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

Ratten, Vanessa; Hodge, Josh

doi:10.1108/ict-08-2015-0053

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…It is safe to say that the world has become even more VUCA over the past twenty-odd years (Gagnon, Vough, & Nickerson, 2012;Gerras, 2010) (Huffaker & West, 2005;Moshavi, 2001), develop presentation skills (Greenberg, 1995), improve case discussion (Aylesworth, 2008), or develop students' emotional intelligence (Shivarajan & Andrews, 2019). Several others have employed improvisational theater in organizational training and development (April, Beall, & Peters, 2015;Christopoulos, Wilner, & Bestetti, 2016;Gagnon, Vough, & Nickerson, 2012;Ratten, & Hodge, 2016;Tawadros, 2015). Whereas the early scholarship in organizational improvisation focused on jazz improvisation, the use of improvisational theater welcomes all participants-even those DOI: 10.12806/V19/I4/A2 OCTOBER 2020 APPLICATION 125 without musical skills-and allows participants to improve communication and team skills readily transferable in their daily lives (Aylesworth, 2008;Crossan, 1998;Fisher & Barrett, 2019;Vera & Crossan, 2005).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Improvisation to Develop Leadership for a Volatile World

Dufresne¹

2020

Journal of Leadership Education

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Many scholars have noted the critical skills needed for leaders in the face of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). These skills include self-awareness, listening, communication, adaptability, critical thinking, and collaboration. Students who are able to develop these skills would be better equipped to lead in settings where the answers-and even the questions-are unknown. This paper details an approach to developing leadership skills to prepare undergraduate leadership students for a VUCA world, through the use of a classroom workshop on improvisational comedy. I have refined this improv workshop over sixteen course iterations spanning the past nine semesters, and students commonly point to the workshop as one of the most challenging and rewarding class sessions of the course. In this paper I review the literature that has informed my approach, explain the learning objectives addressed by the improv workshop, describe the approach I use, share quantitative and qualitative data that illustrate the success of the approach, and share my lessons learned, all in service of supporting colleagues who wish to try this approach."That contemporary organizations face high levels of complexity, a rapid rate of change and increased ambiguity has become, perhaps, a truism. " Issue StatementAs nicely captured in the quote above from Gagnon, Vough, and Nickerson (2012, p. 300), it is a taken-forgranted assumption that organizational life is marked by what the United States Army calls VUCA: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (Gerras, 2010). Every generation can reasonably claim theirs is the most VUCA yet, stretching back even before the advent of the printing press, the steam engine, radio communication, and other transformational technologies. Today is no different; we live in the most VUCA world (so far), and we must equip students with the tools they need to lead in this world.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Improvisation to Develop Leadership for a Volatile World

Dufresne¹

2020

Journal of Leadership Education

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“…In pursuit of bringing new creative forms into the classroom and elsewhere, we have been seeing a rise in the use of improvisational training at select universities in the USA, such as Stanford, Duke and Columbia, as well as in corporate boardrooms, e.g. Google, PepsiCo, McKinsey (Ratten and Hodge, 2016). This training leads to a renewed focus on areas such as self-awareness, interpersonal skills and the idea that work is fun, which ultimately can result in increased creativity.…”

Section: Fulfilling the Third Mission: Barriers And Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Universities’ third mission and the entrepreneurial university and the challenges they bring to higher education institutions

Rubens

Spigarelli

Cavicchi

et al. 2017

JEC

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Purpose Over the past few decades, higher education institutions (HEIs) have become key players in regional economic development and knowledge transfer, which has led to a third mission for HEIs and the entrepreneurial university. The purpose of this paper is to assess the challenges of HEIs in fulfilling the third mission for economic development and the changing role of being an entrepreneurial university, and the changes that need to be implemented to fulfill this new mission. Design/methodology/approach The authors have drawn on current literature to examine academic entrepreneurism and the entrepreneurial university, and how universities are fulfilling their third mission. Findings The findings from our review of the literature demonstrated the varied economic and social benefit of universities conducting external third mission/entrepreneurial activities in the community, as well as how the changing role and expectations of universities to become more entrepreneurial, has not only changed the expectations and role of university administrators, faculty and staff but also the business community which they serve. The review also showed the varied challenges for universities in fulfilling the third mission of economic development. Research limitations/implications Although ample literature and cases about universities’ third mission of economic development and the new entrepreneurial university (especially with research universities) were available, literature or research was limited on the specific challenges and obstacles faced by administrators, faculty and departments in fulfilling this mission, and few studies recommended changes that needed to be implemented in HEIs to support this new mission. Practical/implications The paper supports the potential role that HEIs play in implementing economic development in their communities or region. The paper also highlights some of the necessary resources and policy changes that policymakers and university administrators need to implement to reward and recognize faculty in conducting outreach activities as part of the university’s third mission. Originality/value The findings from this study highlight the challenges and barriers for faculty, staff and HEIs in fulfilling the third mission and becoming an entrepreneurial university.

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“…This is where the shared understanding of a musical genre and its underlying rules of rhythm, enable band members to perform and embellish ad lib (Orlikowski & Hofman, 1997). The analogies of performance through theatrical improvisation have, however, received considerably less attention than the musical genre of jazz in the literature (see eg., Ratten & Hodge, 2016). Within business, improvisation as a metaphor is linked to change management processes that enable employees to take on the roles of performers enacting unplanned responses to unanticipated situations -in so doing, the value generated is 'agile' or reflexive to environmental conditions, enabling organizations to move forwards rapidly albeit within a predefined framework relating to its structure, leadership styles, etc.…”

Section: Literature Review Change Management Creativity Improvisatimentioning

confidence: 99%

An evaluation of performance arts in generating business value

Harwood

Smith

2017

AAM

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Purpose (mandatory) This paper presents the findings from research that explores the business value of a performance arts-based initiative in supporting change management through devising. Devising is a process that encompasses improvisation to generate social interaction within a community of practice. Design/methodology/approach (mandatory) A novel approach is reported on: a case study that includes interviews with key members of partner organizations, representing a business, a performance producer and a commissioning agency, participant observation of a member of the performance production film, and the devising process. Findings (mandatory) Findings presented highlight phases of the devising process and the engagement with the creative practices employed. Findings highlight that benefits emerge through the reflexive nature of activities during the processes of creating the performance, as well as reflection on the final performance piece. Research limitations/implications (if applicable) Case study research is necessarily a qualitative design that is not generalizable to a broader population. Findings do, however, highlight potentially useful practices that may be further developed for future research. Practical implications (if applicable) Performance arts has pushed previously untested boundaries in employee engagement within the business, resulting in deep understanding between managers and employees on how value may be co-created and redeployed across the business. Social implications (if applicable) Originality/value (mandatory) The paper extends the application of improvisation by situating it within the creative practice of devising. This enables performance to be critically examined as an arts based initiative within business contexts.

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

Cited by 13 publications

References 28 publications

Using Improvisation to Develop Leadership for a Volatile World

Using Improvisation to Develop Leadership for a Volatile World

Universities’ third mission and the entrepreneurial university and the challenges they bring to higher education institutions

An evaluation of performance arts in generating business value

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