Michel de Certeau's Daily Life in the Ordinary Management Practices of a Civil Society Organization in Caruaru, Pernambuco

Abstract

Based on the notion of everyday life proposed by Michel de Certeau, the research aimed to understand how the ordinary management practices of a civil society organization in Caruaru, Pernambuco are constituted. We use the concept of "ordinary management" as we seek to understand how the entity's management occurs, indeed, beyond formalized processes. We also discuss Michel de Certeau's concept of "ordinary everyday life", composed of heterogeneous operations in which subjects use strategies and tactics for their production and reproduction. We used participant observations, documentary research, and semi-structured interviews to operationalize the research. The findings were treated through the hermeneutic triad of narrative analysis highlighted by Barbara Czarniawska. We accessed seven everyday practices that allowed us to realize that strategies and tactics are continually mobilized when building the CSO's ordinary management. We highlight that participatory and decentralized management and popular education are the central premises of CSO management and that the study of ordinary management allows us to understand how these premises build the organization's daily life. We also noted conflicts, power relations, and hierarchies relating to the places and spaces occupied by the entity.

ordinary management; ordinary daily life; strategies; tactics; civil society organizations (CSOs

Resumo

A pesquisa objetivou compreender, a partir da noção de cotidiano proposta por Michel de Certeau, como se constituem as práticas de gestão ordinária de uma organização da sociedade civil de Caruaru, Pernambuco. Utilizamos o conceito de “gestão ordinária”, pois buscamos entender como a gestão da entidade realmente acontece, para além dos processos formalizados. Discutimos, ainda, o conceito de “cotidiano ordinário”, de Michel de Certeau, composto de operações heterogêneas, nas quais os sujeitos se utilizam de estratégias e táticas para sua produção e reprodução. Para operacionalizar a pesquisa, utilizamos observações participantes, pesquisa documental e entrevistas semiestruturadas. Os achados foram tratados por meio da tríade hermenêutica da análise narrativa apontada por Barbara Czarniawska. Acessamos sete práticas cotidianas que nos possibilitaram perceber que estratégias e táticas são mobilizadas continuamente ao construírem a gestão ordinária da OSC. Destacamos que a gestão participativa e descentralizada e a educação popular são as principais premissas da gestão da OSC, e que o estudo da gestão ordinária permite compreender como essas premissas constroem o cotidiano da organização. Constatamos também conflitos, relações de poder e hierarquias relativas aos lugares e espaços ocupados na entidade.

gestão ordinária; cotidiano ordinário; estratégias; táticas; organizações da sociedade civil (OSC

Introduction

In this research, we start from an understanding of management that challenges the mainstream and considers the inclusion of marginalized subjects, their experiences and daily practices in the organizational environment (Gouvêa, Cabana & Ichikawa, 2018). To this end, we were inspired by the notion of "ordinary management" is already widely accepted in the field of organizational studies ( Correia & Carrieri, 2019 ; Carrieri, 2018; Teixeira, Carrieri & Peixoto, 2015; Barros & Carrieri, 2015 ; Vale & Joaquim, 2017).

We can understand ordinary management as "[...] that which is done in the daily routine of ordinary business"; therefore, it is a social and cultural practice, as it is formed by a diversity of "[...] codes, references, personal and relational interests" (Carrieri, Perdigão & Aguiar, 2014, p. 700). Thus, ordinary management takes into account the possibilities of unforeseen events that happen in the daily lives of the individuals who form these organizations through strategies and tactics ( Certeau, 1998) , which aim to destabilize imposed structures and circumvent formalizations. ( Gouvêa et al., 2018) .

Barros and Carrieri (2015) state that ordinary management makes it possible to verify how their management occurs in groups far from official traditional knowledge, observing their institutional intentions. They also argue that ordinary management, even though it has points of contact with administration, is not directly shaped by it but complements it by shedding light on other practices not prescribed in its manuals (Vale & Joaquim, 2017). Although ordinary management has structured discourse and establishes exchanges with hegemonic discourses, for example, it questions, in practice, the universality of administrative logic for maximizing results and rational guidance of subjects' actions ( Barros & Carrieri, 2015) .

Michel de Certeau is one of the primary authors who inspired the emergence of the ordinary management concept, as he addresses power/knowledge relations and resistance practices, considering the daily life lived by ordinary men or women. We will use Michel de Certeau's understanding of "ordinary everyday life" to investigate the silent struggle between power and resistance in the conflicts experienced by the common man or woman, so well addressed by the author. In this way, we start from the understanding that power manifests itself transversally, becoming a complex network of immediate and everyday relationships ( Foucault, 1992 ; Teixeira, 2015) .

For Certeau (1998) , strategies and tactics are fundamental logics of action for understanding everyday life. Strategies can be understood as the calculations of power relations in which the subjects of want and power postulate the place capable of being their own. They are related to a hegemonic discourse of power and control. The strategies have the character of maintaining social structures of power, commonly attributed to subjects legitimized by the dominant discourse, especially using knowledge. However, ordinary subjects can also use strategies when they manage, for a determined period, to reverse their position and create their own place in the social structure ( Teixeira, 2015 ).

On the other hand, tactics are the ingenuity of the weak to take advantage of the strong, being linked to resistance. These are the uses that subjects make of the impositions they suffer. In addition to these uses, tactics come from the act itself and are always detailed because, if they start to happen in a structured way, they lose their characteristic of tactics and become strategies. Therefore, users are not passive; they somehow find mechanisms to mitigate impositions through tactics ( Certeau, 1998 ).

These notions can be helpful to understand all types of organizations, especially non-business ones, which develop social management, which diverges from the mainstream and which acts in resistance to imposed models. In other words, the notions of ordinary, everyday management, strategies and tactics contribute to expanding the understanding of how civil society organizations (CSOs) are managed. Based on this understanding, we will study the daily life of a CSO called Centro de Educação Popular Assunção (CEPA), located in a peripheral context, namely in the scrubland( Agreste in Portuguese) region of Pernambuco, marginalized both by the place where it carries out its work and by the way it carries out its management.

The Centro de Educação Popular Assunção (CEPA), the entity being studied, has the mission of contributing to the dissemination of a culture of peace through a formative bias, in which the objective is for project participants to develop a perception of the world and their intervention in life, through free initiatives and awareness of their rights. For this action, the organization uses popular education, based on Paulo Freire's methodology, as the primary guide for its efforts, serving around 350 children and adolescents (Centro de Educação Popular Assunção [CEPA], 2020).

Currently, the institution develops early childhood and art education projects, with dance, capoeira, theatre, audiovisual, maracatu and introductory IT workshops, directly serving around 350 children and teenagers. In addition to these actions, it provides conversation circles, in seminars and with families, on various topics: family violence, drugs, sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, citizenship, respect, cultural diversity and solidarity. We consider that CEPA materializes as a space for coexistence and resistance by offering space for the personal and community development of so many who seek care at this institution (Sá, Tabosa, Araújo & Morais, 2020).

