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So much theory, so little practice: a literature review of workplace improvisation training

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Industrial and Commercial Training
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Vanessa Ratten at La Trobe University
Vanessa Ratten
Josh Hodge at University of Melbourne
Josh Hodge
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Abstract

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically review the research literature on training interventions to increase the workplace application of improvisation. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review was undertaken, work was considered in light of research methodology (qualitative, quantitative and discussion) and themes were identified and coded in Nvivo. Findings – Although there is a substantial body of research on improvisation as a workplace phenomenon, there is only limited empirical research on the workplace application of improvisation training. Research limitations/implications – Further research is needed in the field, specific recommendations are made. Practical implications – This paper provides an in-depth briefing on the current state of the literature for trainers and HR professionals who are considering the merits of using improvisation training in their workplace. Originality/value – Mintzberg (1973) suggested that up to 90 per cent of managerial behaviour is improvised. This paper provides a new depth of understanding on the workplace application of improvisation training and the paucity of knowledge in the field. Keywords Training, Improvisation, Innovation Paper type Literature review
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So much theory, so little practice:
a literature review of workplace
improvisation training
Vanessa Ratten and Josh Hodge
Vanessa Ratten and
Josh Hodge, both are
based at the La Trobe
University, Melbourne,
Australia.
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to critically review the research literature on training interventions to
increase the workplace application of improvisation.
Design/methodology/approach –A literature review was undertaken, work was considered in light of
research methodology (qualitative, quantitative and discussion)and themes were identified and coded in Nvivo.
Findings –Although there is a substantial body of research on improvisation as a workplace phenomenon,
there is only limited empirical research on the workplace application of improvisation training.
Research limitations/implications –Further research is needed in the field, specific recommendations
are made.
Practical implications –This paper provides an in-depth briefing on the current state of the literature for
trainers and HR professionals who are considering the merits of using improvisation training in their workplace.
Originality/value –Mintzberg (1973) suggested that up to 90 per cent of managerial behaviour is
improvised. This paper provides a new depth of understanding on the workplace application of improvisation
training and the paucity of knowledge in the field.
Keywords Training, Improvisation, Innovation
Paper type Literature review
Introduction
Improvisation training has seen a substantial increase in popularity, featuring in high profile firms
such as Google, PepsiCo, MetLife and McKinsey (Scinto, 2014) and renowned educational
institutions such as Columbia, Stanford and Duke (Huffaker and West, 2005).
This paper reviews the current literature on improvisation training, and identifies themes in the
literature that consultants, trainers and HR professionals could draw on to inform their
implementation of improvisation training. Suggestions are also made for further research.
Improvisation in the business literature
In the business literature, improvisation can range from the improvised solutions that saved
firefighters (Weick, 1993) or the Apollo 13 mission (Crossan, 1998; Vendelø, 2009) to the
improvised music of jazz performers (Barrett, 1998; Moorman and Miner, 1998).
A number of earlier works have provided definitions of improvisation (Cunha et al., 1999; Miner
et al., 2001; Moorman and Miner, 1998) from these and others, this paper adopts the following
definition of improvisation:
Improvisation is creativity, adaptation and innovation under time pressure (Hodge and Ratten, 2015).
DOI 10.1108/ICT-08-2015-0053 VOL. 48 NO. 3 2016, pp. 149-155, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 0019-7858
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PA GE 1 4 9
Or perhaps more eloquently stated by renowned improvisational musician Lacey:
In 1968 I ran into Steve Lacy on the street in Rome. I took out my pocket tape recorder and asked him
to describe in fifteen seconds the difference between composition and improvisation. He answered:
“In fifteen seconds the difference between composition and improvisation is that in composition you
have all the time you want to decide what to say in fifteen seconds, while in improvisation you have
fifteen seconds”. His answer lasted exactly fifteen seconds (Bailey, 1993, pp. 140-141).
When a business person is improvising they are under time pressure to create something innovative,
this is increasingly the case in today’s fast-paced business environment. Mintzberg’s (1973) seminal
study of managers suggested that as much as 90 per cent of a manager’s interactions are
improvised. Yet improvisation is only now making its way into the business school curriculum
(Aylesworth, 2008; Huffaker and West, 2005). Currently, interventions designed to increase
workplace improvisation are founded in the methods of theatrical improvisation performers.
History of theatrical improvisation
Theatrical improvisation is a style of theatre performance where the actors perform without a script
and make up the play as it is being performed. Although the actors may draw on existing tropes or
scene patterns the bulk of the work is original and developed extemporaneously (Sweet, 1978).
Theatrical improvisation, in the broadest sense, is rooted in the rituals of early man, being
pre-literate ritual performances were frequently improvised rather than learned by rote (Pritzker,
1999). For the earliest form of organised theatrical improvisation historians point to Susarion the
Ancient Greek comic poet who, around 580 BC, gathered a band of performers at Icaria and toured
throughout Greece improvising comedic plays accompanied by music (Duchartre, 2012).
