events.

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4. The Case Study
This research used a case study approach in its design; however, for the presentation of the data a more thematic approach will be adopted. The detail of the emergence of the relationship, and specifically what was exchanged, how much and how this was valued is presented in a detailed table offered in appendix 1. The reason for this is that while the chronological emergence of the relationship is important, our interest here is in the setting up and holding of liminal times and spaces.
This does not require a 'whole' account of the relationship over the 10 years to be examined. What is required is a more thematic and analytical account of the liminal aspects of the relationship. As background material, table one below offers an overview of both organisations, and the initial focus of the relationship.
ArtOrg

TelCo

General description

non-profit organisation established 1977

multinational telecoms company established in 1973

Focus of organisation

running of multi-disciplinary arts festival

Telephony, web-hosting, broadband, multimedia communication servers, optical and wireless networks.

Number of employees (at time of research)

3 full time staff, growing to at least 10 at time of festival, plus 100's of volunteers

(tbc)

Initial focus of relationship

access to private source of funding part of community involvement programme, focus on employee wellbeing

Table 1: overview of organisations in the dyad

5. Analysis
The relationship between Telco and Artorg emerged over a 20 year period. However, a significant change was triggered by an increase in Telco's financial investment when they formally became sponsors of the festival in the early 1990's. For Telco the opportunity for staff development arising out their relationship with the festival was central in the creation and usage of the liminal space between both organisations in the relationship. As the Financial Controller outlined, “We [Telco] want to create an atmosphere that respects the diversity of the person and their link with their home life, not just a salary, it’s the whole package”. Particular elements of their relationship can be seen as facilitating the creation of liminal spaces. For example, from the first year, Telco was given a ticket allocation and thus participated as part of the audience as well as sponsor. Additionally, senior management at Telco encouraged employees to volunteer at events, creating opportunities for
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interaction at several levels. For Artorg the relationship became an opportunity for learning and change, entering into the world of business, and bringing insights back into their organisation. Part of this were a number of in-kind supports from Telco that came in the form of financial advice including how to computerise accounts, manage cash flow, project budgets and write funding applications. In the following analysis then, the aim is to identify the liminal, as experienced by each organisation (in turn) within the relational setting. We will begin with a description of the liminal experiences of Telco employees, how these were guided, the role of the arts organisation as an ally to the experience, what it took to achieve this (in terms of time and space) and the effect on a) their organisation and b) on the relationship. This will then be repeated in a description of the liminal experiences of Artorg employees. 5.1 Liminality as experienced in Telco
The analysis of the case material provides evidence that Telco had a clear goal for their staff to use their relationship with the festival, and all that that offered, as a mechanism to learn, change or grow as a person and that this was part of a wider organisational culture.
“…we would recognise you can’t isolate the person from the environment, or the community. If you have problems at home or if there are problems in the community, it all effects things. We want to create an atmosphere that respects the diversity of the person and their link with their home life, not just a salary it’s the whole package…[relationship with the arts festival] takes the cap of their logic and [helps them to] look at things differently, [that’s] especially important for engineers, or those who have a technical bent. (Liam, financial controller, Telco)
a) Separation - Divestiture
The experience of liminality must be preceded by a process of separation (divestiture) from the everyday routine of, in this case, work and the occupation of new or re-imagined spaces and that this needs to be enabled. In particular the financial controller, who we can identify as an ally in the creation of liminal space, enabled the liminars, by providing organisational legitimacy for their involvement and creating opportunities for different kinds of involvement.
“He [Liam] wanted to get the staff involved, because he wanted the staff to be improved by the festival, wanted them involved in stewarding, involved in helping out with finance with shipping and freight, involved in able to buy tickets within the plant.
They wanted their stewards to have Telco branded t-shirts, he wanted the Telco sports and social club to organise events to coincide with festival so staff from outside the city would come to Galway for meetings by day and at night go to shows as an individual or as a group. He wanted as many different dimensions to the sponsorship to be facilitated and considered when possible”. (Fergal, Artorg General Manager)