On this wise, the research emphasizes the ordinary management of this specific organization, that is, in an attempt to reach a comprehension concerning CEPA's daily life, analyzing ordinary management practices and their power/knowledge relationships, since power manifests itself everywhere and in all directions ( Teixeira, 2015 ). Therefore, we raised the following research question: based on the notion of everyday life proposed by Michel de Certeau, how are the ordinary management practices of a civil society organization in Caruaru-PE constituted?

We believe we are contributing to knowledge in Administration by: discussing the practices that organize, situate and produce a set of actions that relate to the daily lives of organizations and the dynamics of society; as well as highlighting how management practices are objectified in this daily life ( Oliveira & Cavedon, 2013 , 2018 ); look for clues about "ordinary" invisibilities where complex and distinct social relationships are hidden (Junquilho, Almeida & Silva, 2012); contribute to the advancement of organization theory, which has become abstract and distant from everyday activities; give vent to the voices of organizations and subjects made invisible and/or ignored in the field of Administration; create a framework for understanding change and agency phenomena in organizations; develop knowledge of routines that apparently "repeat" but that can be seen as inventions, in the reality studied (Machado, Chropacz & Bulgacov, 2020); and contribute, in relation to the management of these organizations, by reviewing some traditional concepts ( Pompeu & Rohm, 2018) .

The following section addresses the main analytical concepts mobilized in this research.

The ordinary daily life of Michel de Certeau

For Michel de Certeau, everyday practices follow different itineraries from each other, and we must find connections between them, as practices do not make up a system but organize mutual transits in these itineraries. In other words, the problem implies analyzing or being able to analyze everyday practices as a network of operations (Certeau, 1985). The first guideline is to face daily practices, in the sense that the fundamental thing is to observe how to put them into practice. Certeau, Jameson, and Lovitt (1980, p. 47, our translation) state, for example, that “[...] neighbourhood practice is a tacit collective convention, not written, but readable by all users, through the codes of language and behaviour”.

The author further explains that the issue of everyday practices is an attempt at interpretation, as the aim is “[...] for the consumer who, in the very act of consumption, uses for his own purposes a norm that is objectively imposed on him” ( Certeau, 1985 , p. 6). From this perspective, the theorist highlights three aspects of practices:

[...] an aesthetic character insofar as it is an art of making. [...] Id est, it does not translate into a speech but, accordingly, an act. [...] an ethical character that is the refusal to identify with the order or law of facts [...] and a polemical character in which all practices are inscribed as interventions in a permanent conflict, in a relationship of strength [...] always constitutes an art of weak people with a view to finding, through the use of existing forces, a means of defending themselves against a more robust position. ( Certeau, 1985 , pp. 6, 7 and 8, our emphasis)

Junquilho et al. (2012) state that Michel de Certeau's conception of ordinary daily life values the richness of the practitioners' actions, as they are provided with an "art of doing" more than a simple disconnected repetition of meanings. Thus, there are possibilities to unveil the invisible, understanding acts of resistance, subversion and (re)creation in these everyday practices.

For Certeau (1998) , practice is a "way of doing" constituted in the dynamics of everyday strategies and practices (reading, living, walking, cooking, among other actions). The practices are part of everyday life, an instance experienced by practitioners simultaneously as they invent them. In other words, in some situations, practitioners are in a strategic production position, but in other circumstances, they are in a consumption position. In this metaphorical vision of production and consumption, at one end are technologies that control everyday life, and on the other, the consumption of strategic impositions, which is not about passive acceptance but a creative act, a clandestine production ( Certeau, 1998 ; Faria & Silva, 2017) .

Michel de Certeau states that, for every rationalized, centralizing and spectacular production, generally linked to a legitimized power elite, there is another production, silent, cunning and almost invisible, as it does not present itself in a product but in the ways of employing the products imposed by the dominant order. This other production is called consumption (Certeau, 1998). Therefore, ordinary subjects, in their places under imposed laws, produce difference, creativity and unpredictability ( Borges et al., 2016 ).

Junquilho et al. (2012 , p. 339) point out that Michel de Certeau bets on the intelligence and inventiveness of the common man and woman concerning the (re)production of their social practices. They mean that “[...] it is in the creative capacity of subjects that their possibilities of (re)producing, (re)inventing, through subtle and effective tricks, their ways of (re)acting in everyday life are hidden”. Machado, Chropacz and Bulgacov (2020, p. 5) summarize this aspect very well when they state that “[...] they are multiform, resistant, cunning, stubborn procedures, which are outside the discipline; but, within the field in which they occur, weaving a theory of everyday practices”.

All these dynamics constitute everyday life, and to understand it better, Certeau (1998) conceptualizes what he calls “place” and “space”. The author says that “place” is something stable, as the law of the strong itself operates, an instantaneous configuration of positions. In other words, it is the order in which the elements of coexisting relationships are distributed, excluding the possibility of them occupying the same place, indicating a relationship of stability and power ( Ipiranga, 2016 ; Machado, Silva & Fernandes, 2020). On the other hand, space is unstable, as it is a practised place (of the weak) and made up of signs ( Certeau, 1998) . We mean that subjects inhabit places through everyday practices, transforming them daily into spaces, that is, into situations of appropriation, but not breaking with places of power (Machado, Fernandes & Silva, 2017).

In other words, the practices constitute the spaces; they are subversions that occur through "micro-negotiations" of ways of using the system. In other words, "[...] it means that subjects (re)define, on a daily basis, their 'arts of doing'. Individuals, in their 'social doing', (re)invent the dominant order, actively, as this 'doing' translates different ways of using or consuming the product" ( Junquilho et al., 2012 , p. 339 ).

It is essential to consider the concepts of "strategies" and "tactics" to understand more about this dynamic of place and space, "Strategies" are the calculations of the relations of forces in which a subject of want and power is isolatable from an environment. They also postulate a place capable of being one's own, serving as a basis for managing relations with the outside world. Strategies are related to a hegemonic discourse of power and control ( Certeau, 1985 ; 1998) and are movements in which we play because we want to be a force of power ( Teixeira, 2015) .

Teixeira (2015) , when studying the daily practices of resisting and acting as domestic workers, observed some strategies developed by employers who already occupy a stable place in this relationship. For example, the action of not signing the work card of an employee with more than one salary, even though she receives an extra amount. According to Teixeira (2015 , p. 354), “[...] a power strategy linked to the knowledge that is related to the consideration of the maid’s relational non-knowledge”, which did not present relational resistance, as the maid did not recognize that this conduct was unrealistic, from a legal and labour point of view.

At the same time, as Certeau's (1998) concept leads us to consider that all people occupy places of power when relational, Teixeira (2015) also observed some strategies domestic workers use when occupying this place of power as employees. For example, the fact that domestic workers and, more precisely, day labourers can choose services according to what they want; as well as; when doing quality work; they can achieve any objective characterized, according to Teixeira (2015, p , p. 357), as a "[...] strategy of knowledge provided by the context of autonomy, when choosing for those who are going to work and, by using their knowledge, they can exercise power over their employers".

