Unfolding Business and Stakeholder Relationships: The Heuristic Drawing Process Tool

Abstract

In this chapter we propose a new tool, the Heuristic Drawings Process Tool (HDPT), rooted in Dewey’s (1934), Rorty’s (1989, 1991) and Davidson’s (2001, 2004) pragmatism approach that helps both to formulate problems and to reach an agreed solution in the stakeholder engagement process. Problem identification and formulation are not always obvious, nor do they always consider the unconscious and emotional aspects. The latter are sometimes poorly understood and/or sometimes taken for granted in business and stakeholder relationships. The HDPT consists of 4 phases, in which business and stakeholder participants in a workshop 1) prepare and understand specific rules, 2) freely draw the assigned business and stakeholder relationship (on a poster), 3) generate new narratives and vocabularies through their readings and descriptions of these posters (images/drawings), enabling them to talk without the risk of being censored and bringing out emotional and unconscious motives, 4) reach an agreement with all participants on an action plan to solve problems, thus, generating social hope and potentially improving the business and stakeholder relationship in the near future. The chapter presents the results of HDPT workshops applied in two companies, the Chemical Company SA, (with two stakeholders: the employees and the suppliers), and the company, Consulting IT SA (with one stakeholder: the employees). Both companies are located in Barcelona (Spain). The HDPT brought about two main effects after 2 months: 1) the adoption of the new HTPD narratives and vocabularies in business-stakeholder informal communications, b) the creation of three interrelated types of value: 1) economic gains (increasing profits), 2) emotional gains (reducing unpleasant and stressful emotions while at the same time increasing social hope), and 3) relational gains (increasing trust).