Modern theatrical improvisation started in Chicago at The Compass theatre, influenced by
Commedia dell’arte, 1890s German Cabaret and the theatre games of Viola Spolin (Sawyer, 2003).
The Italian, Commedia dell’arte was influenced by the traditions of Susarion and dates back to the
1600s. In Commedia dell’arte performers wore masks to indicate well-known stock characters.
There was no script; rather, using the stock characters, a play with a broadly outlined story arc
was performed. Players would improvise the dialogue and details of the scenes, often integrating
references to the local area where the troupe was performing (Richards and Richards, 1990).
1890s German Cabaret provided a context for skits, songs and comedy, alongside food a drink
service. Although improvisation was not a primary feature of the cabaret, the accessible style of theatre
alongside hospitality influenced the choice of venue for The Compass Players (Coleman, 1991).
Spolin used theatre games initially with therapeutic objectives, to help develop the social skills and
self-esteem of disadvantaged young people (Frost and Yarrow, 2007). Over time she widened
the scope of her theatre games to help actors to improve their performances. Spolin’s son Paul
Sills and David Shepherd formed The Compass Players creating the modern improvisational
theatre movement (Sawyer, 2003).
Out of The Compass theatre a range of improvisation theatres evolved including The Upright
Citizens Brigade, The Improv Olympic and The Annoyance (Sawyer, 2003). From these theatres
and their improvisation training centres Saturday Night Live was created and a raft of actors,
comedians and filmmakers developed their skills. It is from these roots of improvisation that
businesses began to experiment with the possibility that theatrical improvisation training could be
used to better equip their staff.
Discussion papers
The bulk of the literature on improvisational theatre training in a business setting is theoretical and
not grounded in a specific application of the principles to actual participants. Some of the papers
discuss the potential utilisation of improvisational theatre training to specific applications, such as:
negotiation (Balachandra et al., 2005; Harding, 2004); public administration (FitzPatrick, 2002);
computer engineering (Mahaux and Maiden, 2008); and organisational development consulting
(Stager Jacques, 2013). Others consider theatrical improvisation in the broader context of
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the organisation with less specific application (Crossan, 1998; Koppett, 2002; Marren, 2008;
Vera and Crossan, 2004; Weis and Arnesen, 2014; Yanow, 2001).
Themes
Some themes emerge in the choice of concepts that theorists choose to draw from the theatrical
improvisation body of knowledge. Themes were coded in Nvivo (Bandara et al., 2011) from the
results of a peer-review-bounded search of the EBSCOhost database for the search terms:
“improvisation”;“theatre”; and “business”. These were then manually sorted to identify those that
considered the effects of improvisation training interventions. The paper’s date of publication
ranges from 1996 to 2014.
The advice fell into three broad domains of work: task skills; interpersonal skills; and intrapersonal
skills (adapted from Hogan and Warrenfeltz, 2003). Naturally there is some crossover between
the domains, in both theory and practice.
Task skills
Task skills are those skills used in specific works tasks. In this sense it may be easiest to think of
task skills as all the tasks that are performed at work that do not involve interaction with others or
self-management. There is little focus in the literature on how task skills can be strengthened by
improvisation training. Crossan (1998) suggests that improvisation can improve participant’s
ability to craft strategy. Vera and Crossan (2004) suggests that the improvisation mindset can
help work teams to focus on the process rather than the outcomes, producing greater task skills
over time. And Moorman and Miner (1998) is frequently cited in the literature discussing the
effects of improvisation on new product development, but the paper does not consider the
effects that improvisation training may have on that process.
Although the literature presents little on task skills, there is a great deal of discussion on the
constructs of theatrical improvisation training that can serve to increase the overlapping domains
of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills.
Intrapersonal skills
Intrapersonal skills are skills of self-management. Having emotional resilience and self-control
(Hogan and Warrenfeltz, 2003). Hogan and Warrenfeltz (2003, p. 78) draw a link between
intrapersonal skill and emotional intelligence saying: “Intrapersonal skill seems to be the core of
the widely popular but scientifically suspect concept of EQ-scientifically suspect because the
measurement base is so poorly developed”. There are a number of concepts that authors have
suggested can be co-opted from theatrical improvisation training to develop intrapersonal skills.
Being present. Improvisational actors need to be present, not distracted thinking about the
events of the day or what will happen after the show. In the same manner, workplace
intrapersonal skills can be developed by learning to focus on the present moment, noticing one’s
thoughts and feelings right now (Marren, 2008; Ratten, 2007; Stager Jacques, 2013):
It is not easy to remain so steadfastly in the present –you are the enviable exception ifyou spend much of
your time there. But improvisational actors must be there, all the time (Weis and Arnesen, 2014, p. 2).
Creativity. Theatrical improvisation is by necessity a creative pursuit. FitzPatrick (2002, p. 649)
suggests that “Improvisation can be seen as one kind of ‘food’to be put out to entice the
metaphorical ‘wildlife’of the imaginary”.