“Tactics” are calculations that do not have their own, but they only have, as a place, that of the other. The tactic “[...] does not provide a basis to capitalize on its profits, prepare its expansions and ensure independence in the face of circumstances” ( Certeau, 1998 , p. 46). Tactics consist of the ingenuity of the weak to take advantage of the strong, commanded by the absence of power ( Borges et al., 2016 ). Its intellectual synthesis does not come from speech but from the decision itself, from the act, being linked to resistance ( Certeau, 1998 ).

Certeau (1985) highlights that we use tactics to take advantage of situations and circumstances. She is more dependent on time and, at the same time, better at taking advantage of the right moment to strike. In an attempt to articulate this concept of a closer reality, the authors Bernardo, Shimada and Ichikawa (2015) make a relationship between the concepts of "tactics" and "jeitinho". It is worth noting the idea of "jeitinho", which is a noun, and a close translation would associate it with the informal verb "wangle". The "jeitinho" the authors use, such word comes from the understanding of Bernardino Leers, for whom it is related to a well-intentioned activity, synonymous with human intelligence and cunning, the antipode to custom and the established order, and never linked to the corruption with which it is typically associated, by common sense ( Bernardo et al., 2015 ).

The authors point out similarities between the concepts, as both are present in everyday practices, which allow "rules to be circumvented", enabling the "weaker" to subvert certain situations subtly. The issue to be clarified is that for the "jeitinho", there are views on value judgment, while its "good or bad side" and tactics are seen only as a form of survival ( Bernardo et al., 2015 , p. 60).

Thus, users are not passive; they somehow find mechanisms to mitigate impositions through tactics. Something worth highlighting is that tactics can transform into strategies ( Certeau, 1998 ), as observed in the case of domestic workers ( Teixeira, 2015 ). In addition to this caveat, Machado et al. (2017 , p. 28) point out that subjects "[...] can sometimes be established in their locations as strategists, sometimes carrying out tactics in spaces of transgression".

Therefore, we arrive at what Certeau (1998) calls "ways of doing" to explain how popular procedures play with the mechanisms of discipline, not to conform to them but to change them. "These '[...] ways of doing' constitute a thousand practices through which users appropriate the space organized by sociocultural production techniques" ( Certeau, 1998 , p. 41). In other words, "[...] practices are our 'ways of doing' everyday life which, in turn, is produced and reproduced based on practices that are configured, historically, socially and temporally, through strategies or tactics" (Rezende, Oliveira & Adorno, 2018, p. 39). It is important to remember that these ways of doing things constitute the aesthetic character of the practices and are linked to the ethical and controversial character, as presented at the beginning of this chapter ( Certeau, 1985) .

Certeau (1998) presents what he calls "bricolage", a set of activities carried out by practitioners who, in a factory context, for example, despite not having technical rationality, are able to save time from the factory, as they use the remains of assets, because of free and creative work. In other words, the worker cheats in the very place where order reigns for the pleasure of inventing products to signify his personal knowledge/doing. We can consider, therefore, that the ways of ordinary men and women are carried out in the face of imposed technicality.

Narratives constitute all of these practices. Thus, the author raises important questions. One concerns the care in studying practices, as they outline cunning and desires, which can be neither determined nor captured by the system in which they develop. We emphasize the importance and care in capturing its form, the bricolage, the rhetoric, the "artisanal" inventiveness, and the discursivity that combines the elements, as everyday life comprises heterogeneous stories and operations ( Certeau, 1998 ).

Certeau (1985) also raises a critical point about the report. The author emphasizes that we study life stories, seeking to base them on economic or social structures. However, for him, the report is, in itself, the theory of everyday practices. This theorist states that the report “[...] is the only type of text that is, at the same time, a discussion of everyday practices and an everyday practice in itself. He himself constitutes the theory of what he does, of what counts” ( Certeau, 1985 , p. 18). Napolitano and Pratten (2007) say that Certeau embraces folktales and narratives for their ability to display complexity, multiplicities and embodied experiences. In the same way, Bittencourt (2012) explains that the narrative allows the subject to legitimize their actions and take ownership of their life.

Much research has used Michel de Certeau's approach to understand organizational dynamics. On the subject, we can highlight that, in Brazil, research using Michel de Certeau's ideas studies organizations outside the traditional scope of Administration, such as fairs, markets, circuses, cooperatives, theatrical groups and others ( Machado et al., 2017 ). These studies also present examples of ordinary men and women as collectors of recyclable material (Rodrigues & Ishikawa, 2015), domestic workers ( Teixeira, 2015) , homeless people ( Honorato & Saraiva, 2016) , street vendors (Cabana & Ishikawa, 2017), masters of popular cultures (Santos, Silva, Dias & Morais, 2020), and the citations go on.

The research by Michel de Certeau also inspired the creation of an essential concept in organizational studies, ordinary management, presented in the next section.

Ordinary management

Ordinary management is “[...] that which is carried out in the daily routine of ordinary businesses, small businesses and is a social and cultural practice formed by a plurality of codes, references, personal and relational interests” ( Carrieri et al., 2014 , p. 700). Therefore, it can be configured as a practice of resistance to an imposed model.

Ordinary management is opposed to the hegemonic management model legitimized in the construction of Administration, namely, managerialism, which understands that widespread knowledge, through the ordinary man/woman, is seen as something amateur, improvised, without credibility, placed on the margins of management studies ( Carrieri et al., 2014 ). Thus, despite not denying Administration or the discipline of scientific knowledge, ordinary management criticizes the vision of universal management, proposing to the manager/researcher to open his vision to capture management as it happens in reality and not as pre-established processes ( Carrieri et al., 2014 ); in addition to contributing to management, by shedding light on other diverse practices that go beyond what is taught and legitimized in Business schools (Vale & Joaquim, 2017).

In this way, ordinary management presents itself as a response to “[...] studies on management, [which] to a large extent, silenced the ordinary, relegating to common subjects the space of subjection to the structures that dominate, oppress and shape their behaviours” (Vale & Joaquim, 2017, p. 60). It starts from the premise that subjects use, transform, internalize and encode the ideas and the messages transmitted in organizations differently, interacting with the discourses, techniques and practices differently. They, therefore, create their own management practices, even without disregarding the influence exerted by structures ( Carrieri et al., 2018) .

We mean that subjects are not passive and consume what is imposed on them according to their own intentionality, using elements produced in a disciplinary context not manufactured by them ( Machado, 2018 ). For Michel de Certeau, the agency is the tension between social discipline and the practice of resisting ( Machado, 2018 ). Even so, there are infinite possibilities of doing, thinking, submitting, or resisting ( Carrieri et al., 2018 ).

Carrieri et al. (2014) highlight the importance of understanding that this ordinary management occurs through cultural and identity meanings. Concerning cultural meanings, the authors understand that when working on culture in the organization, one must seek the construction and deconstruction of various world views in spaces of social interaction, pointing out three perspectives: that of integration-discourse, that of discourse-differentiation and that of discourse-fragmentation. The latter is pointed out by Carrieri et al. (2014) as the ideal way to dialogue with ordinary management, as it deals with the symbolic production of subjects.