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The running of a box office at the Telco plant acted as a kind of preparation, enabling employees to embark on their liminal state before the festival began.
“there [was] a buzz around about the place, there would be a box office on site, and we would be pushing the shows, sometimes artists come in a perform on site in the restaurant or in the courtyard, and that generates adrenalin.
Donning a 'festival steward' t-shirt, leaving your desk to go to the festival offices for a committee meeting, bringing your family to a festival performance held in the Telco factory floor, are all examples of divestiture and the leaving of the everyday and entering into liminal space. While the ally enables this, the guide has the important role in ensuring that those activities are available to the liminar. This role was played by Artorg employees. They created the conditions for liminal experience by equipping liminars with the necessary skills (e.g. to steward events), gear (e.g. t-shirts, walkie talkies) and spaces (e.g. giving over their office space for festival committee meetings). Not all aspects of liminal space facilitation were as simple as others. For example in the co-ordination of stewards was a contentious issue.
b) Transition - Liminality
The equipping of liminars is a necessary condition for the experience of liminality. We have also described that spaces become re-imagined and therefore re-used in liminal experiences. The following quote aims to demonstrate the richness of theatrical experiences presented as part of the festival, how the festival re-imagined spaces and created magical and memorable experiences. The meanings associated with spaces in the city were altered during the liminal festival time thereby altering their usage (van Heerden, 2009).
“one was a show called the “history of France”, it was a free show, there was a big story book, where the actors popped out of the book, like a child’s pop-up book, went through the whole history of France from the Crusades to the 1st world war – it was a great show – it was out at the back of the cathedral, a free show. (Liam, Financial
Controller, Telco)
Important for our study is the transformation and re-appropriation of Telco’s work/production spaces to become part of the festival.
[Dave, Telo PR manager] “one great thing was last year in the Summer, we brought the Irish Tenor for a performance in the warehouse. It was a great event, because it employees, and the families and friends and there was as few local press people there and the buzz was superb, I mean this was a working environment and all of a sudden you had the 3 tenors there”.
[Liam, Financial controller Telco]”The acoustics were brilliant”