“There is little focus in the literature on how task
skills can be strengthened by improvisation
training.”
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Trust. In improvisational theatre the players must trust themselves to make the right decisions on
the stage under the pressure of performance (Kirsten and Du Preez, 2010). As “trust is the
foundation of all creative and collaborative endeavours”(Koppett, 2002, p. 26) and the workplace
requirements for creativity are increasing (Dennard, 2000), trust is required more and more.
Trust can be taught in situations of high-perceived risk (such as on the stage) but where a high
level of support is provided (Aylesworth, 2008).
Self-awareness. Stager Jacques (2013) suggests that self-awareness is the foundation upon which
all other interactions are built. The improvisational actor must have self-awareness, because the
work is created extemporaneously and a director is not pointing out issues with the performance in
advance. Although self-awareness is an intrapersonal skill, the application of this improvisational skill
to the workplace is likely to also result in better interpersonal interactions (Stager Jacques, 2013).
Flexibility. In a scene an improvisational actor must be ready change course when an offer is
made. If the player walks on and is miming being in a kitchen and their scene partner says “is that
cement ready yet”they must quickly adjust their conception of the scene to take into account this
new knowledge. Huffaker and West (2005, p. 856) state that “Willingness to change and/or let go
of one’s agenda [is] a key ingredient that enables use of information gained through listening, the
willingness to change (and thereby to be changed)”. This form of flexibility allows staff to explore
otherwise inaccessible creative paths as new information is presented (Vera and Crossan, 2004).
Have fun. Finally, have fun. Players who have fun on stage tend to invite the audience into the fun and
thus, create an engaging show (Aylesworth, 2008). Although this is not widely valued in business it
has been shown to increase emotional engagement and improve learning (Huffaker and West, 2005).
Improvisation training may present an effective way for staff to find the fun of their day to day activities.
Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills are those skills and dispositions that allow a person to relate well to others, a
person with strong interpersonal skills will “seem charming, poised, socially adept, approachable
and rewarding to deal with”(Hogan and Warrenfeltz, 2003, p. 79). Improvisational theatre is, by
necessity, highly collaborative. The literature co-opts a number of improvisational theatre
concepts and apply them to the workplace.
Yes, and. The bedrock, and by far the most commonly mentioned theatrical improvisation
principle in the literature is “Yes, and”. It refers to the concept that an improviser should accept
the suggestion of their scene partner and add something to it (Yanow, 2001). For example the
actor might start the scene by saying:
“I wish I had brought my umbrella, it’s not going to stop raining”an improviser who is breaching the
principle of “Yes, and”might reply.
“It’s not raining, this is the desert, silly”which would cause the scene to come to a halt. An improviser
remembering the “Yes, and”principle might say.
“We are all wet, but I’ll keep you warm”which accepts the reality of the rain (Yes) and adds information
to the scene about the two player’s relationship (and).
In business applications, Vera and Crossan suggest that “Firms interested in promoting
innovation need to incorporate the rule of agreement as a norm of their organisational and team
cultures”. Koppett (2002, p. 27) shares an example of “yes, and”in action:
Consolidated Foods was generating ideas for new candy products. In one of its brainstorming
sessions, someone came up with the idea of “candy that could talk”. The idea was recorded, but
“Improvisation training may present an effective
way for staff to find the fun of their day to day
activities.”
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rejected by most people as ridiculous. An executive in the group, however, was taken with the
concept. Upon further investigation, he found out that his chemists had been working on a process for
encasing carbon dioxide in a sugar shell. When placed in water these small pellets would explode,
making crackling and popping sounds. In other words, they “talked”. The CEO devoted lots of
resources to the project, and “Pop Rocks”which had one of the most successful new candy debuts in
history, was born. “Yes, and”in action.
Spontaneity. Improvisation is by definition spontaneous (Hodge and Ratten, 2015). Crossan
(1998) points to early research by Mintzberg that identified the sheer volume of management
behaviour that is spontaneous in nature. Theatrical improvisation can help staff to learn to “think
on their feet”. And this spontaneity can improve workplace creativity: “Spontaneity allows us to
shed the most constricting aspects of what is known and discover innovative ways of
responding”(FitzPatrick, 2002, p. 643).
Teamwork. Finally, teamwork, the most common unit of assessment in the quantitative theatrical
improvisation training literature (see Kirsten and Du Preez, 2010). Discussion papers point to the
potential of theatrical improvisation training to increase teamwork behaviour (Yanow, 2001):
Teamwork is important for organizational improvisation because what one person does is determined
by what all others are doing. Collective improvisation is more than the sum of individual improvisations;
it is the result of close interaction among members of a group (Vera and Crossan, 2004, p. 743).
It is clear at this point that there is a great deal of interrelation between the constructs of
improvisation and that their application has a wide possibility of application in the workplace.
Suggestions for future research
An analysis of the literature leads to three recommendations for research: the need for
quantitative research; research centred on the individual affects; and research in contexts with
high intrapersonal and interpersonal skill requirements.