Concerning identity meanings, theorists state that they can be revealed based on the individual's verbal or non-verbal discursive production, presenting themselves as a narrative about who they are, taking three primary forms: they can be actions about the world, meanings of the world and forms of identification. Furthermore, the authors explain that constructing this individual identity happens through mutual interaction with other people's stories. Therefore, "[...] everyday life is an individual and group space" and, thus, "[...] collective identity meanings involve the sharing of meaning by the individuals within it" ( Carrieri et al., 2014 , p. 705).

Ordinary management has strong analytical power, not limited to formal organizations but also social processes and practices. That is evident in the research by Santos (2017) when studying a “beggar”. As a result, the investigation revealed that the practice she carried out was recognized as an ordinary management tactic (characterized by actions and representations) in the face of a system guided by productivity.

The research by Vale and Joaquim (2017) also points to the potential of the notion of ordinary management since they investigated the daily life and forms of management of the Central Market of BH, seen from a typical subject (vendor), who goes beyond what the administration handbooks provide. According to the study, one can comprehend stallholder management based on negotiation practices, knowledge, habits, rules, resistance mechanisms and, sometimes, the oppression of everyday life.

Of a similar nature, Carrieri et al. (2018) contrasted the management of a cafeteria with a predefined management model. They discovered managerialism models did not apply to the management of the previously mentioned cafeteria, observing that daily organizational life is rich in possibilities, creativity, and subversions to the hegemonic administrative culture. Correia and Carrieri (2019) researched five family businesses and observed contradictions regarding the discourses of separation of businesses and families. They also observed that the feeling of belonging in business is stimulated by family ties, making the activity productive and that these businesses often survive without formal employment ties, dependent on labour and family dynamics, subverting several rules and norms.

In the next section, we present the methodological procedures used in the research.

Methodological procedures

Regarding the nature of the research, we opted for a qualitative approach, as this type of research is suitable for identifying the contexts in which interactions take place for understanding the (inter)subjectivities of the environment (Martins & Theófilo, 2009; Severino, 2017 ). We also relied on Certeau (1998) to choose this approach, as the author comments that qualitative research is conducive to understanding the heterogeneity intertwined in everyday practices.

The research is configured as an intrinsic case study, supported by the naturalistic paradigm of Robert Skate (Leão, Vieira, Gaião & Souza, 2012), which defends the premise that realities are multiple, making generalizations not possible. Furthermore, Czarniawska (1998) tells us that narrative forms are easier to find in case studies, and the bibliometrics of Faria e Silva (2017) and Machado et al. (2017) noted the predominance of this methodological strategy in national and international research in studies based on Michel de Certeau.

The first techniques under our disposal to collect information were participant observation and field diary/notes, semi-structured interviews ( Silva & Russo, 2019 ) and documentary research. Participant observations took place in two forms: in loco, in the first contact with the field, before the social isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which we were able, officially, to request authorization for the research. That same day, we attended a meeting about feedback from an external evaluation of a project from the previous year and made a home visit with two educators. After relaxing some social isolation measures, we also participated in a meeting with educators and meetings for a course offered by a funder. The other form of observation took place online, where we could meet with educators and the entity's coordination/management team. These meetings took place via the Google Meet tool. Participant observation was carried out in 22 sessions between March and October 2020, totalling 35 pages of handwritten notes.

For the semi-structured interviews, the following criterion was used to choose the interviewees: continuously perform some activity at CEPA for at least two years. This broader criterion resulted from the specificity of not limiting choices by using theories and concepts of ordinary management, in which everyone, regardless of their positions, constitutes organizations and, consequently, forms their management. However, there was concern and commitment to diversity in the roles/activities of the chosen interviewees. Somebody interviewed three people from the coordination team, three educators and one person from the kitchen and cleaning team. All interviews were carried out via Google Meet between November 2020 and January 2021, totalling 425 minutes of interviews and 95 pages of transcription, carried out by the authors themselves.

Regarding documentary research, institutional documents were analyzed (Bylaws, Internal Regulations, Pedagogical Political Project, Questionnaire and Home Visit Report for Early Childhood Education and minutes of the annual general meeting), photographic records of the entity's collection, presentations, meetings, activities, amongst others accessed via Google Drive and WhatsApp, and academic material prepared at the entity to understand past aspects about its management ( Sá et al., 2020 ).

Regarding the processing of the information obtained, we use narrative analysis. Czarniawska (2000) presents the narrative not looking for causes and effects but instead finding frequent connections between various elements that compose it. In other words, we can analyze how organizational narratives unfold since non-scientific interpretations of people and life events are based on attempts to establish a connection between the exceptional and the common. Therefore, the common, which is normal, usual and expected, acquires legitimacy ( Czarniawska, 1998 ).

We carried out the narrative analysis based on the hermeneutic triad proposed by Czarniawska (2000) , inspired by Paul Hernadi. This triad is composed, firstly, of the explanation stage, in which we seek to understand the stories. The second stage is the explanation, in which the stories are interpreted and deconstructed. The third stage is exploration, in which stories are reconstructed, creating new narratives through multiple stories.

Hence, the explanation stage took place during the observations and interviews in which we captured the events, statements and behaviours with the necessary attention so as not to accept them as absolute truth through the interviewees' self-description.

We used some theoretical categorizations relating to everyday life, strategies, tactics and ordinary management (cultural, identity meanings, codes, references, personal and relational interests), mainly in the explanation phase, in which the researcher interprets, analyzes and deconstructs the stories told. After this phase, we carried out the exploration stage, in which these individual and collective stories are reconstructed, incorporating the analysis itself into the narrative.

Analysis of outcomings

In this section, we present the narratives related to ordinary management practices, strategies, and tactics identified in CEPA.

The practice of developing social projects

A meaningful action was identified to make this practice possible: tracking possible public notices. Anyone in the organization who can spare time for this search or may come across a general notice on the internet/social networks can get this done. The coordination team also has, among its activities, this strategically designed attribution. The coordination team analyzes whether the notice is aligned with the premises and themes developed in the entity and whether it is possible to compete in the public call to raise some financial and technical resources or only one of these two options.

From the reports of the organization's members, we realized that the financiers who make the social notices available occupy a place of their own ( Certeau, 1998 ), as, depending on their objectives, they impose specific requirements, which present themselves as clues for us to understand the strategies ( Certeau, 1998) that CSOs interested in participating in the selection deal with that. An example of these requirements is the percentage of financial use to pay professionals.

Concerning developing social projects, we effectively participate in this practice when we come across public notices in internet searches. The announcement of the notice caught our attention because, as we had already been following some online meetings of the coordination team/board for participant observations, we were aware that the entity was having difficulties obtaining financing for some activities and professionals. We realized that the funder's notice had the objective of offering technical training for CSOs and the possibility of competing for financial support to develop activities aimed at the education of children and adolescents. Therefore, after reading the notice, we decided to share this opportunity in the CEPA general WhatsApp group. This incident happened at the beginning of the week, and the online coordination meeting would take place two days after this sharing.

At the meeting, we shared our opinion about the possibility of participating in the public notice, as we considered it interesting since the funder was also offering an online training route focused on reflective and practical activities for the entity's management. Based on this explanation, the others also favoured participating in the notice, but this agenda item was debated again in two more coordination meetings. This feedback was important because people were able to read the notice, discuss how its steps could be carried out, given the entity's current demands, and find out who would participate in the course.