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Again the role played in staging these events, and supporting the re-use of the Telco factory are key in enabling these experiences. Even where events took place outside of the plant, employees were actively involved, both as audience and as stewards. The steward role is important as it marks an active involvement in the event; making Telco staff unofficial (voluntary and temporary) staff of the festival (the festival had a high number of volunteers every year). This deepens the liminality of employee's experience with the festival, where for a short period of time their work identity becomes blurred as they take on the identity of ‘crew’ for the festival. This was enabled through the handing out of branded t-shirts for them to wear, the creation of a Telco staff entrance at events, handing out of free tickets, and priority bookings for Telco employees.
The experiences of Telco employees was being designed and guided by the festival committee, which was made up of staff from Telco and ArtOrg. This committee was a creative space where ideas and future possibilities were discussed and developed. The committee met all year round and dealt with issues as they arose, such as financial difficulties that ArtOrg faced, new ideas regarding computerisation of the festival booking system etc. Some members of the committee went on to join festival funding brain storming sessions which Artorg ran, and also sat on the festival's finance committee (we will return to this later). This committee can be viewed as a liminal space from the point of view of Telco staff, exemplified by the Artorg artistic director's comment, the that Telco staff
“were like our own staff then… just all together mucking in” . What is important to note here is that for Artorg this committee, held on their premises, was very much an everyday activity, similar to other activities in the designing and running of the festival. For those Telco staff on this committee it meant working in a new environment, outside their everyday workplace, engaging in problem solving and putting their expertise to new uses. They were living between worlds, experiencing the creative space discussed by Czarniawska & Mazza (2003) as they became quasi or temporary staff of the festival. For Garsten (1999) this lack of structural bond created by their regular paid employment yet incorporated into new extended circles of loyalty means that as temporary employees, of sorts, they shared “some of the interstructural and ambiguous characteristics of liminality’ (Garsten, 1999: 603).
“Indeed some spent so many lunch times in the festival office checking the latest details on transport, costings and hospitality arrangements that they were thought by many to be members of the ArtOrg staff”, (B2A 1992 nomination form).
Incorporation - Investiture
The sponsorship arrangement between Telco and Artorg was annual in nature. There was a also clear rhythm to the arrangement, with sponsorship proposal sent to Telco in the autumn, negotiations and discussions going on through early spring, announcement of the arrangement in mid spring, along with all the preparatory work, with the festival itself in mid-summer, followed by a review of the sponsorship by Artorg. There was a short dormant period in early autumn. This time structure meant
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the closing of liminal experiences was possible, literally as Artorg, in their guide role, took down the theatre spaces and returned them to the 'every-day' - including committee members etc. Liam in his ally role enabled the liminars to express their learning and actively encouraged employees to challenge take for granted assumptions (ref turner and someone).
“It takes the cap of their [Telco employees] logic and [makes them] look at things differently, [which is] especially important for engineers, or those who have a technical bent, you’re giving them an overview of that sort of thing [meaning arts]”
(Liam, Financial Controller, Telco)
Interestingly there was no attempt by Telco to quantify or measure the benefits of this involvement directly. “What we are offering is a moment in time with certain shows and people will look back and remember certain shows and capture moments that would maybe a little extra for them, and you can’t quantify that. It’s there in their minds, and when you look for feedback they tell you that’s it’s a networking opportunity, they make friends with people in the arts and things like that, and no money can but that” (Liam,
Financial Controller, Telco).
Our employees are strongly involved in both the organisation and attendance of events and that has helped staff morale. Employees enjoy stewarding the shows and are really proud of Telco’s sponsorship. Ticket discounts are available to all our employees and such has been the degree of interest in attending shows that we have an arrangement with the Festival Box Office where tickets can be ordered in the plant here and delivered up [to us]… We even arranged for some of the smaller shows to take place at the NN plant. (Joint ArtFest/Telco submission to the Business2Arts sponsor of the year competition from end of year 8 of the sponsorship)
Turner himself, views the experience of theatrical drama as a contemporary example of a ritual process, bringing the audience out of the everyday into a world characterised by symbolic action, myth and experience (Turner, 1974). According to O'Sullivan (2005:2) “the members of a performing arts audience cross a very visible threshold, and enter into a very specific way of being together (with each other and with the performers) as they enter the auditorium and the lights go down”.
While these intentional efforts to incorporate change were vital to the relationship, what is interesting in that once a liminal space is ‘created’ it is not possible to predict what will emerge. Liminal spaces are, in essence, about creativity or in Turner’s language a ‘storehouse of possibilities’. Below we see another quote from Liam which relates to the potential for the rituals associated with liminality (i.e. attendance and involvement with the shows) to perform different roles for those involved.
“Now more than ever with the high techs going through turmoil, you need nourishment and you alternative views and you need to be able to see out of the box
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and something like the connection with the Arts Festival provides that because you can get locked into your work. …I believe strongly, not just in relation to arts, but in relation to community that you have to keep an outward look as well as an inward look for your own survival and for the better[ment] of the Company. Because you bring back things that you learn from outside. It was a kind of an enrichment or a bloodline really I felt to the organisation. It was a lot easier to do when things were going well but even now the high tech are experiencing bad things, that they [Telco] stuck with it again this year to an even greater extent than previously and I think it is needed more than ever in times of trouble. People need things like art and sport to get their minds off some of the real problems that they are faced with” (Liam, Financial
Controller, Telco).
5.2 Liminality as experienced by Artorg
Separation - Divestiture
The nature of liminal experiences for Artorg employees was markedly different than Telco employees. While Telco staff could be seen to engage in the complete liminal process (3 phases) on annual basis, for Artorg the process was more protracted. This was due to a lack of successful or complete incorporation, or investiture. The story of Artorg’s liminal experiences revolves around their financial management expertise. The specific goal, (i.e. what should be achieved in the incorporation phase) was to become fully competent financial managers, and to create financial stability. It is in this way that becoming a competent financial manager can be conceived as a kin to a rite of passage.
Artorg employees needed to, to some degree, leave the culture of the state funded arts organisation, to enter into the world of business, and return to their organisation able to change it in some way.
“Hanging out with those kind of people” sharpens you up. The way they use technology has influenced our perception of it...We were the first festival in Ireland to have a Website, we were the first festival in Ireland to have a WAP site and I think we are the vanguard of technology by being one of the most impressive in our use of the
Internet to help sales on line” (Fergal, Artorg General Manager).
This was not an unproblematic experience, where they had to reconcile their artistic and managerial goals, and decide 'what kind of financially sound organisation do we want to become?'