Individual affects
Because theatrical improvisation tends to be a team pursuit the unit of analysis in a number of
studies has been at the team level. Anecdotally, improvisers report increases in intrapersonal and
interpersonal skills as a result of theatrical improvisation training. Research into the individual
effects of theatrical improvisation training in the workplace could yield knowledge of great value.
High intrapersonal and interpersonal skill requirement contexts
Considering the themes that emerged from this literature review it seems that a rich vein for
research is fields that have high intrapersonal and interpersonal requirements such as: sales;
customer service; and public relations.
Conclusion
Although there has been wide ranging discussion on improvisation in the business literature, little
of this has focused on the effects of improvisation training on workplace outcomes. The literature
that does exist provides a helpful starting place for researchers to move improvisation training
from the realm of theory to the empirical testing of practice.
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Corresponding author
Vanessa Ratten can be contacted at: vanessaratten@gmail.com
For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
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... One promising intervention to increase both psychological safety and sense of belonging on engineering design teams uses exercises from improvisational theater (improv), which have been used with a variety of populations (see [13] for students in health professions, [14], [15] for business students, and [16] for professionals in the workplace). Improv training has been shown to improve divergent thinking and creativity [17], [18] and develop both intra-and inter-personal skills [16]. ...
... One promising intervention to increase both psychological safety and sense of belonging on engineering design teams uses exercises from improvisational theater (improv), which have been used with a variety of populations (see [13] for students in health professions, [14], [15] for business students, and [16] for professionals in the workplace). Improv training has been shown to improve divergent thinking and creativity [17], [18] and develop both intra-and inter-personal skills [16]. In this paper, we lay out a framework including the theory of change for an improv intervention to increase psychological safety and sense of belonging on engineering design teams, and we consider implications for more distal outcomes like retention in engineering. ...
... Improv training shows promise as a potential method to increase both psychological safety and sense of belonging on engineering design teams. It has been used in interventions with medical students, business students, and within organizations [13]- [16] and has been shown to improve listening skills and divergent thinking [17], [18] and develop both intra-and inter-personal skills [16]. Limited qualitative work has also investigated the use of improv to increase psychological safety on teams [48]. ...
View
... A myriad of improvisation games and exercises are accessible online 6 and in printed format. Varying lists of the basic principles of improvisation with slightly different terminologies have been produced (e.g., Aadland et al., 2017;Berk & Trieber, 2009;Ratten & Hodge, 2016;Trotter et al., 2013), providing a rough consensus on the core components of improvisation, such as trust, acceptance, attentive listening, spontaneity, storytelling and nonverbal communication (Zondag et al., 2020) or rapid decision-making, risktaking, presence, accepting ideas, trust and collaboration . ...
... For example, research on creativity 12 and divergent thinking have consistently identified the positive effects of improvisation interventions (Celume et al., 2019;DeBettignies & Goldstein, 2019;Felsman et al., 2020;Hainselin et al., 2018;Schwenke et al., 2020;West et al., 2017). Alongside individual creativity, co-creativity has been studied within contexts such as teaching (Drinko, 2018;Sawyer, 2003Sawyer, , 2004Sawyer, , 2011Sawyer, , 2012West et al., 2017) and organisational creativity (Gerber, 2009;Hodge & Ratten, 2015;Ratten & Hodge, 2016;Vera & Crossan, 2004. Furthermore, fields such as medical education (Gao et al., 2018;Hoffmann-Longtin et al., 2018), marketing skills (Mourey, 2020), clinical social work and psychotherapy (Romanelli et al., 2017;Romanelli & Tishby, 2019) and humanitarian aid (B. S. Tint et al., 2015) have all benefited from improvisation interventions. ...