We realized that in this practice, there is a particular " way of doing things" ( Certeau, 1998 ). As previously mentioned, all CEPA professionals are required to search for notices. Thus, this task, which would be relegated to a specific sector, does not necessarily follow what is foreseen in the entity'sentity's organizational chart since, as Carrieri et al. (2014) , everyday life is an individual and group space involving the sharing of meanings by the subjects inserted in it. At the same time, Carrieri et al. (2018) highlight that everyday life is rich in possibilities for the hegemonic administrative culture.

We acquired the prior understanding that the board and coordination encourage anyone to seek and propose notices. This openness and the concern of the entire organization in presenting notices demonstrates a more democratic and less centralized management. Thus, this practice indicates a possible tactic ( Certeau, 1998 ), as it subverts the Bylaws (2017) indication that only a tiny part of the team, who have specific technical training, is responsible for this action.

In the field observation process, it was possible to see that the prominent people who make the final decision are the president and the pedagogical coordinator after listening to others, but also because they occupy their own place ( Certeau, 1998 ; Machado et al ., 2020), which indicates their positions of stability and power. Both are recognized by others as the main people in the organization in decision-making due to professional experiences intertwined with different knowledge and experiences and because they currently occupy the roles of president and pedagogical coordinator of the entity.

Teaching practice and popular education

An essential issue in this discussion refers to the foundations of the entity, which are based on the paradigm of popular education, whose primary reference is the thought of Paulo Freire. For those interviewed, this popular education is related to considering the context in which the child is inserted and the formation of people who embrace differences beyond just readers. We also observe the constant debate on political issues based on government speeches.

On this basis, we observed a logic of action based on resistance related to the ethical and controversial character ( Certeau, 1985 ) of the teaching practice analyzed. Popular education presents itself as a movement beyond the traditional idea of education, which is focused only on cognitive aspects. Therefore, the teaching practice based on popular education has an ethical character ( Certeau, 1985 ) by refusing to identify with the order or law of socially posed facts and a controversial character ( Certeau, 1985 ) by configuring itself as the art by “weak” people, seeking to defend their ideals in the face of impositions made by existing social forces.

We believe that the premise of popular education meets the central idea of the entity's constitution, which focuses on caring for the community through the neglect of public bodies, the disorderly growth of the city and the evolving socioeconomic demands of the basic living conditions that the community faced/faces ( Sá et al., 2020 ; Morais, 2018) . Thus, we realize that this logic of action would be characterized as ideological, aimed at revolutionary resistance, present in a daily, microphysical ( Foucault, 2013) and microdaily ( Certeau, 1998 ; Certeau et al., 1980) struggle of the organization. This resistance can be observed because CEPA does not deny the structures but proposes "[...] other perspectives, other ways of living, existing, doing. Words such as opportunity and resignification are greatly present in the entity's speeches, especially of the impositions suffered in a micro way, through new choices" (Diário de Campo, 2020).

As regards teaching practices, we observed two "ways of doing things": the practice of early childhood education and the practice of workshops. Regarding the first, we realized, through the report of Interviewee 2 (2020), that educators appropriate the space organized by sociocultural production techniques, developing a true bricolage ( Certeau, 1998) , to the extent that who use conversations with students as content for classes, use playful material and organize the room in a circle, and not in rows, as in traditional education, for example, avoiding a purely cognitive logic. In this way, we realize that the educator's ordinary, daily life is more than a simple disconnected repetition of meanings ( Junquilho et al., 2012) .

We also observed some strategies used by the educator, as she has a practised place ( Certeau, 1998 ; Ipiranga, 2016 ). Interviewee 2 (2020) states that: “[...] we can develop the work. As we already have time, we already have a background, so we have the autonomy to know what to do and what needs to be done, what it is, what we need, and we can develop it, you know?” We understand, from the speech, that early childhood education educators are able to have autonomy in their teaching practice, as they have formal knowledge-based, above all, on academic training.

A fact that caught our attention is that it became clear, through the narrative of Interviewee 2 (2020), that she feels the absence of direct pedagogical support: “[...] we also miss that, having a support, of having someone who says, no, let’s do it this way.” That is an important point because, despite having a certain independence and being able to meet demands autonomously, making it possible to use their ways of doing things ( Certeau, 1998 ), educators usually feel a lack of a more present superior determination.

The educator acknowledges that their work is not directly monitored. However, evaluation and monitoring still occur through planning meetings, continuing education, and other informal moments. These are all part of the standard management of CEPA, which helps to ensure that the pedagogical intentions of the institution's work are aligned. Interviewee 1 (2020), the pedagogical coordinator, stated that this process allows for a seamless integration of the institution's pedagogical goals.

We have observed a conflict between different parties involved in early childhood education. The production of pedagogical coordination does not meet the expectations of early childhood education educators, as it does not directly monitor their daily activities. However, early childhood education teachers utilize this production by creating and using tools that they have previously used, which is referred to as "consumption" by Certeau (1998) . By doing so, they autonomously develop their own teaching practices, proving they are not passive subjects ( Machado, 2018) .

The second "way of doing things" identified in teaching practice is that carried out in art education workshops. Interviewee 4 (2020), capoeira master and educator, says that he always starts the workshops by asking students questions about their daily lives and giving essential guidance on how they should behave, for example, taking into account their approach to the reality of the entity's beneficiaries, focusing on the perspective of popular education. In this practice, one can see the educator's effort to give new meaning to the concept of capoeira, which "[...] before, was very marginalized, had the meaning of a ragged boy or something similar." That is why the educator needs to talk about the student's behaviour.

Capoeira classes are planned and developed spontaneously based on the master's practical experience. That differs from the approach of Interviewee 2 (2020), who has academic training in their profession.

We realized that even though they have difficulties related to reading, as they have not had formal school education, the capoeira master and educator use tools and equipment, such as cell phones, to film the movements to improve their teaching style. It is believed this characteristic comes from a closer look at the needs of the public they serve and how the educator can develop their practice to their advantage. Using these tools and equipment in capoeira classes can be understood as a tactic ( Certeau, 1998 ), which the interviewee started to use in his teaching practice.

We also observed other tactics carried out by the interviewee, such as the one he narrated: "[...] we make an appointment to teach there in the hall. Then you get there, the room is wet, or the room is busy, or something else. So, we already have the second plan, right? To do it in a square, to do it in a park, to do it somewhere, like this" (Interviewee 4, 2020). We characterize this conduct as a relevant clue to visualize this educator's teaching tactics because, even if the interviewee says he has a second plan, it is only defined in light of the circumstances perceived during the class.

Another indication of understanding the teaching tactics in the art education workshops organized by this educator concerns the master's "handling" when faced with a significant number of people in a capoeira circle when he travelled to Bahia for work. As he explained, he used his creativity to meet the demand of guiding this number of people jointly. We infer, therefore, that it is in the creative capacity that subjects have the possibility of (re)producing and (re)inventing their own ways of (re)acting in everyday life ( Junquilho et al., 2012 ). In other words, the educator used what Certeau (1998) conceptualizes as "bricolage" by inventing products to signify his personal knowledge/doing because of free and creative work.