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relationship with Telco becomes an important, even vital, mechanism to achieve this. The trigger for the entry into liminal space was a financial crisis that Artorg faced in year four of the relationship. In a response to this Liam (who in this instance acts as ally) invited Fergal and Artorg to enter a period of reflection as to their current financial management processes and systems. This involved staff leaning the festival offices to go on training programmes at the Telco plant.

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“Some of our staff have gone on their key training courses. Which, for them provided a novelty of having an arts person there, and for us fascinating to hear the way they think, trying to manage all sorts of things” (Fergal, Artorg General Manager).
Transition - Liminality
The divesture and liminal experiences for Artorg employees became a cyclical or recurring theme in the relationship. Without full incorporation, further financial crises emerged, triggering renewed call for incorporation and change.
I had suggested to him (Fergal) earlier that he needed more financial help and he didn’t take it up early enough and he had a particularly rough year last year. It is for the benefit of us all and I also think that it is important to have knowledge in the area of freight or the knowledge of finance or the knowledge of IT or something. [We] can pass that knowledge [on]. (Liam, Financial Controller, Telco).
An interesting component of this was the initiation of a Deloitte and Touche audit of the festival, encouraged and paid for as part of the sponsorship arrangement. This, similar to Czarniawska &
Mazza (2003) study involved the re-imagining of festival offices, as well as their practices and process; no longer just deployed in the design and running of a festival, but now becoming valuable data to be evaluated. It was a challenging and traumatic experience that did yield some important results. The audit was recognised as a difficult process for the festival, which “caused a lot of headaches” (Fergal) and involved a “change in attitude from two competing forces (i.e. artistic and managerial direction) to one energy” (Fergal). However, with the help of Liam (acting as ally), the management consultants dealt with these conditions with a high level of sensitivity, and the changes made were seen to add to Artorg's artistic polices, and not detract from them.
“They [Deloitte & Touche] put in place structures and procedures that could cope with the scale of the turnover, [which] brought about a stability [in the] programming. It is not that there is finance on one hand, and an artistic programme on the other, the two are closely linked. The artistic director works hand in glove with the general manager and the financial controller. As the programme is being planned, it is being costed, it is being factored [in] and the cumulative effect is being assessed as we proceed from day one.” (Fergal, Artorg General Manager).
Incorporation - Investiture
Through the case material there is evidence of learning and change to financial management systems and processes. However that this was a recurring and protracted process gives insight into the challenges of incorporating change in organisations. For the festival they had to walk the line between their identity as a well-known, primarily publically funded, critically acclaimed arts organisation and creating an identity and expertise around their financial management. According to Garsten
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(1999:507) liminality "breeds ambiguity because it offers both risks and opportunities, for individuals and organisations alike".
“There is however research to show that charitable organisation which we are, or arts organisations, that there is a very thin line between being slick in your marketing and being perceived as being too slick, too efficient. Too many people think that we waste our resources. The bad news is they think you’re getting slick, your coming out with glossy brochures, credit card hotline, low call numbers, you’re the HMV of the arts, you’re the Ticketmaster…We found in research [we’ve done that some supporters were saying], “ my business couldn’t afford a brochure like that, so you don’t need [my support]”. So here we were working through an agenda of quality promotional material, which the corporates liked but some of the local business or smaller supporters found it excessive and wasteful or resources. So it’s just that you have to be cautious when you are dealing with perceptions and marketing” (Fergal,
Artorg General Manager).
Similar to Beech (2011) then we can see the struggle and potential failure to make the transition out of liminality, so that it becomes a perpetual process. That this process was on-going within a relational setting is important; the relationship enabled the transition to be a) engaged in and b) eventually completed. Without an ally within Telco the opportunities for learning and change would have been more difficult (in terms of costs, access to their network, on-going in-kind supports). Important too was the organisational guide who aimed to walk the line and carve out the new identity involving both artistic (cutting edge) and financial (prudent) dimensions.