‘What would happen if I said “Yes”?’ Measuring the immediate and long-term impact of improvisation training on student teachers’ subjective, neuroendocrine and psychophysiological responses
Thesis
Full-text available
  • Dec 2022
Improvisation is commonly understood as a performance or creating something without preparation. As an art form, improvised theatrical plays are created spontaneously on stage without a script. As an applied form of theatre, improvisation has been utilised in fields requiring collaboration and a tolerance for uncertainty, such as in the business and education sectors. This dissertation contributes to the literature in educational research by investigating applied improvisation as a tool to promote student teachers’ interpersonal competence. Applied improvisation enables individuals to explore and practise teaching-related encounters in a fictional and psychologically safe context. Psychological safety is particularly important when practising challenging interactions. Despite the fictionality of the context, bodily experiences during improvisations may promote experiential learning. The research summarised in this dissertation was guided by two primary research questions. First, I asked whether improvisation training influenced student teachers’ interpersonal competence and social stress. Student teachers (n = 19) participated in a 7-week (17.5-h) improvisation intervention, comprising the fundamentals of theatre improvisation and status expression (verbal and nonverbal behaviours indicating the social dominance of a person). The impact of the intervention was measured using subjective self-reports (interpersonal confidence, i.e., belief regarding one’s capability related to effective social interactions, self-esteem and experienced stress) and a large array of physiological measurements (heart rate, heart rate variability, skin conductance, facial muscle activity, frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha asymmetry and stress hormone cortisol). Self-reports, physiological measurements and Trier Social Stress Tests (TSST; including public speaking) were performed before and after the improvisation intervention. An improvisation course was arranged for the control group (n = 20) following the intervention study. One year later, the long-term effects of improvisation training on self-reported interpersonal confidence were measured in a follow-up study. Second, I asked how real versus fictional social rejections impact experienced stress and psychophysiological responses. Student teachers (n = 39) participated in an experiment including both real (interview) and fictional (improvisation exercises) dyadic interactions. In the real condition, student teachers were unaware that the interviewer was an actor trained to include subtle social rejections during the interview by using three types of social rejections: devaluing, interrupting and nonverbal rejections. In the fictional condition, student teachers were informed in advance which social rejection type would be used during a later improvisation exercise. Experienced stress and psychophysiological reactivity during social rejections were measured under both experimental conditions. Following an improvisation intervention, interpersonal confidence and its components of performance confidence and a tolerance for failure increased relative to controls, whilst one year later the improved performance confidence persisted. Furthermore, a heterogeneous treatment effect was found. Those with the lowest pretest interpersonal confidence score benefited most from the improvisation intervention. No between-group differences in self-esteem were observed. Psychological and physiological indications of relief from performance-related stress were also observed following improvisation training. In addition, interpersonal confidence moderated self-reported and cardiovascular stress responses. Thus, interpersonal confidence may be worth controlling for in future research which examines the effects of interventions aimed at relieving social stress. The results also support the notion that repetition may also diminish performance-related stress, since the control group exhibited decreases in cardiovascular stress during some of the test conditions. The primary finding regarding the second research question emerged through the absence of any systematic attenuation of the psychophysiological reactivity to fictional versus real-world social rejections. In other words, although student teachers knew that improvised social rejections were fictional, their psychophysiological responses during improvisation remained relatively similar and associated with those of real-world rejections. It appears as though personal relevance and engagement during improvisation explain the relatively similar bodily responses. This result suggests that interpersonal encounters can be realistically modelled through applied improvisation. In this dissertation research, I also produced a validated self-report measure, the Interpersonal Confidence Questionnaire (ICQ), to evaluate the impact of social interaction training relying on applied improvisation. Using an additional dataset (n = 208), I validated the questionnaire and examined the impact of improvisation training on a larger sample. A confirmatory factor analysis identified six factors—performance confidence, flexibility, listening skills, a tolerance for failure, collaboration motivation and presence—that contribute to interpersonal confidence. Thus, the ICQ appeared valid and reliable as a self-report measure of interpersonal confidence. In summary, the findings from this research indicate that a relatively brief improvisation intervention promotes interpersonal confidence, specifically amongst those with low interpersonal confidence. Furthermore, improvisation training serves as an intervention against performance anxiety and generates long-term improvements to performance confidence. This dissertation provides a theoretical framework and empirical support for the application of improvisation as a tool to develop interpersonal competence skills, particularly within professions requiring face-to-face interactions. Regardless of the fictionality of the improvisational context, genuine emotions and experiences may emerge, serving as experiential learning experiences. The significance of these findings may extend to theatre-based practices and drama education in general, which rely on holistic action and personal engagement in fictional contexts. The findings agree with previous research, suggesting that including the improvisation method in teacher education curricula can enhance student teachers’ interpersonal competence as well as their skills related to sensitive and responsive teaching. Finally, this dissertation contributes to social neuroscience by recommending an ecologically valid experimental design wherein naturally unfolding social interactions can be achieved using improvisation techniques. ________________________________________ Keywords: experiential learning, fictionality, improvisation, interpersonal confidence, intervention, psychophysiology, social interaction, social rejection, social stress, teacher education, theatre-based practices
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... A aplicação da improvisação no ambiente organizacional tem sido cada vez mais necessária para resolução de problemas ou mudança inesperada em um curto período de tempo, respondendo de maneiras diferentes uma determinada situação Ratten, 2015;Sadler-Smith, 2006;Rankin;Dahlbäck;Lundberg, 2013). Sob pressão de tempo, responder a uma nova tarefa ou problema gerando novas soluções ou mesmo criando novos caminhos, novas formas, novos conhecimentos de acordo com as circunstâncias que a ocorrência necessita para levar a uma situação ideal (Flach;Antonello, 2010;Hodge, 2016). ...