It is newsworthy to note that, despite the various tactics exposed, Educator 4 also uses strategies ( Certeau, 1998 ) in his way of teaching, such as when he encourages the more senior student to teach the less senior. We believe this action is driven by his position as an educator, defining how the students under his guidance should divide themselves.

Through Interviewee 6's narrative (2021), we captured a form of consumption of what the financier demands in social projects, which can be considered production (Certeau, 1996). According to Educator 6, given the requirements of the notices in which the projects are approved, "we find an opening to do some things separately, dealing with other topics" . Thus, we see a way of consuming what is imposed by the financing notices for projects developed at CEPA. In other words, we captured yet another clue that allows us to glimpse the tactics ( Certeau, 1998) mobilized by the educator since he subverts the themes imposed by the notice, adding other underlying themes that he also believes are important to the discussion with the public served.

That interviewee, who teaches a subject in the audiovisual area, also reports a strategy adopted in practice when he assigns specific responsibilities to some students, aiming to develop specific skills in them. Otherwise, the educator uses a strategy to produce the dynamics of his class, as he occupies his place as the entity's educator.

Home visit practice

This practice aims to “[...] understand the students’ family reality, as well as involve family members in participating in their children’s educational activities ” (Projeto Político Pedagógico, 2018). It is constituted as follows: through the addresses of the students upon registration, the educators make their own plan of what the dynamics of the visit will be. In other words, which days and houses will they go to first, and so on, until the demand is met?

Several unforeseen situations arise during this practice, leading educators to develop different tactics, as in the case where the children visited are not the ones the educators seek. In this specific case, even if the child visited is older, the educators who carry out the visit suggest that the child be enrolled in art education activities and that the family visit the space to learn about the work being developed. by CEPA.

Educators have internalized that, for home visits, it is necessary to wear the organization's standard clothing, as this way, they are recognized as CEPA educators. That is a critical point to emphasize, as they visit places where residents may not be receptive to receiving regular visits from other institutions and public bodies. Therefore, since the work carried out by CEPA in the community is well known and validated, educators can be recognized when they wear the entity's standard clothing and not be harassed by the population, offering them a greater sense of security. Therefore, we see here that Carrieri et al. (2014) conceptualize identity and cultural meanings as fundamental for ordinary management. These meanings concern the discursive production, verbal or non-verbal, of constructing the individual's identity, provided by interaction with other people through cultural meanings and symbolic production in social interaction spaces ( Carrieri et al., 2014) .

During the home visit, educators must follow a script developed by the coordination team, which points to a possible Certeaunian strategy. Then, dressed adequately in the entity's standard clothing, the educators go to the dwellings of the pupils' families, introduce themselves as CEPA educators, and say that they are making the home visit. They explain, in general, that the purpose of the visit is to get to know the student more closely and show that this is an opportunity for the family to get to know the CEPA educators. Usually, the reaction of family members is good; they invite you to enter the house, sit down, offer water and are willing to talk in a welcoming way.

During the visits, the purpose of the conversations is to explain the dynamics of classes at CEPA. Having conquered this ground, the educators say they must ask some questions and write down the answers in the home visit report. They explain that they are questions related to the family's daily life and say how important it is for them to better understand the family's everyday life. These are questions focused on the expectations of students and their families and about the activity they will develop at CEPA. They talk about the family's living conditions related to housing, food, financial issues, care issues for students, and issues related to work, among others (Home Visit Report, 2020).

Such information, collected through this questionnaire, creates a home visit report to analyze the reality of the children cared for by CEPA, as well as the social context in which they live. In addition to these issues, educators also highlight the difficulties faced during home visits. This report is significant for the entity because it is from its manufacturing that some actions are planned to better serve children, according to their reality. Therefore, we can say that they are an essential source of information for carrying out ordinary management and remembering, again, that these actions are carried out from the perspective of popular education and that this information feeds the justifications and arguments necessary for the development of social projects (Diário de Campo, 2020).

Planning practice

Planning is present in several, if not all, organisational practices. It is carried out from a shared management perspective at a macro-organisational level, in which ideas and decisions are taken collectively. This planning is fluid and develops throughout the year due to the dynamics of the organisation. We found that this dynamic is in line with ordinary management, as it happens in the entity's daily life. It is a social and cultural practice formed by diverse codes and interests ( Carrieri et al., 2014 ). Likewise, there are infinite possibilities through the ways of doing, thinking and resisting ( Carrieri et al., 2018) , as everyday life is constituted by the richness of the actions of practitioners ( Junquilho et al., 2012) .

A relevant aspect of CEPA concerning planning practice is the importance of organizational memory. Even though this memory can be accessed through documents and processes that can be revisited, the importance of past experiences, recurrently requested in the organization's meetings, is also observed, as observed in the participant observations. We also saw that CEPA's long-term vision is generally determined to be a maximum of one year, as most projects have this execution period, which does not exclude the possibility of specific actions promoted by certain notices being continued longer.

In this framework, the narratives about the practice in question lead us to realize that planning and project preparation are strongly interconnected. This articulation happens because the planning of the entire organization is delimited by the financing of social projects that impose strategies ( Certeau, 1998 ) and a particular “logic of action” ( Certeau, 1985 ). In other words, planning begins to be developed when projects are drawn up and extended to other professionals upon approval.

However, the management/coordination team is beginning to develop plans for two years or more. We believe that this process is being developed due to the greater confidence that the team is giving to its work, as well as being the result of the feedback on promising evaluations from funders that encourage the team to seek more significant challenges, including competition in multi-year projects (Diário de Campo, 2020).

We also see planning at a micro level, that is, carried out by each professional who is part of CEPA. We observed that each professional has their own way of doing things related to their practical experiences over time and their knowledge/doing. Therefore, the ways of doing things happen differently depending on the professional’s area of activity, their experience and training.

Even at a micro level, we had access to the action plan development strategy highlighted by Interviewee 5 (2020). This document is requested by the coordination/board from educators, always at the beginning of the development of approved projects. The action plan includes each educator's planning regarding the activities they will develop to achieve the project goals, thinking about how these activities will be implemented, and analyzing the material artefacts necessary to carry out the plan (Diary of Field, 2020). That document is not yet settled because, in time, it undergoes modifications depending on the execution of the project, which is monitored by the coordination/board in monthly planning meetings.

According to the narrative of Interviewee 3, we realized that the practice of accountability, while being interconnected with the practice of project preparation, is characterized as a strategy coming from financiers and accounting bodies, as it needs to meet the minimum requirements of the Law No. 13,019/2014 (Marco Regulatório das Organizações da Sociedade Civil [MROSC], 2014). In this practice, the professional follows the form imposed by law, with no possible tactic applicable.

Meanwhile, we observed that Interviewee 7 (2021), having a practised place ( Certeau, 1998 ) as a cook at CEPA, which comes from her knowledge/doing, has a daily plan that takes into account the ordinary dynamics of her task and is accepted without much questioning by the coordination team, with whom they maintain a specific power/knowledge relationship ( Foucault, 1992 , 2006 ), related to their knowledge/how to cook.