“[The new systems do not] undermine the [artistic] programme, it strengthens the programme, because at any point in time we know what we have to spend, what we have remaining to spend” (Fergal, Artorg General Manager).
6. Discussion
From the case analysis, we can make the following proposal: that deep social, even communal ties can be developed in business relationships by those who experience shared liminal spaces; shared by liminars, guides and allies, albeit differently. In the framework developed in this paper the role of guide and ally is split across organisational boundaries. From a liminal perspective, the relationship becomes an important site for organisational level liminal experiences. Here managers, or guides, can enable their employees or organisations to engage in what we can now conceive of as rites of passage; that is, explicit attempts to incorporate change and take on a new or altered persona or indeed expertise. Importantly, this is supported by the ally, who enables the employees of the other organisation to enter into, experience and leave liminality. They provide the setting for liminal experiences. That this can occurs in a relational setting is vital. First, the organisation can go out to their network as a source or specific skills or capabilities that they themselves wish to develop
(Håkansson & Snehota, 1990). By conceiving this as a liminal experience it draws attention to how
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this learning needs to be guided, supported and enabled; that employees need to be supported to
'leave' their own routine, enter into a new or novel space, develop some aspect of themselves, and be welcomed back into the organisation, changed in some way. This is the role of guide. The case analysis should not be read as naive. This is not a simple process devoid of politics or strife. Many aspects of the holding of liminal space for the other organisation are challenging; but here again we can see the role of trust, and the history developed between the two organisations over time, to be vital. The strong social ties that emerge from the engagement in ritual or liminal experiences can be positively fed into the on-going exploration of liminality and achievement of organisational and relational benefits.
7. Conclusion
There is currently a revived interest in the academic community in the relationship between business and extra-business interaction (Cova and Salle, 2000; Mainela, 2007, Ryan and Blois, 2010). In this paper I offer the concept of liminal experiences as one way to conceive of extra business interaction, and specifically as a source if personal or communal ties in business relationships. The predominant view of communal ties is that they are brought to the relationship as per-existing, or alternatively develop in relationships but drawing on pre-existing social group status (i.e. managers members of the same golf club, Blois and Ryan, 2012). Liminal experiences are anti-structural, bringing together people from varying backgrounds and are recognised as an important source of creativity and change for the community or organisation into which the liminar returns. The business relationship can act as an important host site for such experiences, and as such can benefit from the creativity and change brought about by them. These experiences must be created and held; two roles that until now have been overlooked in the literature on liminality in organisational contexts. This is an important contribution as it reveals how these experiences and importantly closure of these experiences can be brought about. This is the second layer of contribution. As Beech (2011) has observed little attention has been given to enabling liminality to begin and end, that is, for incorporation of change to occur.
Instead liminality, in postmodern settings, is considered perpetual. However, for organisations and individuals to benefit from liminality, incorporporation is required; even if this is to be repeated. The roles of guide and ally as conceptualisd here have a key role in this, including physically setting up or re appropriating spaces, equiping liminars, supporting their experiences, and eventually welcoming them back to the organisation and facilitating their new knowledge or skills to be integrated into the organisation. Future research avenues: The use of Turner’s work does seem immediately relevant to the study of a business relationship involving a performing arts organisation. However, there are other situations where this concept can offer novel insight. For example, in any context where relationship identification (Ryan and Blois, 2010) is a possibility, there is room to involve the concepts of
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liminality and communitas. Of central importance in the analysis here was the liminal state experienced by employees who cross formal organisational boundaries (Tempest & Starkey, 2004).
This phenomenon has already found some traction in organisation studies. Perhaps there is more room to incorporate these ideas into business relationship research. Also, the study of the role of rituals and rites would be of interest to business relationship researcher. This exploratory paper aims to be part of these discussions.

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