IMPROVISAÇÃO ORGANIZACIONAL COMO CAMPO DE ESTUDO: ANÁLISE BIBLIOMÉTRICA NA BASE SCOPUS (1990-2023)
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 2024
To remain competitive in high-sound environments, companies often need to act quickly. Through improvisation, organizations are able to create and generate new ideas to solve a given problem, in events that require immediate action, that is, improvisation is the conception planned in real time and the execution of a new response to a situation. that is beyond borders that a system has not prepared for. This article aims to provide an overview of the development of scientific publications on the topic of organizational improvisation, a research topic of growing interest for organization theory. From a methodological point of view, the work makes use of bibliometric analysis, being characterized as a quantitative, descriptive study, developed from an evaluation of bibliographic material. Scientific publications were verified from 1990 to 2023, using data collected in the Scopus (Elsevier) database. The selection of works was made based on a combination of English terms contained in the title, abstract and keywords of the publications. It is hoped that this study will be a basis and starting point for researchers on organizational issues who intend to get involved in this topic. Keywords: Organizational Improvisation; Organization; Bibliometric Analysis; Scopus
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... Improvisational training (improv) is adapted from improvisational theater and improvisational comedy, and this work builds on a previous Work in Progress paper that outlined a framework and theory of change for an improv intervention [24]. Improv training has been used more broadly to improve communication skills [25], [26], divergent thinking [27], [28], teamwork [29], and to develop intra-and inter-personal skills [30]. Further, limited qualitative research suggests the opportunity for improv to develop team psychological safety [31]. ...
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... 8,29 Benefits include expanding employees' (mental) capacities, character, and skillsets to prepare staff to better perform in times of uncertainty, 8,[28][29][30] and, equally important for noncrisis situations, boosting creativity communication, and engagement, among other benefits. [31][32][33] Additionally, literature suggests that organizations can catalyze innovation by using the power of employee networks and creating adaptive spaces during crises. [34][35][36] Doing so includes the benefits of crisis leadership 37 and how team efficacy bolsters organizational resilience. ...
“Something we must be proud of”: An interview and document study of team improvisation in the Dutch convalescent plasma project group
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2024
Background and Aims The COVID‐19 pandemic has revealed the importance of organizational resilience, the ability to effectively respond to a disruptive event before, during, and after it occurs. Team improvisation is an important component of organizational resilience as it describes characteristics of team skills and contextual qualities to create order from chaos. In Spring 2020, the Dutch national blood bank, began the convalescent plasma project (CCP). We aimed to study which elements of team improvisation in the CCP group were found and how lessons learned can contribute towards a non‐crisis situation for blood establishments. Methods Using Vera and Crossan's framework of improvisation, semi‐structured interviews with eight members of the CCP group were conducted. This was simultaneous to performing a document analysis of 21 Intranet posts and seven internal reports. MAXDA 2020 was used to conduct deductive and inductive thematic analyses. Results The CCP group showed strong characteristics of expertise and memory, teamwork quality, experimental culture, and real‐time information and communication that enabled them to improvise in all aspects of the donation process. Improvisation examples included comprehensive communication methods to identify and obtain new donors, asking additional intake questions and collecting additional aliquots to store while waiting for an internal antibody test to be developed, and regulatory respondents allowing a flexible change control procedure to meet the pace of the crisis. Training was evident to a lesser degree. Conclusion While improvisation impacted set routines and procedures, the safety and quality of the product were not affected. Regarding organizational resilience, our results showed that the CCP group “coped” well using elements of team improvisation. Blood establishments may consider introducing improvisational training and innovation teams throughout the organization for future preparedness and improving organizational resilience.
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... Projects in turbulent environments pose various challenges due to factors, such as uncertainty attached to the unique incidents, time pressure, employee coordination, and resource constraints (Iftikhar & Lions, 2022;O'Sullivan et al., 2013), which are typical for organizations handling emergencies in developing economies. These factors, thus, add additional complexity regarding knowledge utilization, where preplanning does not work and employees act spontaneously (Ratten & Hodge, 2016), leading to improvised solutions or improvisation. Improvisation is, thus, an adaptive reaction toward unexpected circumstances when an organization cannot apply known procedures (Song et al., 2022;Magni et al., 2009;Woods & Hollnagel, 2017;Vera & Crossan, 2005). ...
Improvisation in Turbulent Environments: An Exploratory Case Study of a Rescue Projects Organization
Article
  • Jun 2024
  • Proj Manag J
This study explores the antecedents of knowledge utilization, specifically tacit knowledge, leading to improvisation in rescue projects confronted with turbulent situations. We used semistructured interviews and observations to collect data in a large public-sector rescue organization. Findings reveal that improvisation is an essential part of projects in turbulent situations bounded by time limitations; resource constraint factors, such as lack of technology, information, resources, and rugged terrains; and collectivistic societal and cultural issues. Rescue workers improvise through sensemaking, problem identification, and tacit knowledge utilization to handle emergencies.