Meeting practice

One of the meetings observed was the planning meeting with the coordination/management team. Participating in this joint meeting between coordination and management are the pedagogical and financial coordinators, the pedagogue, the psychologist, the social worker, the administrative technician, the president, the treasurer, the IT educator and, sometimes, a supervisory board member. (Field Diary, 2020).

The dynamics of the coordination team/board planning meetings happen as follows: professionals naturally list agenda points they consider relevant to be discussed at the meeting and signal them in the CEPA WhatsApp group. Commonly, the institution's president posts a reminder message about the meeting a day before, with some points that have been collected or that still need to be discussed from previous meetings. And other people signal if they have any more points.

Meetings take place on Tuesdays, starting at 7:30 pm, with no specific end time, lasting around 3 hours. At the time of the conference, we observed that the president and the pedagogical coordinator are the people who coordinate, often in parallel. After the welcome and waiting for participants to enter the Google Meet room (around 10 minutes), the first agenda point for discussion is launched. Thus, the professional who listed the agenda item is invited to start and talk about it and then open it up for other participants to give their opinions. Ideas, suggestions and arguments on the subject are launched by each professional who feels comfortable. Still, it is not unusual for everyone to contribute until some action is reached that the entity needs to resolve. This action is always required for someone to perform.

We realize some issues/demands cannot be resolved in just one meeting. Then, after arriving at the action to be carried out that week, the agenda point is discussed again at the next meeting to find out what progress has been made and what needs to be done. In this practice, we observed that, sometimes, intentionality aimed at meeting some of the financier's requirements is necessary; other times, it is required to comply with the entity's principles, leading to the development of tactics to some imposition. We found that the broad participation of educators and the community are essential elements in this practice, allowing the execution of "bricolages" ( Certeau, 1998 ).

A common characteristic in the practice of coordination meetings is that there is always an explanation about some matter outside the previously listed agenda points. In other words, even in a procedure in which the organization itself stipulates a standard, we can observe a dynamicity present according to the need, that is, other forms of consumption ( Certeau, 1998 ).

The planning meeting with educators, in turn, aims to align some issues with these professionals. Before the pandemic, it happened monthly for an entire morning or afternoon. During the pandemic, this type of meeting ended up not happening very often due mainly to the suspension of teaching activities. When talking about educators, it is necessary to cover all CEPA professionals, as the idea of popular education advises that everyone, regardless of their role, carries out education in some way.

At these meetings, the coordination/management team reviews and discusses issues related to project goals, activities developed, coordination with other CSOs and different workshops. They pass on important information, and the educators present their monthly planning, possible difficulties they are facing, ideas, and suggestions they are considering making, among other questions. That is a practice in which everyone has the opportunity to explain their thoughts and help think about CEPA planning.

One point that caught our attention was that these meetings with educators, amid the pandemic, had a more significant concern on the part of the coordination/management team in knowing how they were feeling. There is a care for others, more than simply knowing about issues related to the activities they carry out in the organization. That is an important point, as this attitude is balanced with the idea of Freire's popular education, which is the founding basis of the entity, and makes us reflect that the rationality used in the entity distances itself from that which seeks to maximize resources and processes, reinforcing what says Carrieri et al. (2014 , p. 700) when they point out that ordinary management is constituted by a "[...] plurality of codes, references, personal and relational interests"; and not simply through an uncritical reproduction of tools, often designed in other contexts and, more specifically, aimed at monetary results.

The continuing education meeting also took place monthly. In it, the objective was to discuss a specific topic to improve all CEPA professionals, considering the idea that everyone is an educator. With the pandemic, the practice began to take place remotely through Google Meet, which made it possible to expand the audience with the participation of other people who are part of a network of CSOs, sympathetic people and professionals from different locations, not only national but also international.

Typically, the people responsible for carrying out the continuing education meeting are the pedagogical coordinator and the pedagogue. They, together, list the topics to be worked on, either because of the funded projects or because of the suggestions made by others at other meetings. In this practice, we could see that the possibility of bringing invited people to discuss the suggested topics is always desired. However, the opportunity is also designed for the team to lead the meeting by discussing a point of interest to the group to share their experience and knowledge. In this way, we perceive the possibility of creating practised spaces ( Certeau, 1998 ) since there is the possibility for those professionals who do not naturally occupy their place to create their space, even if temporarily, as the subjects can sometimes be in their own places, occasionally in spaces of transgressions ( Machado et al., 2017 ).

Another possible type of meeting is the training course offered by the funder's notice. Weekly meetings took place in person. The invitation to participate was extended to all CEPA professionals who could travel and were not in the risk group during the pandemic. The meetings took place in the morning as a conversation circle, in which the activity that needed to be carried out was presented via projector. In this practice, we observed a more significant role for the IT educator since the course used online tools, and he had the most expertise in this area. At the same time, he was tasked with explaining the course, how the activities would work and how to deliver them.

Throughout the meetings, we observed the openness given to participants in suggesting ideas on how to carry out a particular activity. The articulations of the educators' practices and how they could be used to respond to some course demands were discussed. Therefore, the perspective of shared management and the collective were also present in these meetings. At the end of the meeting, the activities each person should do and bring to the next meeting were requested. We noticed that the pedagogical coordinator always tried to explain or listen to other people outside the meeting. Even though the activities were subject to delivery dates, management prioritizes the process more than the result itself. In any case, we emphasize that, even so, the organization needs to adapt to the stipulated deadlines for delivering demands, a strategy ( Certeau, 1998 ) used by financiers.

Another observation is that the planned activities were usually not finalized in the corresponding meeting. There was always some adjustment to be made at the later meeting and, sometimes, this led to the situation of first trying to finish the previous activity to proceed with the next activity, generating some delays in the internal dates for carrying out the activity (Diário de Campo, 2020). Furthermore, explaining something that was not a specific part of the meeting was expected, but the moment was used for debate. We also observed this characteristic in the planning meetings discussed previously.

During the observations made at these particular meetings, the financial coordinator expressed her feeling of discomfort regarding the little participation of CEPA professionals, educators and people who occupy a position supporting the coordination/board team. We could observe what Certeau (1998) calls place on this occasion. In other words, the financial coordinator occupies a "proper place" in the organization's structure, and this type of fundraising and project development activity is part of her role. We assume that other professionals may not feel the need to perform this role as they do not occupy this position.

The practice of participation in law councils

CEPA has a seat on the Municipal Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (COMDICA) and the Municipal Council for Social Assistance (CMAS), both at the municipal level, in which relations are full of power struggles. That became evident when the financial coordinator, when discussing the issues debated at a meeting of one of the councils, reported that, given the delay in the transfer of monthly resources for projects financed through the council's fund, one of the councillors argued that the city hall had other priorities during the pandemic.