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... For example, research on creativity and divergent thinking has consistently identified the positive effects of improvisation interventions (Celume et al., 2019;DeBettignies & Goldstein, 2019;Felsman et al., 2020;Hainselin et al., 2018;Schwenke et al., 2020;West et al., 2017). Alongside individual creativity, co-creativity has been studied within contexts such as teaching (Drinko, 2018;Sawyer, 2003Sawyer, , 2004Sawyer, , 2011Sawyer, , 2012Shem-Tov, 2015;West et al., 2017) and organisational creativity (Gerber, 2009;Hodge & Ratten, 2015;Ratten & Hodge, 2016;Vera & Crossan, 2004. Furthermore, fields such as medical education (Gao et al., 2018;Hoffmann-Longtin et al., 2018), marketing skills (Mourey, 2020), clinical social work and psychotherapy (Romanelli et al., 2017;Romanelli & Tishby, 2019) and humanitarian aid (Tint et al., 2015) have all benefited from improvisation interventions. ...
Improvisation in the Brain and Body: A Theoretical and Embodied Perspective on Applied Improvisation
Article
Full-text available
  • Oct 2023
This article presents a novel, biological layer of knowledge on the impact of improvisation training. We summarise a theoretical construct of improvisation and empirical research on the effects of improvisation training on brain and bodily processes. The findings indicate that improvisation training can mitigate acute social stress and enhance interpersonal confidence, particularly amongst less confident individuals. Regardless of the fictionality of the improvisational context, genuine emotions and experiences comparable to real-world contexts emerged as measured through psychophysiological reactivity. This article provides theoretical and empirical support for using improvisation and various forms of applied theatre as a conceptual and embodied analogy for everyday encounters serving educational purposes.
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... Here, for example, improvisation and resilience training are discussed. Improvisation means being able to spontaneously develop creative solutions to a problem (Ratten & Hodge, 2016), while resilience refers to the ability to bounce back, reintegrate, and adapt after an unimaginable event (Ziegele & Zerfass, 2021). In both cases, the aim is to learn flexibility in dealing with challenges and to solve problems precisely. ...
Communications Trend Radar 2023. State revival, scarcity management, unimagination, augmented workflows & parallel worlds.
Technical Report
Full-text available
  • Feb 2023
How do social changes, new technologies or new management trends affect communication work? A team of researchers at Leipzig University and the University of Potsdam (Germany) observed new developments in related disciplines. As a result, the five most important trends for corporate communications are identified annually and published in the Communications Trend Radar. Thus, Communications managers can identify challenges and opportunities at an early stage, take a position, address issues and make decisions. For 2023, the Communications Trend Radar identifies five key trends for corporate communications: State Revival, Scarcity Management, Unimagination, Parallel Worlds & Augemented Workflows. You can find further information about the trends in the Communications Trend Radar Report 2023.
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... Studying improvisation is particularly difficult, as each act of improvisation calls for a complex set of skills, all working together inseparably, in a collaborative fashion (Montuori, 2003;Sawyer, 2000). There are various definitions of improvisation in different approaches (Ratten & Hodge, 2016), yet they all have an element of spontaneity or the lack of the plan highlighted. Improvisation is most naturally revealed in communication processes, thus indicating a close link between the two. ...
Improvising: A Grounded Theory Investigation of Psychology Students' Level of Anxiety, Coping, Communicative Skills, Imagination, and Spontaneity
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2022
The aim of this study was to gain insight into the phenomenon of improvisation, how it is manifested in communication, and to conceptualize the process of improvisation in general. I aimed to construct a model for use in teaching and further analysis of training programs that target and develop improvisation skills in communication. The ability to communicate is part and parcel of psychologists’ work. I develop and supervise interactive classes and training programs to promote improvisation and communication skills, using the grounded theory of improvisation in communication under conditions of high uncertainty. The improvisation sessions were videotaped, transcribed, and analyzed. Applying the qualitative method and working with grounded theory methodology, I studied five sessions. Here I report on the major categories that condition the improvisational process: Level of Anxiety, Coping, Communicative Skills, Imagination, and Spontaneity. I also outline the markers of spontaneous behavior: strange combinations (oxymorons), humor, and rapid topic switching.
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The Convergence of Planning and Execution: Improvisation in New Product Development
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 1998
  • J MARKETING
The field of marketing strategy often makes the important assumption that marketing strategy should occur by first composing a plan on the basis of a careful review of environmental and firm information and then executing that plan. However, there are cases when the composition and execution of an action converge in time so that, in the limit, they occur simultaneously. The authors define such a convergence as improvisation and develop hypotheses to investigate the conditions in which improvisation is likely to occur and be effective. The authors test these hypotheses in a longitudinal study of new product development activities. Results show that organizational improvisation occurs moderately in organizations and that organizational memory level decreases and environmental turbulence level increases the incidence of improvisation. Results support traditional concerns that improvisation can reduce new product effectiveness but also indicate that environmental and organizational factors can reduce negative effects and sometimes create a positive effect for improvisation. These results suggest that, in some contexts, improvisation may be not only what organizations actually practice but also what they should practice to flourish.
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Time pressure and improvisation: enhancing creativity, adaption and innovation at high speed
Article
Full-text available
  • Oct 2015
  • Dev Learn Org Int J
Purpose – Organizations are becoming more focused on time pressures when introducing innovation and creativity into their organizations. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the opportunity for organizations to focus on improvisation training as a way to gain a competitive advantage and leapfrog their competitors. Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes the approach of identifying a model of improvisation training for organizations that focuses on the convergence of planning and executive for promoting innovation training practices. Findings – This paper’s main findings are that the time pressures faced by organizations means that there is a funnel limiting the link between creativity, adaption and innovation. This means that improvisation training needs to be done quickly, and organizations need to act efficiently when introducing new practices. Originality/value – This paper’s key value is that organizations can use improvisers by using bricolage and ready-mades to take existing concepts and apply them to new situations.
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Improvised Dialogues: Emergence and Creativity in Conversation
Book
  • Jan 2002
Improvised Dialoguesis the first social-scientific study of Chicago improv theater. It focuses on the collaborative verbal creativity that improvising actors use to generate their unscripted dialogues. The author spent two years as a performer, and videotaped 15 different Chicago theater groups—both live performances and rehearsals—resulting in almost 50 hours of performance data. To analyze these dialogues, the book presents the theory of collaborative emergence, which focuses on how different pre-existing structures guide improvisation, and how actors use dialogue to jointly create a novel, dramatically coherent performance. Although the dialogue is not scripted, a highly structured performance emerges. Because these elements of improvisation are present in all linguistic interaction, the theory shows how these dialogues are relevant to all researchers who study verbal performance. Improvised Dialoguesis thus positioned at the intersection of several fields, each of which includes a tradition of research on improvisation and conversation. In sociology, researchers such as conversation analysts have long studied how participants in interaction creatively produce an orderly dialogue. In folkloristics and linguistic anthropology, researchers have begun to emphasize the importance of creativity in performance. In psychology, contemporary creativity theory has begun to take account of interactional and social factors influencing creativity. All of these fields study collaborative, interactive craetivity; no single performer controls the group, but each performer is subtly influenced by the actions of the others.
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Estimating Publication Bias in Meta-Analysis
Article
  • May 1990
A central assumption of meta-analysis is that the sample of studies fairly represents all work done in the field, published and unpublished. However, if studies with “poor” results are less likely to be published, a potential publication bias is present. The authors propose a maximum likelihood approach to estimating publication bias for the situation in which censorship based on effect size may occur. An explicit hypothesis test is provided for testing whether or not censorship is present. The method also simultaneously estimates the proportion of studies censored, the threshold past which censorship is avoided, and the probability of censorship if a potential observation is under the censorship threshold. Two published meta-analyses are examined and some publication bias is found in each, but no publication bias is detected in a meta-analysis of proprietary research data.
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The Imaginary and Improvisation in Public Administration
Article
  • May 2002
This paper will demonstrate that Wolfgang Iser's concept of the imaginary as described in The Fictive and the Imaginary provides a theoretical basis for understanding the way the imaginary can work in organizational settings. First, Iser's insights suggest that the imaginary can be engaged but not controlled. The imaginary reveals itself through play, but the context in which play takes place influences the degree to which the imagination is free. Fictionalizing is a form of play that allows us to stage an endless number of ideas about the human condition. Second, I turn to the arts to describe a technique that has long been used to engage the imagination-improvisation. Third, I examine the notion of improvisational processes in public administration, including barriers and drawbacks. Improvisational processes both draw upon the imaginary and institutionalize meaning by adding to an organization's knowledge. Fourth, I describe the use of improvisation games as a way for organizations to fictionalize and stage ideas, noting that in order for such games to be effective, the rest of the organizational setting must value imagination. Finally, I suggest that discourse about public administration can be seen as a series of improvisations that substitute small narratives for metanarratives.
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Improvisation in Drama
Book
  • Jan 1989
Introduction - Part 1 WHO? Major Practitioners of Improvisation - Improvisation in Traditional Drama - Improvisation in Alternative Drama - Beyond Drama 'Paratheatre' - Part 2 WHAT? The Practice of Improvisation - Improvisation Exercises Preparation - Working Together - Moving Towards Performance - Applied Improvisation Work - Part 3 WHY? The Meanings of Improvisation - Towards the Poetics - Enriching the Communication of Meaning - Meaning and Performance - Notes - Bibliography - Index
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Employing improvisational role play to train the limbic system to enhance emotionally intelligent awareness and behavior
Article
  • Jan 2014
Implementing permanent changes in how we respond "in the moment" to stimuli requires training the limbic system's "fight or flight" response mechanism. The T-Group has been an effective training model for directly working on the limbic system to enhance what we commonly refer to as emotionally intelligent awareness and behaviors. As the T-Group is, in essence, a variation on improvisational acting practices (conducting a spontaneous "in the moment" conversation with no pre-set agenda), the principles of improvisational acting inherently apply to T-Group dynamics. An alternative to the structured T-Group teaching modality is a more prompted role play exercise employing the principles of theatre improvisation-a limbic system intervention that might be coined "Prompted T-Group" practice. This article addresses the use of improvisational role play to augment the T-Group training approach to teaching and enhancing emotional intelligence.
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