That statement generated discussion at the CEPA meeting, and the president went so far as to say that "[...] militancy, the struggle is necessary. You can't lower your head, especially now. He says some adjustments will need to be made (on the part of the city hall), but not a cut like this (failing to transfer the resource). That is why we need to fight" (Diário de Campo, 2020). Therefore, we can see that, in addition to internal dynamics, the work of CSOs needs to resist external issues, such as the impositions made by public notices from each funder and the impositions of government bodies and legal councils, for example.

Concerning CEPA's strategies ( Certeau, 1998 ) in this practice, we identified that the organization tends to pressure the municipal government through the Public Ministry to minimize this unequal relationship before the council. At the same time, they also realized that it is relevant to coordinate with other CSOs (Diário de Campo, 2020).

Another significant point observed in practice is that relationships with law councils are very relevant for the management of CEPA, as it is from them that many decisions are made. Here, we observe what Certeau (1998) conceptualizes as “production and consumption” since the council occupies the place of production, as it is a legitimized instance of power because it is the main body supervising the work of CSOs. These entities can even consume ( Certeau, 1998 ) these impositions in different ways, but as long as they are able to meet the imposed requirements.

Practice of cooking and cleaning

Such practices take place with the planning of those responsible for organizing, cleaning and preparing food at CEPA. The menu understood as a strategy ( Certeau, 1998 ), is prepared by a professional specialized in nutrition external to the organization. However, we observed that the cook can use Certeaunian tactics and, sometimes, strategies.

When narrating her daily life at CEPA, Interviewee 7 (2021) reports that she likes to plan according to the organisation's demands. This planning is carried out according to her perception "in her head" and is not something closed or already posted. She declares that the most formal process of her role concerns the menu prepared by a nutritionist on which the entity relies to offer a healthy diet for students. However, we observed that, in this process, the interviewee uses several actions that indicate possible tactics, as, sometimes, there is a need to change the menu planning depending on the donations they receive weekly from a municipal public entity.

We comprehend that, depending on the food received in the donation, the daily diet changes, as Interviewee 7 (2021) told us: "[...] as we receive donations, sometimes, something comes that we have I have to give it soon so it doesn't spoil. Then I let them know that I'm not going to make that snack [on the menu] because there is fruit or other food that arrives [in the donation]." In other words, the interviewee mobilizes a tactic because only when the donation arrives does she observe what needs to be used quickly, and then she decides what can be done. This decision also corresponds to her practical knowledge/doing as a housewife and is essential for the organization's daily management to avoid waste.

In this way, we see the use of tactics by the cook when she “improvises” according to the type of food that was donated, whether in the preparation of a meal or in the creation of a new menu that comes from her “artisanal” inventiveness ( Certeau, 1998 ) and her practical experience, including as a housewife and mother. In this sense, it is also possible to associate her tactic with the concept of bricolage ( Certeau, 1998 ).

From the reports, we noticed the existence of a hierarchy of power between the cook (Interviewee 7, 2021) and the new general services assistant, who arrived to fill the vacancy left by the first occupying the role of cook. Interviewee 7 (2021) was responsible for teaching and instructing the new employee's work based on how she previously carried out this role, passing on all the knowledge/doing she acquired throughout her vast experience at CEPA.

When asked about how she learned her knowledge/doing related to the kitchen and/or if there was any training offered by the entity, Interviewee 7 (2021) said that when she performed general services, she helped the old cook a lot, who no longer works in the kitchen organization, and watched everything she did. In this way, we realized that when Interviewee 7 (2021) occupied the general services role, the power/knowledge relationship between the former cook and her happened similarly to what takes shape today with the new employee. Interviewee 7 (2021) recognized the "proper place" the previous cook occupied and used this recognition to learn about new activities and/or improve her knowledge/doing. Maintaining these hierarchies or power/knowledge relationships is meaningful in the constitution of CEPA's ordinary management.

Conclusions

Through this research, it was possible to demonstrate how Michel de Certeau's notion of everyday life can help comprehend ordinary management in civil society organizations. We identified seven practices that constitute the ordinary management of the organization studied, namely: the practice of developing social projects; teaching practice, broken down into early childhood education practice and workshop or art education practice; the practice of home visits; planning practice; the practice of meetings, divided into planning meetings with the coordination team/board, a planning meeting with educators and continuing education meeting; the practice of participation in law councils; and practical cooking and cleaning. These practices are interconnected to the extent, for example, that the planning or content of particular meetings is decided depending on the financing project or when the planning is made based on data collected during the home visit.

Significant clues for visualizing strategies that constitute the CSO's ordinary management were identified throughout the analysis, such as the requirements of funding bodies through notices, the tasks that educators assign to students with different educational objectives, the home visit script, the requirement for coordination regarding the preparation of an individual action plan by educators; and preparing a menu for students.

Clues that allow us to glimpse and understand important tactics in CSO management were also noticed in the narratives accessed, such as the use of educational resources that meet the cognitive educational logic, such as conversations with students about their everyday lives; the creative use of equipment in capoeira classes; the “loopholes” found by educators in the face of the requirements of the notices; care for educators, which moves away from instrumental rationality; the re-elaboration of the menu according to the donations made. It is essential to highlight that the classification of ways of doing things related to both Certeaunian strategies and tactics frequently overlap in everyday life, making a strict classification not always possible.

Bricolage is a constant in the development of these tactics. It is evident in several moments, such as, for example, in the “management” of the capoeira master and educator when dealing with large classes, in the different intentions (of funding bodies, students, educators, and others.) considered in the macro-organizational planning meeting; in the practice of cooking, which is mixed with the knowledge of housewives and mothers, and more individuals.

The delimitation of places and spaces in the organization proved to be a fundamental element in the distribution of roles, as well as in the definition of identity and cultural meanings, such as the practice of meetings, in which many educators and collaborators of support did not participate; or in the practice of home visits, in which the CSO's place in the community is expressed through the standard clothing worn by educators, giving them a certain level of security.

We also concluded that the main foundations of ordinary management in the OSC are popular education and shared management. We believe that, through ordinary management, it is possible to understand how and in what way these CSO premises are applied in everyday life. Conflicts, power relations and organizational hierarchies were also observed as paramount components of the CSO's ordinary management. We believe that organizational memory, an essential component of planning practice, also plays a vital role in maintaining certain power relations and hierarchies that characterize the ordinary management of the CSO.

Finally, we highlight that we could not access some practices mentioned in the narratives, such as donations and registration, mainly due to the pandemic. For future work, we suggest that studies on ordinary daily life and its management methods are also carried out in other types of organizations, such as public and business, and with other subject individuals who are on the margins of traditional studies.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the comments of the anonymous reviewers of O&S journal, who contributed to improving the initial version of this article. They would also like to thank the institutional support of the Centro Acadêmico do Agreste of the Federal University of Pernambuco (CAA/UFPE) and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).

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Associate Editor: Letícia Dias Fantinel

Data availability

Data availability

O&S encourages data sharing. However, in compliance with ethical principles, it does not demand the disclosure of any means of identifying research participants, preserving fully their privacy. The practice of open data seeks to ensure the transparency of the research results, without requiring the identity of research participants.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  20 May 2024
• Date of issue
  Jan-Mar 2024

History

• Received
  02 Feb 2023
• Accepted
  16 Sept 2023